Product Review

The Mission Primer: Four Steps to an Effective Mission Statement includes a "Facilitator Training Packet" CD, and is a concise guidebook that teaches you how to develop, evaluate, and manage an effective mission statement for your organization. It is intended for any group of people who are organized for any purpose. No matter what type or size of organization you belong to "The Mission Primer" will show you how to develop an effective mission statement for your organization. It works for industrial concerns, non-profits, schools, hospitals, churches, charities, or government agencies, from small three-person sections, to large departments, to giant-multinationals.

The book outlines a simple four-step method for developing effective mission statements. Our unique method is structured, quantifiable, and has a distinct beginning and end. We have used it successfully with dozens of corporate, university, and non-profit clients. The method is based on a set of six laws --- what we call Gast's laws --- that describe the culture of a successful organization. The central idea is that a mission statement describes how the organization intends to comply with Gast's laws.

Although we are sometimes met with initial skepticism from our clients, it never lasts long. Apparently, Gast's laws are based on fundamental and enduring properties of human beings, and thus they resonate strongly with the people who are exposed to them. Gast's laws provide a direction and clarity that make the process of writing a mission statement focused, time-limited, and rewarding. If you are leading or participating in an effort to develop or evaluate a mission statement for your organization, then you can benefit from the ideas in this book.

Included with this book is a Facilitator Training Packet CD dated September 2002.