Say it and Live it [Paperback]

Patricia Jones (Author), Larry Kahaner (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 1, 1995

Say It And Live It is the first collection of provocative, passionate, and intelligent corporate mission statements -- the most powerful and popular managerial tool in business today. A corporate mission statement is the most dramatic presentation of a company's vision and its goal. No other document -- annual report, press release, news article, statement from the board of directors -- tells us more about a company's values and ethics than a mission statement. Companies know that if they write it down, they will have to live up to it -- so they devote months, even years, the energy of people from the CEO on down, and significant sums of money to crafting them. Say It And Live It is the only source of information for the many business people who are presently writing their own mission statements. In it, authors Patricia Jones and Larry Kahaner show that industry leaders are frequently corporations that truly live their mission statements. Some of the winners include: Avis, Ben & Jerry's, Boeing, Citicorp, General Electric, Gillette, Hallmark Cards, IBM, Kellogg's, Reader's Digest, Saturn, Southwest Airlines, UPS, and Xerox. Say It And Live It is a collection of the fifty best corporate mission statements in America. Each entry consists of the company's complete mission statement, along with an explanation of how it was written, a lesson about how that mission statement saved the company or motivated employees, or comments from the CEO or the president. The introduction points out the common elements of these philosophical documents, while the final chapter is a list of tips on how you can write your own mission statement.

Editorial Reviews

From Library Journal

Jones and Kahaner present a compendium of 50 corporate "mission statements, values, philosophies, visions, or whatever they call them" from companies that practice what they proclaim. In Peak Performers (LJ 4/1/86), Charles Garfield opines that mission statements exceeding ten words are useless. His reasoning is simple: it is unlikely that either a board member or a frontline employee can recall a verbose and complicated mission. Few mission statements presented here meet this requirement, General Electric's being an exception ("Boundary-less...Speed...Stretch"). The last chapter, "Six Rules for Writing Your Own Mission Statement," is a "by the numbers" approach to the task. Unfortunately, the last thing any enterprise needs is a cookbook mission. Most libraries could do without this book in their collections.?Steven Silkunas, Southeastern Pennsylvania Transit Authority, Philadelphia
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From the Publisher

Say It And Live It is the first collection of provocative, passionate, and intelligent corporate mission statements -- the most powerful and popular managerial tool in business today. A corporate mission statement is the most dramatic presentation of a company's vision and its goal. No other document -- annual report, press release, news article, statement from the board of directors -- tells us more about a company's values and ethics than a mission statement. Companies know that if they write it down, they will have to live up to it -- so they devote months, even years, the energy of people from the CEO on down, and significant sums of money to crafting them. Say It And Live It is the only source of information for the many business people who are presently writing their own mission statements. In it, authors Patricia Jones and Larry Kahaner show that industry leaders are frequently corporations that truly live their mission statements. Some of the winners include: Avis, Ben & Jerry's, Boeing, Citicorp, General Electric, Gillette, Hallmark Cards, IBM, Kellogg's, Reader's Digest, Saturn, Southwest Airlines, UPS, and Xerox. Say It And Live It is a collection of the fifty best corporate mission statements in America. Each entry consists of the company's complete mission statement, along with an explanation of how it was written, a lesson about how that mission statement saved the company or motivated employees, or comments from the CEO or the president. The introduction points out the common elements of these philosophical documents, while the final chapter is a list of tips on how you can write your own mission statement.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 284 pages
• Publisher: Crown Business; 1st edition (April 1, 1995)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0385476302
• ISBN-13: 978-0385476300
• Product Dimensions: 6.1 x 0.6 x 9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #880,850 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

11 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Fascinating and informative business book, April 4, 2000

By 

Bill Adler "badler3" (Washington, DC) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Say it and Live it (Paperback)

Say It and Live It goes beyond mere words and offers cases studies about companies that have produced and used mission statements to further their own goals, produce more profits and beat the competition. The authors show in step by step fashion how your company can craft a mission statement that really works.

This is an excellent, readable book that delivers on what it promises.

I highly recommend it. Say It and Live It is a book you'll want to read twice -- maybe three times!

5.0 out of 5 stars Gets to the point. Great examples and commentary., June 9, 2009

By 

Reid Moore Nao (Los Angeles) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Say it and Live it (Paperback)

Say It and Live It was published in 1995, and still leads the pack on creating organizational mission statements. 50 actual statements are followed by commentary. Don't look here if you want exercises for your next exec retreat - no lamebrainstorming, values shopping lists, or instruction on building a culture to match the top dog's personally penned manifesto. Look here if you need thoughtful phrasing to express your organization's values, goals, priorities and vision. Beware pointy-haired-bosses: if you plagiarize and try to impose another organization's values on your employees, derision and demoralization will ensue! Think it through.