Setting a Personal Mission Statement at Harvard

Organizations, including universities, also set mission statements. As many books on business strategy claim, a mission statement provides the foundation for a company and is an efficient tool in order to define a business’s objectives, values, direction and activities.

Universities are no different, though of course university mission statements are likely to be quite different to those of private businesses. Jose Ortega y Gasset, a Spanish philosopher of the 20^th century, addressed this issue in his famous short treatise, Mission of the University, arguing that the mission should provide an answer to the question: “What is the knowledge most worth knowing by all students?”

According to Harvard’s official website, the university itself doesn’t have a formal mission statement. It seems that due to the great number of affiliated bodies (the undergraduate college, the graduate schools, research centers, etc.) it is too complicated to have just one mission statement that covers all.

Harvard College, the part of the university which grants undergraduate degrees, still adheres to the mission set out in 1650: “The advancement of all good literature, arts, and sciences; the advancement and education of youth in all manner of good literature, arts, and sciences; and all other necessary provisions that may conduce to the education of the… youth of this country…”

The College also provides some additional explanation of what this means in practice today:

Harvard strives to create knowledge, to open the minds of students to that knowledge, and to enable students to take best advantage of their educational opportunities. To these ends, the College encourages students to respect ideas and their free expression, and to rejoice in discovery and in critical thought; to pursue excellence in a spirit of productive cooperation; and to assume responsibility for the consequences of personal actions. Harvard seeks to identify and to remove restraints on students’ full participation, so that individuals may explore their capabilities and interests and may develop their full intellectual and human potential. Education at Harvard should liberate students to explore, to create, to challenge, and to lead. The support the College provides to students is a foundation upon which self-reliance and habits of lifelong learning are built: Harvard expects that the scholarship and collegiality it fosters in its students will lead them in their later lives to advance knowledge, to promote understanding, and to serve society.

Having a clear mission is vital not only for organizations or institutions, but for individuals as well – especially when starting out on a new venture. Here’s how you can develop your own personal mission statement:

-         Explore your purpose and define your objectives – what do you want to achieve?

-         Determine what you need to do to reach these goals, and how you can measure your achievements.

-         Outline all these points in several short and concise sentences, and re-read/re-write the statement until you are happy with it.

Then, each time you face a new decision, you can check in with your personal mission statement to see if you’re still on track.

My personal mission statement might be something like: “To become a world-class academic in the field of international relations by producing high-quality research, educating new cohorts of scholars, and contributing to international dialogue and peace.”

What is your personal mission statement? Let us know in the comments below.