Two-faced Janus and Mission Statement
The gap between mission statements and business routines that kills engagement
In Roman mythology, Janus is the god of doors, gates, passages, beginnings, and endings. He has two faces – one looking into the past and the other into the future. The first month of the year – January – was named in his honor.
Having two faces could be viewed as an advantage. However, in many cultures, the epithet ‘two-faced’ has negative connotations, alluding to the hypocrisy and deceitfulness of the person.
And many business leaders behave as two-faced persons without even realizing it.
Mission statements
You are unlikely to see words such as ‘money,’ ‘profit,’ or ‘market capitalization’ in mission statements. Nobody declares outright in these statements that they simply want to be rich and famous. Instead, executives and entrepreneurs strive to demonstrate through them that their central aim is to change the world for the better.
And though some scientific studies claim that having a mission statement improves performance in different types of organizati…