What is Your Mission Statement?

I had the privilege to visit a prestigious US hedge fund this week. I just cannot shake this one image.

We, 4 of us from SMB, arrive from NYC in Greenwich in my family SUV. You pass the private airport so close to Westchester and Southern, CT . The four of us joke about the SMB private jet, that can take you anywhere in the world. No airport lines. No traffic to the airport. One of us has flown private and tells the other three about that. So cool. That is living the life as they say.

You pull up to the mansion expanded, with the vast manicured grounds. This to me feels as a trader what Augusta must to a golfer. Inside there is just about everything considered to help you perform better (which I should keep mostly private). In fact in the bathroom there is an article about how fast-food company calorie counters are often inaccurate, surrounded by health tips. There is mouth wash that gets you thinking why this is important but must be.

The security guard asks you to wait for your host and you sit down at a cushioned leather seat. You start to play with your smart phone and then finish. And then its there. You cannot miss it now. It’s right there in the seating area. Anyone who ever has to wait for an interview, or visit would never miss it. And now it haunts me, in a good way. No the best of ways. It inspires me.

It’s just on the wall, without any attempt to attract. But when you finally spot it is so powerful. It’s everything.

A mission statement hangs on the wall with clarity.

There is no mistaking what is expected of you to work with or at here. Very few would ever qualify based on the words imprinted. You need to understand that before you step inside.

I cannot stop thinking about this missions statement so innocuously yet powerfully hanging on that white wall.

I went home and have been doing very little expect rethinking and formalizing ours. And it makes me think, shouldn’t all traders have one?