Where personal and professional mission and vision statements meet

There is nothing more satisfying than recognizing your true passion in life. From then on you can authentically attract those opportunities to fulfill that personal passion. Maybe it’s volunteering or expanding your existing activities. If you’ve worked to discover your own personal mission, it may lead you to actualize that newly discovered information that takes your life in a whole new direction.

This is the job of each one of us in this life, to find our mission, define it and build our vision on it. Sometimes our personal and professional mission and vision statements meet. In fact, it happens more often than most realize.

Margaret Casto Phillips, a professor of mathematics and computer science at Old Dominion University (ODU) in Virginia, had found her passion. She joined the ODU faculty in 1945 and taught until her retirement thirty-four years later in 1979. She also served as college liaison for the American Association of University Women. Upon her death at the age of 94, Phillips ensured her passion for students and teaching for years to come with a $150,000 bequest to the Emeritus Association of ODU Faculty for its scholarship endowment fund for students. She embodies the meeting of her personal and professional vision and mission statements. Looking around us we can see this reflected by many in our community.

Captain Steve Lazenby of the Santa Paula (CA) Fire Department is passionate about preparing citizens for emergencies. His firefighter’s role is captain of the Santa Paula Engine Company, but his ability to communicate a countywide emergency preparedness mission also allowed him to fill a new role.

As a coordinator/instructor for CERT (Community Emergency Response Team), a 17-20 hour training class for citizens, Lazenby has taught over 1,500 citizens in 5 years to take their place in helping themselves and others in case of of a disaster in your community. . Her commitment to her personal passion is now combined with her professional mission and vision.

Les and Alice Gardner, successful small business owners of the Attitude Shoppe in Ojai, CA, believe strongly in their community and are active Rotarians. The success of your personal mission and the combination of your business mission and vision statements extends to hiring employees who share your strong ideas of service, customer satisfaction and longevity in your community. A happy customer recalls driving four hours to an important business meeting only to find out he had left his computer at home…the last thing he needed was to turn around and drive to his house to find out. get it back The employees handled the problem with usual efficiency, a friend was able to drive it to the store, and the computer was packed and shipped the same day. When Gardner’s personal mission coincided with her corporate mission and vision, people who aligned with the same values ​​were drawn to become employees.

With these examples comes the understanding that the person not only benefits from meeting their personal and professional mission and vision, but also from society.