-By James Mellgren

Whatever is rightly done, however humble, is noble.
– Motto posted (in Latin) at Dorothy Lane Market in Ohio

They say that hindsight is 20/20. Everyone from armchair quarterbacks to corporate CEOs can look back at the instant replay of life and see what went right and what went wrong. It can be annoying when some know-it-all tells us what we should or should not have done in a particular situation as though they alone could have told us what the correct action should have been, usually forgetting that they were complicit in the decision-making process. Televised sporting events epitomize this sense of reverse clarity. If the basketball player makes a difficult shot, he is hailed for a bold and brilliant move. If he misses, he is castigated for not passing the ball and making a bonehead, rookie mistake. Often, the two will happen in the same game. Should've, would've, could've. Unfortunately, we have no magic button to see ahead. Instead, we have to try and make educated guesses about what the future holds and how we will face it. In order to do that, we must have a firm idea of where we are now, who we are and what we want out of life and out of our businesses. To that end, we form mission statements and make business plans, perhaps two of the most important things you can do besides opening the doors each day. As my former accountant used to badger me, most of us don't plan to fail, we fail to plan. With that in mind, we'll take a look at two different yet related concepts, mission statements (who we are) and vision statements (where we are going).

Mission Statement: Who We Are
In the highly competitive and rapidly changing world of food retailing, making an effort to define who you are can be enormously helpful for you and your customers. While it was once enough to simply stock your shelves with the latest and most popular grocery items, and a mission statement was a bunch of clichéd aphorisms like "the customer is always right," there are considerations today that can addle the most seasoned retailer. Today's gourmet retailer -- from independent delis to giant supermarket chains -- faces a range of issues that would have been nonsensical only a few years ago: organic vs. conventional; locally purchased foods vs. national distributors; fair trade; trans fats, low-fat, and no fat; community involvement; convenience; and general concerns over our health and the health of the planet. Defining who you are as a company -- to your clientele, to yourself and to your employees -- has become as important as putting your name on the window. Whole Foods has built their business by clearly defining themselves and committing themselves to that mission. They say it all with a simple motto: "Whole Foods – Whole People – Whole Planet." In more specific terms, they define themselves in their mission statement, which is "to offer the highest quality, least processed, most flavorful, and naturally preserved foods." They have garnered a loyal following across the country (and, indeed, internationally) because people who care about such things know what to expect from the stores.

The mission statement at Nugget Markets in Northern California is just as simple and just as powerful: "We are a family of dedicated people with a love of food and a passion for excellent service. We are committed to constant improvement, our people, and most importantly, guest satisfaction. Our associates are our competitive edge -- superior quality and great prices are just part of the bargain."

It's interesting to note that both companies specifically point out not only their customers but their staff as well. Considering the welfare of one's employees and including them as part of your overall strengths and assets is a modern phenomenon that would have been scoffed at in past generations. Today, it is not only important to find and keep good employees, but doing so instills confidence on the part of the consumer. After all, a company that takes pains to make life better for the people that work there is a company full of happy and dedicated workers who are more apt to pride themselves on great customer service and satisfaction.

Weaver Street Market, located in and around Carrboro, N.C., adds a new dimension to the mission statement because they are a cooperative and, therefore, responsible to more than just the people that work there. Weaver Street Market's mission "is a vibrant, sustainable commercial center for the community of owners and potential owners;" and thus they have many facets to their mission, including keeping the profits within the community, maximizing local resources, providing for the basic community needs, being accessible to the whole community, beneficial and non-exploitative, as well as interactive, empowering, educational and ecologically sound, all concepts to be found within their mission statement.

If any of the above inspires you to form your own mission statement, don't just write it down and put it in a drawer. Post it up in the store, prominently on your Web site and in your store newsletter and other handouts. It's something that every employee should be well versed in. Once you write it and let everyone know about it, be prepared to stand by it. When your customers know what your company's mission is, they will expect to see it in action, whether it's about your commitment to customer service, community involvement, purchasing decisions, quality issues, or how your actions impact the environment, local or otherwise. Also, once you have a mission statement that you are prepared to live with, it allows you to start thinking about the future of the company, which is when you're ready to write your vision statement, or as Zingerman's co-owner Ari Weinzweig calls it, "writing a vision of greatness."

Vision Statements: Where You're Going
When I began in retail over 25 years ago, you pretty much figured out how successful you were by whether or not your sales were higher this year than last year. How one achieved that was a simple matter of hard work, common sense and a good bit of luck -- luck that you got the right press, luck that you chose the right location, and luck that the merchandise you liked was also liked by the customers. As corporate concepts began to trickle down into the specialty retail scene, profit and loss statements, forecasts, and other reports and spreadsheets became de rigueur within the retail industry. Still, it was based mostly on dollars and cents, and profits were the sole means of calculating growth and ultimate success. Of course, if your only goal is to grow a company to the point where someone would buy it from you for a large sum of money, that kind of forecasting made sense. But if your ultimate concern is for a quality of life, your life and your employees' lives, as well as the health and well-being of the community or communities in which you are located, something more is needed. That something is a vision of the future.

"A vision of greatness for our organization must, of course, support and be compatible with our mission statement," writes Weinzweig. "But as I said, it's not the same. Unlike the mission statement, a vision is time-constrained. It should be something we can actually attain; while on the one hand, it's inspiring and exciting, an effective vision must also be specific enough that we'll be able to know whether or not we've successfully arrived."
Weinzweig goes on to point out that the bigger the company, the further out into the future you will likely want to project ("bigger ships take longer to turn"). How far you look into the future also depends on what kind of business you have. For example, he advises that a wine business needs to think further ahead -- 10, 20 years out there -- whereas an e-commerce business that is rapidly changing as the technology advances is going to be more short-term. A gourmet retailer probably falls somewhere in the middle, and again, it depends on your size and the size you wish to be. If you're talking about one store with controlled growth, your vision is likely five years out. If you aspire to be many stores across the country, you will need to think much further into the future in order to successfully plan your growth. At Zingerman's, while their plan for growth includes adding to their family of businesses, it does not include growing beyond the Ann Arbor area. This makes it much easier for them to respond when someone offers them a deal to open a business in Chicago, California or Timbuktu.

What if your vision of the future is simply to be bigger, better and make gobs of money? Well, that's great, but how are you going to achieve this lofty goal? By not having a more specific vision of your future, you become passive in the process, waiting around for opportunity to knock. What happens when you're too busy to hear the knocking? Having a clear vision sets the path for success, allowing you to make opportunities instead of hoping they show up one day. Remember that your vision isn't just for your benefit, but for the benefit of the people who work for you as well. Weinzweig uses the analogy of asking someone to plan a trip without knowing the final destination, or charting a course at sea without knowing where you're going. If you're lucky, you may end up at the place you want to be, but it's very unlikely. Without a plan you're more likely to end up on the shoals instead of safely in a port.

Creating a vision of your future is not just about laying a course for success. As important as that is, an effective vision statement has many other positive results. For example, as Weinzweig points out, a vision has a positive impact on others. Here he uses the analogy of two masons working on a great cathedral hundreds of years ago, a cathedral that neither of them may even see finished in their lifetimes. When asked what they are doing, the worker without a vision says, "I'm laying a stone." The other fellow, one who obviously sees the bigger picture, says, "I'm building a cathedral." Building a cathedral, literally or figuratively, gives one more impetus to get out of bed in the morning than merely laying one stone after another. Here, mostly quoting from Weinzweig's text, are more reasons to create a vision for your company:
It attracts good people. It allows us to create reality instead of just reacting to present-day problems. It's a statement of optimism for the future. It forces us to act on and model the reality that there is no safe path (risk and change are a way of life). It forces us to hold ourselves accountable. It tells us what we aren't going to do (like open that store in Timbuktu). It tells everyone what's in it for them. It creates positive movement within the organization (when there is a vision, people can start moving toward it). It helps keep good people (studies show that the most important element in retaining good people is to give them a clear set of expectations).
Just like with your mission statement, a vision statement only works if it is inspiring, strategically sound (is it a realistic vision?), documented and communicated thoroughly to everyone involved. In other words, unless you are a one-person company, knowing where you want to go is worthless unless you can share it with those who will ultimately help you get there.

Vision statements are not strictly the domain of the person whose name is on the front door. Department managers and buyers can also have a vision of where they want their division to be in five, 10 or 20 years. Of course, they can't develop a vision for the whole company without consulting others, but their vision can add greatly to the overall vision, so encourage them to think in this way. Employees may also have a vision of where they want to be personally in the future. If you want that vision to include working for your company, make them part of the process of creating a company vision that everyone can get excited about and work toward.

Don't wait for the clarity that comes with 20/20 hindsight because it will be too late. Neither should you allow yourself to get myopic about the present. Define who and where you are, and then chart a course for future success. Remember what that pesky accountant used to say, people typically don't plan to fail, they fail to plan. Avoid that trap by writing a vision of greatness for you, your company and the people around you. Clarity can be a beautiful thing.

ZingTrain at Zingerman's
Ari Weinzweig, co-owner of Zingerman's Delicatessen in Ann Arbor, Mich., has written a brilliant essay (and part of a future book) entitled "Writing a Vision of Greatness," some of which has been quoted herein. It is accessible to retailers on the ZingTrain Web site. It is also the major subject of the "Small Giants" seminar at ZingTrain featuring Bo Burlingham, as well as a key area of their "Leading with Zing" seminar.

Comments? mellgren56@gmail.com