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162 Just Promoted!

than the previous one. We study our progress and learn from ourselves
and others how to do things more effectively and efficiently. Our com-
mitment to quality goes beyond how well we serve our customers to
include the way we deal with all people. How we do things is as impor-
tant to us as what we do.

We accept personal responsibility.
We consider individual involvement and accountability to be both a
right and a privilege and accept personal responsibility for everything
that we do. We treat the company’s reputation as our own and try to
make wise use of our time and the company’s resources. We expect
access to the tools and information necessary to participate in any deci-
sions that will reflect on our collective or individual reputations.

As management consultant and author Tom Peters has repeatedly stated,
successful companies are shaped by their corporate philosophies.
Purpose and mission statements can take different formats. Russell Con-
well, founder of Temple University in Philadelphia, was a nationally known
nineteenth-century orator. More than 1,500 times during his lifetime, he deliv-
ered a single speech entitled “Acres of Diamonds.” In booklet form, more than
1 million copies of the speech have been issued, and it is still in print today.
The speech reflects the belief that America’s genius is in the intellectual and
social resources of all its people, including the poor and the immigrant; that
our immigrant cities hold acres of these diamonds, who, given the chance to
gain an education and given the opportunity of America, will shine like dia-
monds. The speech grew out of a mission Conwell gave his university, a mis-
sion that guides Temple administrators and faculty today, well over 100 years
after its founding.
The purpose or mission statement should help shape how the company
operates, how leaders lead, how the company works with its people and its
external constituencies. It should be reflected in how work is done at the func-
tion or team level. Reviewing it and thinking about how it affects the func-
tion’s priorities and activities should be an important part of the diagnostic
process. How should the purpose affect what we do? What’s not happening
that should be happening? What are we presently doing that is not in line with
the mission statement? Conversely, as a key indicator of your organization’s
vision, the purpose or mission statement should be reexamined periodically
to determine if any changes are warranted and to make certain that the way