For any business, having a clear and meaningful mission is critical for success. To truly live up to that mission, however, you must ensure that it is consistently and clearly woven throughout all aspects of the business.

Your brand‘s mission should be evident in the company’s values, culture and day-to-day operations. To help you achieve this, 15 Rolling Stone Culture Council members each outline one specific step or action businesses can take to ensure their mission is fully integrated into their operations and why this is so important for the success and sustainability of the business.

Craft a Cohesive Identity

As the digital sphere becomes ever more influential, it is increasingly vital for brands to embody their mission authentically in all areas of action. Doing so ensures that audiences can recognize your commitment — from recruitment to marketing campaigns and everything beyond. Crafting a cohesive identity across each area will help ensure success and build lasting customer trust. – Sidon Farris, c4n2, LLC

Be Interested In and Care About Others

Making a conscious effort to care about those involved in your brand can help weave the mission throughout your business. Be interested, listen and communicate. It sets an example and can create consistency across the board. And it means that when people encounter you and your brand, they can get a sense of what they are getting from you because they can sense you genuinely care about others. – Sevier Crespo, Peanut Gallery Group

Consider the Mission When Making Decisions

A simple way leaders can show the importance of their organization’s mission is to call it out explicitly as a factor in decision-making. This encourages teams to see the mission as something that matters rather than just marketing copy. At Blokur, we also focus part of our recruitment process on alignment with our mission to identify the people most motivated by what we are trying to achieve. – Phil Barry, Blokur

Get Employee Buy-In

Weaving your brand’s mission throughout your business is all about culture building. It’s important that every member of your team understands and agrees with the company’s values and mission. After all, everything in business ultimately comes down to people. If your people are committed to the mission, it will show up in everything they do. – Zena Harris, Green Spark Group

Editor’s picks

Prioritize Company Culture

You can write all the brand statements and mission statements in the world, but if that “mission” is not unequivocally and naturally part of your organizational culture, it will never succeed. In order for your brand mission to be successful in an outward-facing capacity, it must first be successful internally. – Amanda Dorenberg, COMMB

Show Up Consistently

Walk the walk. Talk the talk. A brand’s mission doesn’t have value unless it’s fully integrated into the actions of the whole company. Your customer’s experience has to be congruent from beginning to end with the image you portray. Sustainable brands aren’t built by artificial intelligence. Brands that consistently show up with expertise, integrity and commitment stand the test of time. – Traci DeForge, Produce Your Podcast

Act as a Role Model

I’ve noticed that when I believe in our mission, and it’s clear in my mind, it naturally weaves itself into every meeting and decision. It’s important to remind ourselves why we’re doing this — something I need to do more! – Michael Kennedy, Component Wine Company

The Rolling Stone Culture Council is an invitation-only community for Influencers, Innovators and Creatives. Do I qualify?

Hire People Who Support the Mission

In order to have your brand’s mission clearly woven into the business, I think leading by example and hiring people who understand the mission are the steps to take. At Old Pal, we want to bring people together with cannabis. I live that every day, our team lives that and, as a result, you feel it in everything that our brand touches. – Russel Wilenkin, Old Pal

Related

Ensure Everyone Understands the Mission

One area that gets missed is ensuring everyone in the organization understands the mission — the leaders too. Having internal meetings dedicated to your mission helps you clearly articulate it and allows the team to ask questions, which in turn allows you to polish your mission statement even more. If it’s not clear to everyone in your company, it won’t be effective. – Michael Newman, The Bureau of Small Projects

Write It Down

Write a mission statement that thoughtfully defines exactly what the brand’s mission is. Many give lip service about the mission of a brand, but if you do not have a clearly defined mission, in writing (and therefore resolved), there is no mission! Write it down and refer back to it frequently to ensure your company is living and breathing that mission. – Sheila Dedenbach, Heavenly Sweet

Pay Equal Attention to Words, Images and Actions

Always remember that everything communicates. Words, images and actions contribute to your company’s culture and support your mission. Develop a filter that reflects the critical attributes that you want to convey. It provides a framework that engages your team and helps them to live by your company’s mission. – Michael Klein, cannabisMD

Share Your ‘Why’

Know your story and let others know it through YouTube or social media. It keeps your message fresh and new and lets people know you’re an evolving brand. Maintain a clear vision. – Karina Michel Feld, Tallulah Films

Practice What You Preach

Make sure that you, your employees and the company as a whole are practicing what you preach. My organization has its roots in cannabis reform advocacy, and to this day, we do pro bono work for like-minded organizations. Many of our employees engage in advocacy work on their own time, and I’m still actively involved in advocacy and policy reform myself. – Evan Nison, NisonCo

Trending

Make the Mission a Part Of Daily Operations

Today, a brand’s mission is more than a long-term goal. A mission can be integrated into company culture and the way an organization operates. For example, if you’re aiming to reach certain ESG (Environmental, Social, Governance) standards, you can have a positive impact by being powered by clean energy, working with local communities in your region and consistently upskilling your employees. – Melissa Jun Rowley, Warrior Love Productions

Empower Your Team

Employees are the wheels that keep the machine running. They need to understand the business’s vision, how the company’s mission will achieve that and what each person or department can do to get or keep you there. Celebrating and complimenting achievements also further engrains the mission into everyday dealings. – Andy Hale, Hale & Monico