A Manifesto's Unbridled Power
Manifestos ignite people into action. The best manifestos are so emotionally charged that their catalytic influence can endure for centuries. The Ten Commandments and the Declaration of Independence are good examples. As recently as fifty years ago, an emotional speech delivered from the steps of the Lincoln Memorial established a clear and compelling purpose for American Civil Rights. Today, MLK's I Have a Dream is arguably the most inspiring manifesto of the 20th Century.
Though manifestos are best known for political movements, the ideals and intent of such potent texts can also move people to excel on behalf of the organizations that employ them. Apple is a very good example. Tim Cook stated the Apple Way six months before Steve Jobs passed away. Cook’s declaration left employees and investors believing that Apple could go on without Steve Jobs. Read it and you’ll understand why. Cook said,
We're on the face of the earth to make great products.
We're constantly focusing on innovating.
We believe we need to own and control the primary technologies behind the products that we make and participate only in markets where we can make a significant contribution.
We believe in saying no to thousands of projects so we can focus on the few that are meaningful to us.
We believe in deep collaboration and cross pollination in order to innovate in a way others cannot.
We don't settle for anything other than excellence in any group in the company, and we have the self-honesty to admit when we're wrong and the courage to change.
Regardless of who is in what job, those values are so embedded in this company that Apple will do extremely well.
Crafting a company manifesto is no easy task. For the statement to be effective it must:
1. State a Compelling Purpose. Apple’s purpose is all about existing to make awesome products and operating under deep emotional principles.
2. Capture Core Values. Apple’s manifesto is loaded with core values – admitting error, simplifying, collaborating, innovating, and demanding excellence.
3. Tell the Truth. Mission Statements are full of illusionary and distant visions. Great manifestos instantly strike the emotions when they are true.
4. Link Business Life to Personal Life. The Apple Manifesto does not touch on this. It likely doesn’t have to, because unlike most industries, tech life and home life is intertwined – certainly the case at Apple.
5. Be Inclusive. The manifesto must touch (and move) everybody. I don’t know if Disney, Nike, Cirque du Soleil, or the New England Patriots have a manifesto. But they sure as hell act like they do.
6. Differentiate. There is nothing more powerful than differentiation in a competitive arena. That goes for business and sports. Even war.
Unlike the stereotypical corporate mission or the vision statement, a manifesto tells everyone who you are, what you believe in and why you are prepared to invest yourself in the cause. As for a simple manifesto on this thing we call life, I suggest you take a moment to breathe it all in and love it all out.
The above image comes courtesy of Kal Barteski http://www.kalbarteski.com/
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Comments:
Jan '11
Re: A Manifesto's Unbridled Power
Works for individuals as well.
Jun '10
Re: A Manifesto's Unbridled Power
Being an uncompromising company also helps attract the best employees. The best employees want to clear that high bar, or if they fail, fail because they failed--not because someone above them cut corners.
Edited on May 26, 2012 at 5:53pmMay '11
Re: A Manifesto's Unbridled Power
Welcome, Mr. Bell. I hope that my comments will not discourage you. I agree with much of what you write, but take issue with a couple of matters.
Manifestos DO possess enduring power, but it's because their inspiring themes are rendered with direct, declarative clarity. Mr. Cook's mission-statement would have been so much stronger without the vaporous qualifiers and buzzwords. The themes of excellence, innovation, and listening to others' ideas are obscured by thought smog. What this may portend for Apple is unclear, but certainly all of our society is weakened by the muddle of reason with feelings, shallow idealism, self-congratulatory assumptions and grammatical abandon that makes up so much of modern expression.
To the editors: it's "unbridled", not "unbriddled".
Re: A Manifesto's Unbridled Power
Not discouraged in the least. The clarity that impressed me most in the Apple Manifesto was a) Saying "no" to thousands of projects. The mountain to climb has been defined. It is not a range. b) The quest to own and control primary technologies and, c) Reiterating the innovative culture. I'm not so sure the "soft" purposes and values detract. Thanks for weighing in.
Jul '10
Re: A Manifesto's Unbridled Power
Some years ago in one of the chapters of a course I wrote to help people get promotions, I posed a series of questions for them to consider when taking a look at the organization where they worked. One of them was
Do those at the top have a vision?
If they do, have they effectively communicated it to everyone? Is it built on existing pieces; does it look to the future; or is this vision a combination of both? Is it just the Mission Statement or is it truly specific? (Mission Statements are always vanilla custard, never specific, and rarely intelligible as they are sometimes developed using the “Dilbert Mission Statement Generator.”)*
*Scott Adams, creator of “Dilbert,” with the gleeful complicity of Logitech co-founder and vice chairman Pierluigi Zappacosta, some years ago posed as a consultant and presided over a meeting of nearly a dozen company managers to develop their Mission Statement: “To scout profitable growth opportunities in relationships, both internally and externally, in emerging, mission-inclusive markets, and explore new paradigms and then filter and communicate and evangelize the findings.”
You are totally correct: a manifesto inspires commitment.
Nov '11
Re: A Manifesto's Unbridled Power
I wanted our shop manifesto to be "Wiggle While You Work. Anybody Can." It's funny that the chorus in the video below incorporates your example, too. I was voted down.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FM-Vt87W3_A&feature=results_video&playnext=1&list=PL6816377A63F9055B
Edited on May 27, 2012 at 2:13amDec '10
Re: A Manifesto's Unbridled Power
Interesting. I'm pretty sure the company I left, for which I had worked for a decade, just sucked, but it certainly lacked vision. There was never any plan that I could discern, except for the maximization of revenue and the encouragement of middle people to move up into ownership positions, I never saw any theme.
Once I had already decided to walk away (privately), I learned I was the single most profitable employee in the firm. Which just depressed me more. I then realized that not only was I deeply unhappy, but that the things that made it worth coming to work were mostly absent for everybody else.
At a certain point, the only things keeping the money coming in are size, and inertia.
Sep '10
Re: A Manifesto's Unbridled Power
...
Manifestos DO possess enduring power, but it's because their inspiring themes are rendered with direct, declarative clarity. Mr. Cook's mission-statement would have been so much stronger without the vaporous qualifiers and buzzwords. The themes of excellence, innovation, and listening to others' ideas are obscured by thought smog.
Most vision statements, mission statements, manifestos - call them what you will - have limited semantic content. Platitudes don't motivate people; they make people cynical. Successful organizations know where they are going and why without grandiose pronouncements.
If you google "mission statement generator," you'll find many others besides Dilbert's, mentioned above. This fact alone should give anyone pause before waxing poetic. Most corporate leaders are not in the same league as Thomas Jefferson or Martin Luther King, nor need they be. Sadly, phrases such as "constantly focusing on innovating" is as commonplace as it is vacuous. At least wiggle while you work (see PracticalMary's post) has the advantages of being humorous and achievable.
Interestingly, this may have some relation to Charles Murray's bubble quiz. Tim Cook may be an exception, but I'd bet most manifesto writers are encased in a fairly thick bubble.
Edited on May 27, 2012 at 10:37amApr '12
Re: A Manifesto's Unbridled Power
Would the Apple Manifesto have been more powerful if it was more a Martin Luther King message from the leader or from a group of people, like the Declaration of Independence? Jobs shared their deep push to set out a bold manifesto, you can sense their strength. DrLorentz suspects that Cook does not have that undercurrent of strength. Ironically, PracticalMary and the wiggle while you work quirkiness grabs my attention because here is a company with spark showing they have innovation by their very choice of language. Jargon is a killer of the spirit. Cirque du Soleil still has its eccentric founder involved, Nike too. Apple's Manifesto has boldness to it and is getting across the cultural messages to be a string employee magnet. I wish it had just one flash of "wiggle" to set it apart from Samsung and to give a peek behind the curtains of the " innovative" culture. Then it should be run through the filters of the resident cynic, like Mole-eye, who can pick away at generalizations.