The Little Blue Book Series
As you read this chapter, keep in mind that this is not a traditional book. Thomas Nelson employees are the primary audience. The chapters are short on purpose. They are intended to be a sort of “quick reference” for the things that are important to us.
Many companies would simply put this kind of content in their employee manual. However, as a book publishing company, we have chosen to put ours in an actual book.
Once you’ve read this chapter, I’d like your feedback. You can do that by leaving specific comments. I’d like to hear “the good, the bad, and the ugly.” Based on this feedback, I plan to revise the chapter.
If you want to read other chapters, you can go to the project overview and the table of contents. This also provides the revision history.
Every organization has a purpose. It may be clear or vague. It may conscious or unconscious. It may be written or unwritten. Regardless, no organization is ever formed—or continues to exist—without some sort of purpose.
Eventually, many organizations create a purpose statement. Some are specific and inspiring. For example, Google’s is “to organize the world’s information and make it universally accessible and useful.”
Some are vague and uninspiring. For example, “our mission is to enhance shareholder value.” I doubt seriously that this ever got anyone excited or inspired greater commitment to the organization. Most people want to know that their work is accomplishing something beyond making money for the company’s shareholders.
At Thomas Nelson, we believe that we exist to inspire the world. We believe that the world desperately needs inspiration—the right kind of inspiration—and that we are a conduit for change.
To make this personal and memorable, we have reduced this to a slogan: “We inspire the world.” Here’s how we understand each phrase of this statement.
“We”
The pronoun “we” emphasizes our commitment to teamwork. We cannot accomplish God’s purpose for our company on our own. It takes more than a handful of star performers. It takes all of us, collectively working together, each employing our unique gifts, to fulfill our calling.
“Inspire”
According to the dictionary, “inspire” means
1. To affect or guide; 2. To fill with enlivening or exalting emotion; 3. To be the cause or source of; bring about.
All of these meanings are relevant to our purpose as a company:
- First, we want our products—books, videos, and conferences—to affect people. We are not in the business of merely entertaining our audiences or “tickling their ears.” Instead, we want our products to have a positive impact on consumers. In addition, we live in a day when people are desperate for direction and advice. As a result, we want our products to provide practical guidance.
- Second, we want our products to have a positive emotional impact. Emotions are not something to disparage or disregard. They can be the very thing that provide the impetus for action. Inspired emotions can lead to noble actions. We want to intentionally stimulate (though not manipulate) those kinds of emotions through the products we produce.
- Third, we want our products to be a source of real change, both in individuals and in our larger culture. Looking back over our lives, most of us recognize that real change frequently came about as a result of the books we read, the conferences we attended, or both. These types of products provide an opportunity to affect deep and lasting change.
It is interesting to note that the word inspire originally came from the Greek work theopneustos. It literally means “God-breathed” (Theos, God, and pneo, to breathe). This is particularly fitting for our company, since we acknowledge that God is the ultimate Source of inspiration. We want our products to be a means by which God breathes new life into His world.
“The World”
The world is the focus of our inspiration. While this work begins initially with the individual, it does not end there. Our goal is to inspire a chain reaction that ultimately influences the whole world. Our purpose will not be realized until our products are readily available and changing lives in every part of the world.
Technorati Tags: books, ideology, little blue book, publishing, thomas nelson way
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Enjoyed reading your mission statement and the explanation. Inspire. Love that word. God-breathed.
“We inspire the world.” Clear, concise, and confident. It is a true reflection of Thomas Nelson. Thank you.
The word “inspire” is actually from Latin and literally means “to breathe into”. My guess is that you meant to refer to the fact that “inspire” is used when translating the word “theopneustos” from the Greek New Testament.
Luke,
Good catch. You are right. I will re-word this to make it clear.
Thanks,
Mike
Mike,
It sounds like you’ve defined a vision statement for Thomas Nelson, not essentially a purpose statement. I work for a cruise company and our purpose statement goes something like this, “At, we strive to constantly exceed our guests’ expectations by providing quality cruise vacations.” My church’s vision statement is similar to what you stated, it is “Impacting everyday life.” I believe that a purpose statement elaborates a vision statement.
The elaboration of “We inspire the World” could be “We inspire the World to take action and change on personal, one on one basis” or something of that nature.
I like how you broke down the aspects of your statement.
I hope my comments help!
Sincerely,
Tim
Mike,
I think it reads well and this will be helpful for everyone to read and re-read to keep it fresh in our view.
Thanks
Rodney
I think we all need to think big and your mission statement does that. Since you’re asking for opinions, I think it’s a great.