When I hear someone say “I’m on a Mission” or “We’re on a Mission” it always reminds me of the Blues Brothers movie:

It seems like part of our new way to lead is to let everyone know that you’re on a mission.  It makes complete sense, set a goal, make it public, now you’ve got some investment into making sure you truly do go after that mission.  I think there is one more piece to our Mission that we have to make everyone aware of, but few actually do.  When you have a mission, there are going to be some bad days.  Few leaders ever really want to acknowledge this and then when those bad days happen – people panic.  When the bad days happen, people begin to believe that the mission won’t be accomplished.

As leaders we often fail in our missions because we fail to let our troops know that this mission won’t be a walk through the park.  We’ll probably get dirty, there is a good chance not all of us will make it and there will be some days when it feels like we are taking a step backwards.  And, that’s OK.  Our job as a leader is to prepare those we lead for all we might encounter. Part of that is motivation – but it can’t always be motivation – sometimes it’s the slap of reality that our folks will look back at and most appreciate.

The greatness of being on a mission is the end – it’s the accomplishment.