Social Entrepreneurship 101: What do you Stand For? Your Creedo, Personal Vision Statement

"If you don't stand for something you will fall for anything"

Recently I was re-introduced to the idea of writing a personal vision statement/creedo and I felt compelled to share this as part of my Social Entrepreneurship 101 series. A personal credo is what guides your life, it is the truth you abide by and the principles that you look to.  As someone embarking on building my own brand and socially conscious business, having a personal credo is something I value tremendously.

Personal Credos are important because they become the pillar for what you value, believe in and abide by. They help you as you develop your “power team” to ensure that values of your power team align with yours. They also create a sense of direction to whatever work you are doing and if you are enroute to owning or already own your own social enterprise or a non profit your personal credo is what is interpreted into your organizations vision statement.  What do you stand for ?

Below are  simple steps to developing your own personal Credo. Hope this is helpful!

ü   Develop a list of 10-15 things that you value as a person in your personal or work life. Your ultimate goal is to get the it down to 5 (7maximum) values

ü      Next narrow down those 10-15 values to  5.  To do this you should think about the various parts of your life and the commonalities values that resonate within those relationships. So for e.g. if being hardworking is something you value, does this resonate with how you feel in your family life, with friends, place of worship etc? Choose those items only as part of your top 5-7, because these are the most consistent values.

ü      Keep your Vision Statement short and concise

For e.g. as part of my credo

I value……….

1.Trust

2. Sustainability

3. Resourcefulness etc.

ü      Call 2-3 people you trust and read your personal vision to them and ask to provide feedback (Ask questions such as is it clear?  Does it represent you?)

ü      Encourage every Change maker you know to develop one if they haven’t done so already!

ü      Make sure you revisit this at-least every 3months to review and update as needed

Below are some examples of starter vision statements. Can you guess which one is mine? Till next time,

Keep Changing Africa!

MB.

Resources:  Developing Your Leadership Vision