Is your vision statement for real?

I was sitting in a briefing a few days ago at a Department of Defense facility, and one of the surprising things we were told is that “safety is our first priority.” Really? Obviously that can’t be true in the DOD (“Yes, we lost to the enemy, but look how safe we were!”).

The DOD’s first priority must to successfully defend protected assets and win wars. Whereas certainly safety was of critical importance to us on our submarine, I’m pretty sure the Navy didn’t want us to turn tail and run during a war because incoming enemy torpedoes would adversely affect our safety. The nation’s highest military honor, the Medal of Honor, is not awarded for being the safest person in the military – it’s usually awarded to someone who acts in a decidedly unsafe manner.

You can see this same problem in vision statements...

Read the rest at the Washington Business Journal...