It began in the 70's, the idea that what you do for a living and how you live your life should account for something beyond self. For a while, those following this ideal were forced underground as businesses home and abroad honored the "bottom line" instead of character in the marketplace. Today the shift in "employee thinking" about work and their workplace is growing. Inching towards one another are employees seeking to reflect their personal values in their choice of work, while workplaces are learning to acknowledge and support those holding higher standards.

"With this shift comes a demand on both employees and business owners to define, communicate and maintain their mission and vision statements as a foundation for their working relationship" says Don Midgett, author of Mission and Vision Statements: Your Path to a Successful Business Future. "This is the right start. Core values included in personal or business mission and vision statements do not change. Only the product or service is revisited as needed."

As employees recognize their real mission and vision statements for their lives, they are finding that work can be a satisfying experience beyond the paycheck. Creativity can be tapped. Their personal mission and vision statements can give them the faculty for decision making on work tasks, as well as personal commitments. More importantly, in understanding their own "why" they are more apt to choose the right job. In today's conscious workplace the employee can further their life experiences and opportunities to succeed.

For top workplaces the emphasis is clear. Workplace quality with satisfied employees leads to happy customers and profit growth. Sue Shellenbarger, the Wall Street Journal's work and family columnist writes that when she began her column executives saw "little relationship between employee attitudes and the bottom line. Now, that viewpoint is almost as out-of-date as the phone booth." (WSJ Oct l, 2007). Create your mission and vision statement and empower your future - start today. Begin to lay the solid foundation for your strategic plan and planning process. To see better the importance of a mission statement and vision statement, to view examples and to read what empowerment people have experienced, visit http://www.missionvisionstatement.com. There you will learn more about creating a mission statement and the development and use of your vision statement.