Good Housekeeping
On this day, back in 1885, Clark W. Bryan published the first edition of Good Housekeeping. From day one his PURPOSE for the magazine was clearly defined as:
“a family journal conducted in the interests of the higher life of the household”
with a MISSION to:
“produce and perpetuate perfection as may be obtained in the household.”
Fast-forward 131 years and Good Housekeeping is today the most widely read paid-for women’s monthly magazine with a combined print and digital circulation of 404,205.
Despite wars, huge changes in innovation and in lifestyle, and ownership, the magazine’s PURPOSE has remained the same, and it’s consistently fulfilling its MISSION to be a guardian of its readers’ interests by initiating campaigns, setting up institutes and issuing seals of approval to study the problems facing the homemaker and to develop up-to-date, first-hand information on solving them.
So, my Scale Starter for Ten this week is:
- How clearly is your purpose and mission defined?
- If you asked one of your employees (right now) what both your purpose and mission are, would they know?
- Do they know how they contribute to them?
- Do you regularly report on good (and bad) examples of where the team have supported (contradicted) the purpose or mission?
- Do you need some help working (or re-working) on these?
We’d love to hear your gut reaction and honest answers to the above.