Most mission statements contain words like value and service but often fail to inspire anyone.  The Brooklyn, New York-based company, which sells eco-friendly clothing and accessories, Holstee’s mission statement is an exception.

Holstee rose from obscurity last year after its mission statement, dubbed the Holstee mainfesto, went viral.

Key lines that resonant with me are:

• This is your life. Do what you love, and do it often.
• If you don’t like something, change it.
• Start doing things you love.
• Travel often; getting lost will help you find yourself.
• Some opportunities only come once, seize them.
• Live your dream, and wear your passion.

See the complete mission statement by downloading the pdf below.

The_Holstee_Manifesto_8.5×11 copy

So what do you think?  Words to live by?

Perhaps you either exhibit or come in contact with the one of the 8 leadership styles depicted in this cartoon.

Or perhaps you experience these 8 styles in yourself all in one day.  I thought this was a humorous way to look at ourselves.  And a fun way to self-assess what you believe may be your more dominant leadership style.

Are you smiling while you look at the cartoon or feeling uncomfortable?  There is no right or wrong answer to this question…but the answer will tell you a lot about areas of self-development you may wish to address.

Sheryl Sandberg, chief operating officer of Facebook Inc., discusses the global “ambition gap” for women in the video link at the end of this post.  She spoke Jan. 27 on a panel discussion at the World Economic Forum’s annual meeting in Davos, Switzerland.

I’m a big fan of Sandberg and her commentary on what holds women back from succeeding in the workforce.

In this short video she hits on a number of key issues:

1.  There is an ambition gap all around the world – no equality for women anywhere in the world.

2. In underdeveloped countries girls are not educated to the same level as boys.

3. In developed countries women are getting as many or more degree than men, yet only 16% of C-level suite jobs are occupied by women. There has been no movement up with this percentage  in the last decade…it is stagnant.  The numbers are lower in underdeveloped countries.

4. In a recent study by the Economist women were polled as to their level of ambition.  When asked to self-identify if they were very ambitious positive responses included:  US – 36%; China 66%; India 85%.

5. Ironically women in the more developed countries are less ambitious and some of the reasons are:

• We don’t raise our daughters to be as ambitious as our sons;
• Little girls are called bossy, little boys are not;
• We don’t have an equalized workforce because we don’t have equalized home fronts;
• Success and likeability is positively correlated for men and negatively correlated for women.

Sandberg’s potential solutions include allowing men to be equally ambitious to contribute at home while allowing women to be equally ambitious to achieve in the workforce.  The workforce needs to give flexibility to men.  Men and women need to understand the success and likeability correlation.

Women and men who have a vision to change the world understand they need a leadership role to get there.  It has to be okay for women to have the ambition to lead.

She finishes by saying: “Why not use the talents of the entire population to address the very considerable needs this world has?”

View the video here:

The most successful folks I know set a vision (1 or 5 years out) for what is possible for their leadership and life. They take a holistic view and determine the destination they aim to reach. Then they put that vision up on the shelf and trust in it and themselves. Next they take an action everyday (large or small) that moves them in the right direction.

Creating that vision enables you to visualize your future. It is open-ended and arises from your internal perspective of what you believe is possible for your career, your leadership, your life. Simply put, your vision gives you a destination. If well crafted, it will inspire you to live the life you want, pulling you forward by creating a vacuum between where you are in your life right now and where you want to go. When your vision is clear, the steps toward your future become obvious and feel much easier to undertake.

Here’s how to create your vision:

1. Look for negative patterns. To figure out where you want to go, you need to recognize what you’re not happy with at this point. The surest way to determine what matters most to you is to pay attention to what you’re complaining about. Look for negative patterns in your own thoughts and your conversations with others.

2. Acknowledge your complaints in writing. Developing your vision means giving yourself permission to wish for what could be possible in your life. To get started, jot down all the negative patterns you discovered in the last step, and any aspects of your life you find yourself complaining about to friends, family, or colleagues.

3. Analyze your complaints to find your priorities. Examine each complaint, looking for a request that might be hidden under the surface. “I never have time to myself” most likely translates to “I want to have some time alone.” Narrow the list to your top five priorities.

4. Consider the tough questions. Think about your ideal scenario, and ask yourself how you can get there. Frame your questions in the format “What do I want,” “What do I need,” and “How will my life be different once I achieve this goal?”

5. Write your vision statement. Incorporate the answers to the questions you asked yourself in the last step. The simpler the language, the stronger the vision. Aim for a maximum of 35 words.

Don’t feel stifled by striving for perfection – you can revise your vision at any time.

Fabulous Friday is a riff on Twitter’s “Follow Friday.” Twitter users often suggest who others should follow on Fridays by tweeting with the hashtag #FF.

In this space I am sharing a person, an article, an idea, a visual, a comic – basically the “best” material I’ve seen during week regarding success and significance – with you.

This week amazing blogger (among other things) Chris Brogan wrote a terrific post about building your platform.  Even though this piece is written mainly for those wanting to build an online presence I believe many (not all) of his 97 tips are relevant to building a career platform and your leadership and life success.

I particularly liked tip 60: Remember that praise and criticism are the same: other people’s thoughts that shouldn’t sway your overall mission. (We tend to accept praise but loathe criticism. Learn to loathe it equally.)

And tip 74: Success, as I define it, is the ability to choose how you spend your day, and a full belly.

To read more of Chris Brogan’s ideas go here