Having a hard time generating enthusiasm or cross organizational understanding around a new vision or plan? Try creating a mantra. Mantras are short utterances that convey a core message. Often used in religious terms, they can be very effective in generating a single, unifying statement about the essence of an idea. In some contexts, it has been suggested that the mantra be a substitute for the mission statement. In this case, I whole heartedly agree.

Take, for example, the idea of an online web-site that helps a homeowner troubleshoot and buy parts for appliances. As a consumer, you are facing two primary questions: what’s wrong and how do I fix it. This is a mantra, of sorts, that can be drilled into the heads of the developers, the sales force and the customer. “The purpose of this site is to help the customer find what’s wrong and how to solve it.”

As we build our fictitious site, we find the logical next step of supplying parts. The first thing we should do is give this new idea the mantra test. How does supplying parts help the customer find out what’s wrong or how to fix it? The answer should be self evident, to fix it, you need this part. To create a higher sense of customer satisfaction answering two additional questions would be useful. This creates room for a lower level mantra that describes a sub-function for our site. In this case the new mantra would be, “where is it and how do I get it?” When a new function or feature is introduced, you always take it back to the mantra. “How does this help me answer the questions “where is it and how do I get it”? The mantra becomes a sort of litmus test for new ideas and helps you keep from straying from the core message or idea of the business plan.

I heard a story about Herb Kelleher and the mantra of Southwest Airlines. Herb’s mantra was, “we are the low fare airline.” Every new idea, even if it promised enormous returns on investment, had to pass the litmus test of the mantra. Each concept had to answer one question, “how does this advance our position as the low fare airline?” No matter how good or profitable the idea was, if it did not fit the mantra, meaning - it raised the fare, it was out the window. There was no doubt what criteria a new idea would have to meet.

What is the core message of your idea? What's in your mantra?