Mission Not Money
What’s your mission at work?
"Tiger is the only player I've ever seen who never looked at the money sheet."
His former caddie, Steve Williams, continued. "Of course, you could argue he made plenty of money and didn't need to look. But I’ve seen them all, and every player makes decisions based on money, except one. Tiger."
Tiger's mission is to win. That's it.
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What's your mission at work? I've struggled with this. Making tools, even cool AI, doesn't make the world a better place. Or does it?
Toolmakers are like builders, coaches, and caddies—our job is to help others achieve their mission. Here are the missions of a few of my customers:
“Use AI to detect disease before humans can." (Singapore NUHS)
“Health for all, hunger for none." (Bayer Agriculture)
"We deliver Christmas." (Royal Mail, the postal service of the UK)
TIBCO's tagline is "we unlock the potential of real-time data for making faster, smarter decisions." That's cool, but I like my version: "we help detect disease early, end hunger, and deliver Christmas."
It might not be as sexy as winning the Masters, but it’s better.