Since I set up SEASHELL, a social media agency, in January this year, I’ve been thinking about my mission.  Particularly about the points where my personal and business missions could and arguably should, intersect.  

When I was 21, I found myself sitting at the top of Cosigüina volcano in Nicaragua. It had been a long, hard trek up from a village nearby with a guide. As we ascended under the protection of low-level canopy, we passed a man descending on his horse, a bunch of iguanas strung from the back of his saddle. Our reward as we reached the crater: a sulphuric lake of the most brilliant turquoise; jewelled and other-worldly. It’s the type of place that should make you forget yourself, but for me it had the reverse effect.

It was the place where I recognised my guiding principle - to try, with every action and interaction, to leave the world a better place than I found it.

I’m currently reading, Marketing: a love story, by Bernadette Jiwa. On writing a mission statement, she says, “Your mission statement doesn’t have to be long and complex; it’s simply a promise, a statement of your intention. It needs to clarify the answers to the questions, ‘What do you do? What happens because you exist?”.

Here are three mission statements I have drafted for SEASHELL:

1. To inspire social good - with every post, engagement and interaction

2. Be good. Be purposeful. Be social.

3. Using social media to amplify and share the good in this world.

I’d love to know which one resonates with you and why?

The sulphuric lake in the crater of Cosigüina, taken in 2003, in the days before smartphones and panoramic settings