Business Buzzwords: Analyzing Mission Statement Trends Nationwide
Created for WordFinder
Key Takeaways
The most commonly used words in mission statements are: every, make, help, power, and world.
Mission statements in 2023 are 2.5 times more positive than in 2010, indicating a significant shift in corporate values.
The top words in crypto startup mission statements are “digital” and “accessible,” occurring 254% more in these mission statements than the national average.
East Coast companies are 629% more likely than West Coast companies and 152% more likely overall to use “helping” in mission statements.
Mission Statement Metrics
Using Crunchbase, Bard, and Y Combinator, we gathered and analyzed 545 company mission statements. We then used TextBlob to analyze each mission statement’s sentiment to determine its tone. Sentiment scores ranged from -1 to 1, with -1 indicating negative, 0 indicating neutral, and 1 indicating positive. To classify each score, we set the following thresholds:
Scores less than -0.05 were negative.
Scores greater than 0.05 were positive.
Scores between -0.05 and 0.05 (inclusive) were neutral.
Let’s unravel the dominant words and sentiments that shape these corporate declarations.
Our exploration of mission statements uncovered an interesting variety of commonly-used words, with the five most common being “every” (20%), “make” (18%), “help” (16%), “power” (16%), and “world” (12%). These terms, along with “empower,” “access,” “people,” and “build”—all found in around 12% of statements—suggest that many companies are focusing on a more conscious business model and their potential to influence and shape the world positively.
As evidence of these goals, 56% of mission statements expressed positive overall sentiment. Another 40% were neutral, and 4% conveyed negativity. More notably, mission statements from 2023 were 2.5 times more positive than those from 2010, indicating an optimistic shift in corporate values.
Insights by Industry
Mission statements seem to be trending positive, but are certain industries more encouraging than others? To find out, we analyzed mission statements by industry, identifying words used more often by each and the overall sentiments they convey.
Food and beverage industry startups had the most positive mission statements, with 79% serving up positivity. That service seemed quite literal, as the industry used the word “bring” 309% more often than the national average.
Following the food and beverage industry, 71% of crypto startups mined positive mission statements. Crypto companies used “digital” and “accessible” 254% more often than national averages, clearly identifying the industry’s core priorities.
However, mission statements in the financial services, B2B, and financial technology industries leaned ever-so-slightly negative, as only 48% of mission statements in each industry conveyed positivity.
Coast vs. Coast Comparison
With a significant difference between mission statement sentiment across industries, we wondered how trends would vary depending on location. We divided our companies based on headquarters location, East Coast versus West Coast, and analyzed word use and sentiment for each group.
Company mission statements were shockingly different based on location. West Coast startup mission statements most often featured words like “technology” (29%), “education” (29%), and “building” (26%). These words reflect the creativity, advancement, and innovation of the West’s Silicon Valley.
In contrast, East Coast startups featured mission statement words like “helping” (152%), “services” (96%), and “products” (96%). Often based in bustling urban centers like New York City, these statements focus more on service and helping. In fact, “helping” was used 152% more than the national average on the East Coast and a whopping 629% more than in West Coast mission statements.
That said, mission statement sentiment was almost identical for both coasts, with a fairly positive lean.
Trending Positive
Mission statements today are significantly more positive than those from a decade ago. Companies are using words like “every,” “help,” and “empower” to focus their efforts on inclusivity and support. Meanwhile, industries are reframing their goals and purposes to convey optimism and positivity. It will be interesting to see if the positive sentiment of corporate mission statements is reflected in corporate actions and customer care. If these statements are more than mere words, the consumer experience could become far more enjoyable.
Methodology
We manually collected mission statements from 545 companies, of which 18% were Fortune 500 companies and 82% were startups. To gather mission statements, year founded, industry, and headquarters location, we used Crunchbase, Bard, and Y Combinator. We then performed a frequency analysis to determine the top words used.
We also ran a sentiment analysis for the words with ChatGPT-4 advanced data analysis. The sentiment analysis model used was the TextBlob library, which provides a simple API for common NLP tasks. The sentiment score provided by TextBlob ranged from -1 to 1, with -1 indicating negative sentiment, 0 indicating neutral sentiment, and 1 indicating positive sentiment. To classify each sentiment score as positive, negative, or neutral, we set the following thresholds:
Scores greater than 0.05 were classified as positive.
Scores less than -0.05 were classified as negative.
Scores between -0.05 and 0.05 (inclusive) were classified as neutral.
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