You don’t need a "mission". But you probably have one.
Plenty of architecture firms do great work without ever thinking about their vision, mission, or values.
They’re busy. They have projects lined up. On paper, they’re doing fine.
But look closer and you’ll often find a firm that’s too busy. That’s saying yes too much. That’s lowering fees just to get work they don’t really want to be doing and burning themselves out just to get it done.
Why does this happen?
Because they're working without working toward something.
This was one of the big topics in my recent Write By Design webinar hosted by AIANYS, and one of the biggest takeaways for attendees was this:
“I need to connect with people on a deeper level.”
They understood that better writing and strategy are just the means; better relationships are the end goal.
Because clients you're dreaming of—the ones who truly value your work and treat you like a partner, not a vendor—aren’t choosing firms based on availability or price. They’re choosing firms based on connection. Firms they feel good about working with for the next few months or years.
That's why, as one attendee put it, "it’s about moving from a transactional mindset to a relational one."
And that mindset shift begins by asking questions a lot of firms avoid:
What change do we want to see in the world?
What are we pushing against?
What kind of legacy are we building (whether we say it out loud or not)
You don’t need some pretentious manifesto. You don't even need to use the words “vision,” “mission,” or “values”. But you do need to answer those questions. Chances are, you already have. Even if your answers are unspoken or still evolving, they're quietly driving every decision you make. And whatever they're driving you toward, there are people out there—clients, employees, collaborators—who want to go that way with you.
But they won’t know where you're going unless you tell them — clearly, repeatedly, and, most importantly, in your own words.
So what's driving your practice?
