When the Mission Becomes Marketing
What leadership language tells you about what’s really valued, and what’s really at risk.
There’s a well-known educational institution where I once worked. It has a noble history, stretching back decades. I was proud to be part of it. Proud to help people learn, grow, develop skills, and move toward their goals. I knew that when students left with a qualification in hand, they were going out to fill important roles in society. We weren’t just ticking boxes, we were building capability and purpose.
It felt like a place that genuinely valued learning. A place where people came to find meaning and to contribute to something bigger than themselves.
But over time, I noticed a shift.
Senior leaders had stopped using the institution’s name. They started calling it The Business. The language changed: suddenly, we were being asked to think about how we could “grow the business.” It was subtle at first. But it got louder. Louder than the mission. Louder than the values.
This was in addition to everything else – planning and delivering lessons, supporting students, marking assessments, staying current with our own development. Now we were also expected to think like marketers and business strategists.
Among many of us, a quiet despair set in.
We could see where this was headed: increased student numbers regardless of suitability, more fees, more targets. Resources became harder to access. The language from leadership stayed noble on the surface, but the actions told another story. The real priorities were unmistakable.
As a manager, I kept listening. Language reveals more than we realise. It tells you where power sits. What’s really being valued. What’s coming next.
If your organisation claims to be about learning, care, or community, but starts to sound more like a quarterly earnings call, you need to pay attention. Because you and your team will be the ones asked to hold the line between values and reality.
When the rhetoric of mission and values becomes just another line in a business case, it’s up to us to decide what we really stand for, and who we’re really working for.