How to Write a Philosophy Statement

Every enterprise, company, institution, and so forth is based not only upon direct goals and objectives, but also on theoretical grounds. A well-developed and regulated company should have its own vision, and this is related to its principles, its philosophy. For example, in many ads we can see a slogan of the company advertised. The slogan should expose the philosophy of the company in brief. Hence, as it becomes clear, in order to advertise itself, a company should have elaborated a strictly defined philosophy. The same is valid as regards of educational, social, and cultural institutions.

A philosophy statement expresses the main values, ideas and ethical principles which regulate and direct the activities of the company or institution in question. The following tips will instruct you on how to write a philosophy statement, but, of course, you need to work additionally on the authenticity of your statement.

How to write a philosophy statement – 6 key tips

1. Understand what a philosophy statement is

First, let’s make a principal distinction: you should discern an advertisement from philosophy of a company. The ad will have another function: its aim is to attract the consumers. A philosophy goes beyond senses and consumerism; it usually reveals social concern. However strange it may seem, sometimes the ads of a company contradict its philosophy, which ensues from misunderstanding of its own goals.

2. Make the philosophy statement short and clear

Your philosophy statement needs to be short and clear. This is not a philosophical treatise or essay (as you may think). One page will be more than enough.

3. Use the slogan of your company or institution

This can be the starting point. Afterwards, you can explain the meaning of the slogan in brief. In case your company still needs to create its own slogan, you can use the available philosophy statement. The slogan can either (1) summarize the statement, or (2) aspire to catch attention of the audience.

4. Order the structure of the philosophy statement in the following way: 

• short introduction (two sentences) - when was the company or institution established, and by whom.
  
  
• main activities (two or three sentences) - present the main activities of the company or institution in brief. Do not be too long, as this information should be also put in the section “Who we are” or “About us”.
  
  
• vision/mission (four to six sentences): this is the vision of the company/institution’s development, but also its social engagement and function. Most of the business companies here express their belief in their contributions to society and environment. This is the commonplace mission statement. We advise you to be a little bit “different” and to write more about the values which regulate your company. What attracts the employees and makes them stay with the company? How do you see your enterprise in ten years?
  
  
• attach some photos from the “life” in the company environment: try to render the reality, and not use photos intentionally made for this philosophy statement.

5. Be honest

Be honest, or at least do not claim that your company deals with activities that it does not have any relationship to; the same applies to values. Of course, it sounds better to include words like “environment”, “society”, “equality”, “opportunity”, etc., however, your philosophy statement will merely be like the others, not differing from them at all. Think about other solutions.

6. Make your philosophy statement concise

Be short and concise: by using short sentences, you will make your message clearer. Long and complicated sentences (five lines long or even more) will just make the reader confused. Let’s repeat again, this is not a philosophical essay.

If you are working on developing a web page, you can also think about its design: colors, photos, size of the letters, etc. In all cases, writing a philosophy statement is a long process since you need to know everything about the company or institution in question.