The term “mission drift” may have a negative connotation but can actually be desirable for a company and its investors, Dr Matthew Grimes, Reader in Innovation & Organisation at Cambridge Judge Business School, writes in the financial magazine Barron’s.
There is actually good and bad mission drift, so it’s important to distinguish between haphazard drift and coordinated actions that result in “mission lift” – where an organisation responds well to cultural shifts in the operating environment. Google and Netflix have both followed this latter route.
The article in Barron’s – entitled “Why mission drift can sometimes be a good thing” – was published online and in the 15 April print edition of the financial magazine published by Dow Jones, which also publishes The Wall Street Journal newspaper.