Why aligning your Mission and Business Strategy will take your edtech business further

Impact Reporting and Whitewashing

Why should you align your edtech Mission and your Business Strategy? Well, all too often the Impact Mission of an edtech business (to do good) is surprisingly independent from their Strategy and actual annual business priorities. Annual Impact Reporting then becomes—sorry to be blunt—an exercise in whitewashing. I’ve assessed enough learning businesses to see this misalignment over and over.

A great Impact Mission will take you further

This is a wasted opportunity. A learner-centered Impact Mission attracts, motivates, and retains talent. And if your Impact Mission is your Business Strategy, your teams will stay focused on your customer and can collectively achieve remarkable things—and push your business further, faster. When that happens, Impact Reporting becomes a much more authentic activity—where your Impact Mission to help learners is articulated into your Business Strategy and annual goals, and an Impact Report is an honest public statement of your progress that builds trust and confidence with your customers.

Perlego’s 2022 Impact Report

So, it’s a great pleasure to be on the Advisory Board of Perlego—a company whose mission to “Make education accessible to all” drives their Business Strategy. Of course, Rome wasn’t built in a day. For a company trying to change an industry, there are huge market, partner, and operational challenges to overcome. So, I’m especially proud that as a startup with such bold ambitions, the leadership at Perlego has the courage to share their 2022 Impact Results along this journey, and for the second year running. It’s a privilege to help them design their Business Strategy and their Impact Reporting. I hope you find the approach and their 2022 Impact Report inspiring too.

Make your Mission your Strategy

Here’s to making your Mission your Strategy—and to achieving remarkable things.

Need help to refine your Mission and Strategy?

If you want an independent, incisive, and experienced assessment of your Mission and Business Strategy and practical advice for how to refine and align them, we’d love to help. We also welcome your feedback or questions on this blog—just use the form below and start “Your challenge” with the word “Feedback.”