Classical paradigms of mission statement development, which are shaped by an understanding of organizations as machines, viewed the mission statement for years as the starting point for all decisions that followed. The way to start, the long-proposed approach says, is to articulate a vision as a fundamental idea of the organization’s future role. This vision is then supposed to be specified in a mission statement, which also provides information about the organization’s values. The mission statement then forms the basis for a cascade-like process of formulating strategic goals. The cascade is supposed to end with a list of measures for implementing the strategy, and the tenets of the corporate philosophy are supposed to soak into the organization’s culture. The idea is that every step in the process lays down an additional layer of foundation, working downwards as if towards the base of a pyramid.