This week’s “Daily Journal” guest columnist is Dr. Karen Palasek, director of educational and academic programs for the John Locke Foundation.
What is your school, company, state government, or organization motto? My topic this week consists of some thoughts on the subject of mottos — what they are, what they mean, and what purpose they serve, if in fact they do still serve a meaningful purpose.
The motto for the state of North Carolina, Esse quam Videri, “To be rather than to seem,” should say something meaningful about the values and ideals of North Carolinians, and about the way their state government reflects those values, goals, and ideals in its operations.
What is a motto? The motto is an ancient idea, probably rooted in practical and philosophical wisdom. The idea of choosing and publicly proclaiming a motto to others is equally ancient. Its purpose is to convey a concept in a very abbreviated format. Familiar examples include Lux et Veritas, “Light and Truth,” and Erudito et Religio, “Knowledge and Faith,” the mottos of Yale and Duke universities, respectively. They indicate how these institutions thought of themselves and their missions, and how they wished to present themselves to others. A motto can be a wishful thought, a guideline, an admonition, an assertion, an ideal toward which one strives, a belief, or even a brief statement of goals.
In traditional use, mottos were often Latin phrases. Some were designed to be timeless; the classic university motto, for example, is often a brief statement in Latin. These tend to be short, pithy phrases. In law, in education, in the military, and in medicine and other fields, the Latin motto offers an impression of solid, timeless values. As a more modern international language, French also served this purpose to a lesser degree.
Today, when widespread knowledge of Latin is no longer a given, the traditional Latin motto may be more of an interesting artifact than a conscious proclamation of one’s uniqueness, orientation, or identity. But modern-day mottos exist, in English and every other contemporary language, so some of us must think they are worth the time to create and to promote. Despite the (apparently) continuing popularity of the motto as an idea, a good motto, it is said, is hard to find.
And even a decent motto is no guarantee that it will be understood or taken seriously. On one visit to a local university, my curiosity was piqued by the prominent display of the university flag, which includes the university seal and motto. The same seal was even embedded in the tile floor of the building in which I was lecturing. Since one of the university officials was my host, I asked him about the translation of the Latin phrase, and to everyone’s consternation (and probably some embarrassment), he didn’t know. We got it eventually, but clearly, until then, not too many folks had thought about the content of that statement, impressive as it appeared in the Latin. (I think they’ve probably addressed that since).
In modern times, mottos, slogans, and logos serve a somewhat similar — but not identical — purpose. That is to better define your product, service, institution, or firm within the larger sphere of activity in which you operate. In short, a conscious awareness of the organization’s motto translates into the possibility of branding, as well as establishing a niche, for that organization.
How well a motto works for niche-making can be a matter of opinion. The late Motto magazine rated Cornell University’s very long motto, actually a statement from founder Ezra Cornell, as No. 1 among college mottos.
Cornell’s motto reads: “I would found an institution where any person can find instruction in any study.” Not only is this not succinct, but in today’s higher education market, it hardly distinguishes Cornell from the pack. In 1865 when Cornell was founded, though, it was far more bold a statement than it reads today. So as a historical marker, Cornell’s motto does distinguish it from institutions of its time, and it remains significant (if wordy) for that reason.
If the motto matters in a commercial or corporate setting, it is because it conveys something meaningful both to those in the organization itself, as well as to customers. Mark Walton in Generating Buy-In uses the term strategic story — a short, motto-like story/statement — to identify the guiding concept of a firm. Examples include: “The Real Thing” (Coca-Cola), “You Deserve a Break Today” (McDonalds), “We Bring Good Things to Life” (General Electric), “Reach Out and Touch Someone” (AT&T), “Come to Where the Flavor Is” (Marlboro), “The Future is Growing” (Weyerhauser), and others. In this sense, the short motto/story line still matters, especially if it directs attention to the desired image and goal, and helps to guide continuing actions. Although I can think of strategic stories I would not endorse, those are not the ones I am concerned with here. In this sense, I also mean more than phrase-of-the-day kind of daily meditations.
What can you do with a motto? Are they just relics of a past age (and therefore better off phrased in Latin anyway)? In the best sense, a motto is more than just ‘saying your right words,’ a formulaic incantation without content or meaning. It’s an enduring anchor, a stable guidepost, a reminder of goals, and a message that hearers can relate to personally, all in bite-size, memorable format. And they are a powerful tool for organizations, individuals, government institutions, firms, faith groups, and others who employ them to check their actions regularly against their stated ideals.