Over the past couple of weeks, I’ve had the pleasure of encountering numerous great organizations. After each visit, I’ve reflected on the things that set these organizations apart and drive their success beyond that of the average company, nonprofit, or ministry. There are many things that great organizations do well, but I thought about three in particular and shared them with our ADDO team recently. I want to pass these practices along to you, as well.

1. Great organizations remember where they came from and don’t run from it.

A few weeks ago, I was at the Chick-fil-A corporate office with a colleague who had never visited their headquarters. After our meeting finished, I walked with him to their museum, a place dedicated to remembering and celebrating their growth as a company. In the museum, there is a replica of the very first Dwarf Grill. In 1946, Truett Cathy opened the Dwarf Grill (later called the Dwarf House), and it was his first step into the fast food industry. Fifteen years later, Cathy discovered the fried chicken recipe that would launch his famous chicken sandwiches and eventually, Chick-fil-A.

In an age so focused on the future, on growth, and on change, it’s easy to forget where we started. Often, we choose to forget it and even go to great lengths to run away from it. However, Chick-fil-A makes it a priority to remember and reflect on their history and origin. This practice reaffirms their identity as a company and provides an opportunity for them to reflect on their journey and celebrate their growth.

2. Great organizations draw their passion from a greater purpose, not individual projects.

At ADDO, our mission is this: Inspire today; impact tomorrow. This purpose infuses every business unit and each project we tackle. However, it seems easy for us to get off track. As a young organization, we can be overwhelmed by specific projects, On smaller teams, we can get so caught up in our specific project and our effort to perfect it that we could easily forget our purpose and overall goal as an organization.

Great organizations draw their passion from their purpose. Projects may change, but purpose does not. If an organization rallies more around individual projects instead of overarching purpose, it will become fractured. Separate colleagues will work toward separate goals and pull the organization in different directions. I want ADDO to be a great organization, so we are doing our best to learn from great companies who work hard to remain focused on the greater purpose.

3. Great organizations celebrate, and it’s central to what they do.

When you are at a football game, and your team scores a touchdown, it is a natural overflow of celebration to high-five a stranger cheering for the same team. There is no message on the jumbotron that says, “Now, it’s time to celebrate! High-five the people close to you!” You are excited and naturally share your excitement with the people around you.

Recently, a church in our area, NorthStar Church, celebrated it's 20th anniversary. It was fun to watch the genuine excitement of not only church members, but also the entire community, as they came together to celebrate the impact this church has made throughout the last two decades. At ADDO, we are also working to make celebration central to what we do. I remember the very first time we got a check from one of our clients. We were so excited! In fact, we took a picture with it, deposited the check at the bank, and went and got ice cream to celebrate. The celebration wasn’t contrived. We were genuinely excited about what we had the opportunity to do. We were passionate about our purpose to impact the world around us, and this felt like a first step toward success.

Now, it’s easy to brush off achievement as an expected part of everyday business, but we must continue to put celebration at the center of our organization. When new schools sign up for our programs, we should celebrate. When new clients come on board, we should be excited. Not because of some cheesy motivation tactic, but because the growth provides more opportunities to inspire more people to make an impact. That’s our goal in all of this, and it should be something we get excited about!

As an organization, we need to check our level of commitment to our purpose when we aren’t celebrating success.

Churches should celebrate when people experience a change of heart and a fresh faith encounter.

Charities should celebrate when new donors come on board because it provides them the opportunity to impact more lives.

Businesses should celebrate company growth because it provides more jobs for families, allows the business to interact with more customers, and gives them an opportunity to have a positive impact on the people they come in contact with.

When celebration is central, it fuels the great work of great organizations that can change the world.

Are you a part of a great organization? Consider the qualities I mentioned above. Could your church, charity, or business improve in any of the three areas described? Take some time to jot down some ways your organization can practically acknowledge its past, remember its purpose, and celebrate its success.

General George Smith Patton Jr. served as a senior officer in the United States Army in World War II and helped lead the Allied invasion of Normandy in June 1944. Known for his courage and candor, Patton taught young platoon leaders strategies for empowering and directing their men. Rather than painting the picture of a military mastermind plotting formations in a tent, Patton charged his platoon leaders to lead from the front. He encouraged them to stand before their men in the face of danger as a means to motivate them to move. On one of these occasions, Patton said, “You young lieutenants have to realize that your platoon is like a piece of spaghetti. You can’t push it. You have to get out in front of it and pull it.”

Can you imagine the weight of this call and responsibility? When bullets are flying, when explosions are shaking the earth, when men are falling to the ground around you, you are asked to move out front. The general tells you to step forward, into the line of fire, in front of lower-ranking reports.

When leaders are willing to stand up and step out front, it’s more than just their physical presence that makes a difference. The physical position creates a mental and emotional motivation that inspires others to follow. A leader who is willing to step out front not only shows others what to do, but they are actually helping others find the will do it.

Isn’t this what the world is looking for? So many people are looking for leaders who will show us what needs to be done and inspire us to move.

Individuals who lead from the front inspire people to follow them. These leaders don’t just coax others or conjure up emotion to get them to stand behind the cause, rather they help people believe in the cause by showing that they are personally passionate about it.

Although General Patton’s charge is focused on leadership in war, leading out front is important to all aspects of our personal and professional lives.

The business executive that leads out front goes the extra mile at work. Her passion is apparent, and she inspires her colleagues to follow her leadership. The dad that leads out front models integrity and humility. His actions encourage his children to do the same.

The football player that leads out front shows up first to practice and hustles the entire time. His team is motivated and performs better because of his example. The church member that leads out front is the one that is the first to talk to the new family sitting in the back row of the sanctuary. Other church members are reminded not by what someone tells them to do, but by what they see.

It’s easy to wish someone else would step up and show the way. Instead of looking to others to lead, look in the mirror.

What if you’re the leader that others have been waiting on? Your willingness to get out front might just inspire others around you to do something great. Are you willing to lead out front in your professional and personal life? Think of one simple but strong way you can lead out front this week. Once you’ve thought of it, take a step out. The world is waiting for you.

This morning, I’m waking up in Nairobi, Kenya. This is my third trip to Kenya, and my second time serving with CARE for AIDS.

In preparation for this trip,  I reread When Helping Hurts and was reminded of the reasons why I am so passionate about working with CARE for AIDS. They have a clear mission and understand what needs to be done to accomplish their goal and incite real, lasting change.

Unfortunately, not every missions organization, nonprofit, or church group understands that there are wrong ways to help communities in poverty, and though their intentions are pure, the consequences are negative and significant.

In When Helping Hurts, Steve Corbett and Brian Fikkert give many examples of harmful philanthropy, but two specific problems stick out to me: economic hurt and creating a dependence.

1. Economic Hurt.

It is easy to assume that fulfilling the material needs of a poor community will be helpful to them. Unfortunately, this assumption often hurts a community in the long-run because it fails to stimulate their economy. For example, if you decide that you are going to bring enough blankets for every family in a village, the woman who weaves blankets for a living may never get business again. She will stop making money and will become even more in need than she was before you came to help.

2. Creating a Dependence.

You can give a man to fish, or you can teach a man to fish. Which do you think will be more helpful long term? That’s right—teaching a man to fish will allow him to be self-sufficient when you’re gone. The problem with many organizations is that they want to fill an immediate need, rather than take the time to prevent a future need. If more time was spent educating and equipping people in need, they would be less dependent on government systems and philanthropic organizations and more able to be active members of society.

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CARE for AIDS works to prevent both of these problems in their ministry and is one of the most impressive nonprofits impacting the world today. I believe that what they are doing has a lasting impact for three reasons.

1. They have identified a clear problem.

In East Africa, a large percentage of the population struggles with the impact of AIDS. Although many people have access to the right medicine, they do not have the education, emotional capacity, or spiritual drive to use these resources appropriately. Because of this lack of care, parents fighting AIDS often die prematurely, leaving their children to grow up as orphans.CARE for AIDS has a clear goal: orphan prevention.

2. They help for a defined period of time.

CARE for AIDS works through local churches to take parents with AIDS through a nine-month program designed to educate, support, and empower them to live long, self-sufficient lives with this disease. They educate these parents on how to use the medicine they need and on why it is important. They provide the emotional and psychological support necessary to prepare to live life with this disease. They also share the gospel with these parents, giving them a hope beyond this life on earth.

3. They are solving a need that a lot of people don’t see.

After graduating from the CARE for AIDS program, clients will live an extra 20-25 years. This means, despite their HIV status, they will live to raise their children and even see their grandchildren. Instead of ministering directly to orphans, their goal is to prevent orphans altogether, and the work they do is helping maintain healthy family units throughout East Africa.

When you’re choosing to give your time and resources, it’s important that the cause is worthy and the solution is sustainable.

Are you giving to causes and charities who do this well? Consider working with an organization like CARE for AIDS and be a part of making a lasting impact on the world around you.

Typically when I wrap up a speaking engagement, people will come up and ask questions about the content of the talk. In fact, one of my favorite things is talking one-on-one with people about subjects I am passionate about.However, somebody this past week had a different type of question. They simply asked, “How do you speak like that? I’m less interested in what you said and more interested in how you said it and how you have the courage to do that?” While I was flattered by the compliment, I was more frustrated that I didn’t have a good answer for him. I stumbled over some generic advice about public speaking, but honestly, I didn’t give him the kind of answer I wanted. I came home that evening and thought about the most valuable lessons I’ve learned about public speaking.My mind eventually went to a cassette tape (yes, this makes me feel old) that I listened to when I first became interested in public speaking. The tape was titled “The Language of Leadership,” and on it, James Humes, presidential speech writer and historian, discussed Winston Churchill’s approach to speaking. He called it “The Sir Winston Method” and differentiated this approach from many others. Humes said the goal of some speeches are to inform, others to educate, some may elicit emotion, but he noticed that Churchill’s goal was always to move people to action.Thus, “The Sir Winston Method” is ultimately about leading people to do something with the information they’ve just received. Humes lays out five practices, and these guide me each time I prepare to speak. I’ve shared them with you below. Hopefully, they’ll benefit you the next time you are asked to speak before a group.1. Start StrongToo many people get up to speak and start by thanking the audience. This is a kind gesture, but you can quickly lose your audience with this predictability. As a public speaker, you must capture your audience’s attention immediately in order to keep them engaged throughout your talk. Tell a surprising story. Share a startling statistic. Do something to make the audience listen.2. One ThemeYou need a consistent theme to ground your message. It is alright to have multiple points, but you need one theme. An overarching and consistent message helps the audience better remember what you said and actually apply it. You don’t want to lose them at the beginning, and you certainly don’t want to confuse them in the middle.3. Vivid ImageryJames Humes says, “To be concrete, use sensory language.” Paint word pictures for your audience that help them engage with your content. President Kennedy didn’t say, “We want to advance space exploration for scientific progress.” Instead, he famously said, “Our goal is to put a man on the moon.” This concrete image of a man on the moon is easier to get excited about than simply the concept of space exploration. Another example is when Steve Jobs first unveiled an iPod, he asked, “How do you fit a thousand songs in your pocket?” Rather than talk about how much data could be stored in such a small space, Jobs painted a picture of what the product could do. Use similar images to engage your audience.4. Simple LanguageSimplicity isn’t about dumbing down; it’s about prioritizing. Consider what’s most important about your message and communicate it simply and clearly. It’s interesting that when we speak in front of a group, sometimes our inclination is to use more advanced vocabulary so that people will think we are smarter. In fact, it's often through simpler terminology that we communicate more clearly. Consider the core of your message. Ask yourself if you can communicate it with an anecdote, an analogy, or a simple phrase that can carry your message.[ctt template="2" link="wtR63" via="yes" ]Simplicity isn’t about dumbing down; it’s about prioritizing. @KevinPaulScott[/ctt]5. End on EmotionPeople care about people, not numbers. How does what you are talking about affect your audience and the important people in their lives? Use excitement, sadness, happiness, fear, or another emotion to drive home your final call to action. Make it clear exactly what you want people to do with the information that you have given them, and provide a tangible example of how they can fulfill this call to action.Every communicator is different. There is no “one size fits all” approach, but if you want to speak and inspire people to act, I’d suggest that following Winston Churchill is a good place to start!

“What you win them with is what you win them to.” - Ravi Zacharias, Christian Apologist, Author, and Evangelist

Recently, I heard this quote from Ravi Zacharias and was struck by how he cautions fellow Christians against altering their message in an effort to make it more appealing. He understands that if you water down your message, you end up with people deciding to believe in something that’s not completely true. Ravi’s quote is related to a religious message, but isn’t the same concept true in the business world?

Consider this scenario: You are great at baking, specifically baking cakes. You launch your new business, and you start making cakes for your friends, and their friends, and before you know it, your business is off the ground. Cake-making is something you enjoy, and it’s the offering you want to build your business around.

One day, someone calls, and they ask you to make a large order of sandwiches to cater an upcoming event. Sure, you know how, but it’s not really what you do. Beyond that, it’s not what your business is about. You decide to do it with the hope of earning this customer’s business, thinking that the next time, they’ll ask you to bake a cake.

Instead, the next week, that customer calls back and wants more sandwiches. Then they’ve referred you to their friends. What do their friends want? You guessed it, more sandwiches.

There’s no problem with making sandwiches, but now, the offering you’ve won their business with is the offering that they keep coming back to.

Or how about this situation? You own a painting company. That’s your expertise and your passion. A large business calls you, but instead of asking you to paint, they ask you to clean their office space. It’s out of the scope of what you do, but you decide that just this once you’ll do it, hoping to earn their painting business down the road. However, every few months they call you back, not asking you to paint, just asking you to clean again. You’ve made a strategic mistake—the thing you’ve won their business with is unfortunately all they want you to do.

As a business owner, I’ve felt this temptation to alter our offerings to gain an exciting new customer. As my imagination runs wild with all the possible ways this client could help grow our business, I realize how easy it is to stray from the core of who we are and what we do well.

I’m not suggesting we be unaccommodating to our clients and customers, but I am cautioning against getting the wrong business. When you alter what you do to attract a customer, they will often expect you to continue doing more things that are not central to who you are as a company. If you continue shifting from the core of your business, your identity as an organization is at stake.

This can take on many different forms. It could mean changing your offerings to appease someone. It could be drastically discounting the rates you charge to get a customer to say yes. It's easy to rationalize when you're just trying to attract new business, but it can often be a dangerous practice. When you’re willing to say or do anything to get a sale, you cheapen your offering, discount your ability, and sell yourself short.

When you’re willing to say or do anything to get a sale, you cheapen your offering, discount your ability, and sell yourself short.

This week, consider your message personally and professionally and ask yourself the following questions.

Are you ever tempted to alter your offerings to gain a new customer or client?

What do you do best as a company? Do you feel like this is being presented clearly to your customers?

How can you work to maintain the identity and core message of your business?

*You may not be in the business world, but this principle applies to churches and charities, as well. No matter the type of organization, mission drift is always dangerous.

Our company ADDO is currently working on an elementary school program called The Voyage that’s dedicated to transforming elementary school students’ perspectives about the decisions they make and the actions they take. Working on The Voyage provides me an opportunity to interact with elementary school students and teachers, and at a meeting a couple weeks ago, I heard an interesting story about one class. The teacher went around and asked the students what each of them did to help out at home.

“I help clean the dishes,” said one little girl.

“I clean my room,” followed a little boy.

“I take out the trash,” said another girl. The children went on like this, volunteering the ways they help out at home. As the students started to grow quiet, the teacher noticed that one of the students had not participated or shared his answer with the class.

“Well, do you help out at home?” she asked.

“Yes, I do,” he said.

“How do you help out?” she followed.

“I stay out of the way!”

While his answer was surprising, and kind of funny, it is also a little sad. The boy may have given the answer in jest, but imagine if he really believes his contribution would always be more harmful than helpful?

This story causes me to reflect on how many adults feel the same way. A lot of people spend their lives living on the sidelines, staying out of the way. They feel like they don’t have anything valuable to bring to the table, so they settle for living their lives as spectators rather than participants.

This is often true of people in the workplace. They show up every day to their job, and their goal is to simply stay out the way. They work through their checklist, answer their emails, wrap up their projects, and go home, even though they see ways to make their company better and their workplace more productive.

If you see something you want changed, don’t be compliant, be a contributor. Take a look at your life right now. Are you spending your time on the sidelines, or are you on the front lines, involved in making your world, your community, or your school a better place?

There’s no better way to see the world changed than to be a part of changing the world.

So what are you waiting for?

Get plugged into your job. Find an opportunity to serve in your church. Sign up to help a local charity. Join the parent-teacher organization at your child’s school. Tell your boss about the idea you had this week. Become a person of action. And when you do, you’ll have a chance to be a part of some amazing things.

Anybody who knows me knows how much I love politics. While I was in college, I received a call from a friend helping coordinate a visit of President George W. Bush to the Atlanta area. My friend said that they needed volunteers to drive in the presidential motorcade and asked if I was up for it. Needless to say, I was ecstatic. To be clear, they did not ask me to drive the limousine carrying the president, and frankly, if they had known about my driving record, they would not have even considered it. Picture this.

There are two limousines in the motorcade: one that carries the president and another that looks just like it. In front of, and behind, the limousines are police cars, and behind the police cars is a fleet of fifteen-passenger vans. These vans could carry anyone from high-ranking government officials, to low-level white house staffers, to members of the press pool traveling with the president. I would be driving one of these vans.

The night before the event, we had to attend a mandatory security briefing, receive instructions about the event, and participate in extensive background checks. There were ten of us who showed up the night before the event, and I sat next to the most excited volunteer. The lady sitting next to me made it known to the group that this was her lifelong dream. She loved the president, and she was so excited to support him by volunteering as a driver in the motorcade. All the information we talked through only fueled her excitement, until they began to walk through the scenarios of what to do if something goes wrong.

The instructions were extensive and specific. Under no circumstances are you to stop. Do not let anyone in between your car and the car in front of you. Stay inside the motorcade at all costs. Their list painted a picture out of a doomsday movie, chronicling everything that could possibly go wrong and exactly what we were to do in the face of an attack or other emergency.

As they were walking through this list, the lady next to me began to breathe heavily, rubbing her hands together. The more scenarios they covered, the more uncomfortable she looked. Shifting uneasily in her seat, she looked at me wide-eyed and said, “I really don’t know if I can do this.”

The next morning, only nine volunteers came back to drive in the motorcade. The lady did not show up. Ultimately, she allowed fear to stop her from doing something she had dreamed about for a long time.

This story reminds me of a quote from author Donald Miller: “Fear is a manipulative emotion that can trick us into living a boring life.” How many times have we allowed fear in our lives to prevent us from doing what we wanted to do?

You were afraid you might not make the school play, so you never ended up trying out.

You were nervous about the interview, so you decided to not apply for your dream job.

You didn’t want to risk getting rejected, so you never ended up asking the girl out.

Decide today that you won’t allow fear to stand in the way of the life you were created to live.

Decide today that you won’t allow fear to stand in the way of the life you were created to live.

Make the call.

Send in the application.

Ask for the sale.

Take the risk.

Don’t live a life of fear that can ultimately turn into a life of regret and “what-ifs.”

Does the story above sound familiar? What fears are holding you back from living the life you were called to live? Take some time this week to consider ways you can face your fears and pursue your dreams, both personally and professionally.

George Brett was one of the greatest baseball players of all time. He played twenty-one years of Major League Baseball for the Kansas City Royals, finished his career with more than 3,000 hits and 300 home runs, and was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1999.

As he neared the end of his career, a reporter asked him how he would like his very last at bat to go. Everyone assumed that his answer would be to go out with some fanfare—it would be the bottom of the ninth, in the World Series, with the bases loaded, two outs, full count, and he hits a home run to win the game. However, the answer Brett gave was surprising and far less dramatic. He said that he wanted the last play of his Major League Baseball career to be an average play. He wanted to hit a slow-grounder to the second baseman, and he wanted the second baseman to field it easily and throw him out as he was running to first. But when he threw him out, Brett said he wanted to be running as fast as he could toward the bag. He said he wanted it to be said of him that he always gave his best and always tried his hardest right up until the very end.

George Brett is a picture of someone committed to excellence, and his story is inspiring and challenging. He wanted to be known as a man that sought excellence in every play of his career, not just the big ones. This mentality didn’t just make him a good baseball player. It led to a successful 21-year baseball career with a consistently high level of contribution to his team and to the sport as a whole.

Can you say the same of yourself? Do you strive for excellence on the ordinary days, not just the big ones?

In the middle of the mundane, we should commit ourselves to excellence every single day.

I get it. We all get tired, burned out, and go through seasons of discouragement. But in the middle of the mundane, we should commit ourselves to excellence every single day. It’s easy to do this when you’re trying to land the big job, get the big client, or close the big sale, but on the day packed with meetings to attend and emails to return, are you committed to the same level of excellence?

Take some time today to think about the way you walk through your personal and professional life. Do you strive for excellence in the mundane moments? Do you pursue your relationships constantly? Do you strive to produce your best work at all times, even when nobody’s watching?

Trust me, I know it’s a lot easier to say than it is to put this into practice. But if every one of us showed up every single day with excellence as our goal, imagine the impact we could make!

Recently, I was in a meeting with my team at ADDO, and we were discussing possible candidates for a position in the company. We shared evident strengths and potential weaknesses as we evaluated each candidate, hoping to find a new member for our team.

When discussing the potential weaknesses of one candidate in particular, someone suggested, “He seems very ambitious.”This comment puzzled me. I’ve always considered ambition to be a positive thing. After the meeting, I decided to do some research and have been surprised by the varying negative and positive definitions attached to ambition. Let me give you a couple examples.

Dictionary.com defines ambition as “an earnest desire for some type of achievement or distinction, as power, honor, fame, or wealth, and the willingness to strive for its attainment.”

To me, this definition is negative. Someone who has an earnest desire for power, honor, fame, or wealth and works hard to get these things is self-centered at best. This person is also probably greedy, arrogant, and downright selfish, so yeah, with this definition, ambition is definitely a bad thing. However, let’s look at a different example.

Google.com defines ambition as “a strong desire to do or achieve something, typically requiring determination and hard work.”

This definition is positive; isn’t it? Someone has a goal that will be difficult to achieve, but this person has the resilience and drive to attain this goal. This person is hard-working, a problem-solver, and eager to achieve success.

The greatest difference between these two definitions is how they define success. The first claims success is “power, honor, fame, or wealth” for the ambitious person. However, the second doesn’t clearly define success. It leaves it open and provides an opportunity for success to be a positive thing, even a selfless thing, that achieves something positive for both the ambitious person and the people around him.

Make goals. Work hard. Solve problems. Achieve success. But, do these things for the good of something or someone beyond yourself.

After thinking through these two definitions, I believe that ambition can be a good thing and a bad thing; it just comes down to the motivation behind the ambition. If a person is motivated by greed, their ambition is self-serving. However, if a person is motivated to serve other people, their ambition is admirable and selfless.

Are you ambitious? How do you know if your ambition is admirable or not?

Here are some admirable things worthy of your ambition:

Providing the best products for your customers.

Adding value to your employees and coworkers.

Solving problems that create peace at work and at home.

Growing your influence to impact lives.

Sharing your faith boldly with the people God places in your life. This week, take some time to analyze ambition in your personal and professional life. Make goals. Work hard. Solve problems. Achieve success. But, do these things for the good of something or someone beyond yourself. The world needs more ambitious people eager to improve the lives of the people around them.