In this world, one of the first and most important lessons we teach children is responsibility. Beginning in elementary school (and sometimes even preschool), we train students to complete simple tasks, like getting their homework signed by their parents or placing their backpacks in the same place every morning.

It seems like such a simple concept to grasp, but as adults, we still struggle with this idea of responsibility.

In the workplace, we get frustrated with our colleagues who don’t take ownership of the work they fail to complete.

In our neighborhoods, we’re infuriated with parents who walk away from their children and abandon their responsibility to raise, care, and provide for them.

In our relationships, we’re unhappy with people who constantly fail to follow through or keep their word.

However, the failure to complete a task or fulfill a commitment is only one part of our frustration. Not only do some people not do their jobs, they refuse to admit fault or be held accountable.

Responsibility is about more than doing what you say; it’s about taking ownership of your actions. This lack of personal responsibility is a crisis we are facing in the United States. We want to hold everyone else accountable, except ourselves. Today, I’m suggesting we look at responsibility in a new way—a way that may help us see more clearly.

Think about it like this: “Responsibility is simply your response to your ability.”

“Responsibility is simply your response to your ability.”

YOUR response to YOUR ability. It’s easy to abdicate responsibility when we compare ourselves to others. We can all find people who are willing to do less. People are unique and diverse. We come from different backgrounds and have different strengths and weaknesses, so our standards of responsibility cannot be the same.

However, when we understand that responsibility is how we choose to respond because of what we can do, we will respond appropriately. Responsibility is not a response to society’s standards; it’s not a response to what someone asks us to do; it’s not a response based on our feelings. Responsibility is how we respond to situations based on our ability.

Before making any more excuses, we should ask ourselves, “Did I have the ability to do this or not?” And if we did, we need to admit that we fell short and own it.

If I didn’t complete the work I promised my team I would finish, I need to acknowledge it, admit that I had the ability to do it, and commit to getting it done the next time.

If I am a parent, I am going to respond to my child not based on my preferences or how I’m feeling that day, but I going to seek to be the best parent I can be.

Right now, we all need to resist the temptation to think about someone else who needs to take responsibility for their actions. This week, think about your opportunities to take responsibility and respond based on your ability.

One of our hallmark programs at ADDO is Chick-fil-A Leader Academy. It’s a high school leadership program created in partnership with Chick-fil-A that’s focused on impact through action. As of this year, it’s the largest leadership-specific high school program in America. A crucial component of Chick-fil-A Leader Academy is that students are challenged to design, create, and implement their own projects that impact their communities. We have an incredible team that works on this program, develops content, and supports schools and Chick-fil-A restaurants all over the country. It occurred to me that some of the newer members of our team know exactly what we do, but might not understand the core of why we designed the program to include this component.

I recently shared this with our team, and today I’ll share it with you: We have a fundamental belief at ADDO that the three most important leadership skills for the 21st century are communication, collaboration, and critical thinking.

In our program, we force students to not just learn but to actually apply. To do that, we put them in environments where they have to do these three things:

1). They have to communicate with one another by sharing their ideas, persuading one another, and finding ways to simplify and explain their objectives.

2). They have to work together. No project of significance can be completed alone. They have to work with people who think differently, believe differently, and work differently than they do.

3). It necessitates that they think critically. Students have to problem-solve by looking at what’s not working and identifying effective solutions. Often times they have to overcome obstacles or setbacks and design solutions to keep moving forward.

Explaining the purpose of impact projects to our team reminded me that we can often complicate and convolute the concepts of leadership. But at its core, leading people comes down to these three things: communicate effectively, collaborate with others, and think critically.

We can often complicate and convolute the concepts of leadership. But at its core, leading people comes down to these three things: communicate effectively, collaborate with others, and think critically.

We believe these are the most practical skills that leaders need to develop, and they are just as vital for adults as they are for high school students. There are other philosophies and processes that matter in leadership, but these are the practical pieces we must master. Remember the importance of communication, collaboration, and critical-thinking. Proficiency in these three areas will be the greatest contributors to your success and ability to be promoted in any job, within any role, and at any organization.

During a recent team meeting, I watched a common mistake play out before my eyes. It’s a mistake I see others make, but also one that I am guilty of making almost every day.

Here’s the scenario: During a discussion, one person jumped in to argue their point. However, they did so with little explanation, no supporting evidence, and insider jargon that others in the room didn’t understand. The person they were speaking to looked at them with eyes glazed over because they had no background or experience with this particular issue. One person had the context; the other did not. The conversation was completely unproductive. On one hand, I wanted to jump in and “translate” what was going on, but it also reminded me of one of the most critical components of communication.

The marketing world declares that content is king. This may be true, but it’s not the end of it. If content is king, context is key.

We must remember that communication isn’t really what’s being said; it’s what’s being heard.

If content is king, context is key.

In Chip and Dan Heath’s book Made to Stick, they unpack the Curse of Knowledge—a concept first described in a 1989 issue of The Journal of Political Economy. The Curse of Knowledge is the fact that the more we know about something, the harder it is to communicate it to others. We know the information so well that we assume everyone else has the same context we do, so we struggle to step back, look at it through their point of view, and explain it clearly. The Curse of Knowledge is a problem that permeates beyond the four walls of our conference room.

In your organization, there are specific things that have become a part of your culture because of an event or experience from years ago, so when you hire someone new, it’s not enough to explain what you do. To communicate clearly, you must move beyond what and explain why. By telling stories and sharing experiences, you help new members of your team understand certain practices, policies, and procedures.

The Curse of Knowledge also applies to sales. Sometimes, the closer we are to a product, the worse we are at selling it. We’ve all walked into the new restaurant where every item on the menu has a nickname. Unless the person serving you takes the time to explain what the items are and how the menu works, you’ll be frustrated before you even try to order. Without context, the content will overwhelm you, but with the proper context, you can have a unique dining experience.

Perhaps one of the most dangerous implications of the Curse of Knowledge is when it makes us less effective at articulating our faith to unbelievers. The further you are along on your faith journey, the harder it is to clearly communicate to those without your level of knowledge. We make assumptions that others have the same experiences that we do, understand our church services, or even our insider language. We must work diligently to overcome these potential stumbling blocks.

The Curse of Knowledge can even follow us home. At the end of a long day, it’s easy to vent our frustrations or tell stories about the day without providing context to our spouses. We make an assumption that someone as close to us as the person we married understands why we’re having these experiences at work, but without providing the necessary background information, our stories can fall on deaf ears.

Think about areas where you suffer from the Curse of Knowledge. Is there an area in your life in which you are so knowledgeable that you have become inept at clearly communicating? Take time to identify these areas, try to put yourself in the position of the listener, and seek to help others understand.

At the end of the summer, we took a company retreat and spent some time away from the ADDO office. We do this twice a year to cast vision, enjoy time together as a team, and talk about what’s next for our company.

Different members of our team lead sessions, and at this particular retreat, Patrick led a morning devotion to kick-off our time together. The anchor of his message was a quote from a former pastor of his: “What you meditate on, you magnify, and what you magnify controls you.” As he dove into this quote and explained it fully, I gained a new understanding of how our thoughts direct our everyday choices.

What you meditate on, you magnify, and what you magnify controls you.

What do you think about on a daily basis? What thoughts consume your mind? What do you dwell on in your life?

Typically, our image of meditation is a person sitting with their legs crossed and eyes closed as they peacefully ponder the meaning of life. But the kind of meditation we’re talking about is a focus or fixation on something. It’s what you dwell on, and it’s what distracts you from thinking of anything else. As the quote says, what you meditate on, you magnify

.I love this picture that Patrick painted for us. He asked, “Have you ever been to an IMAX movie theater?” Then he encouraged us to imagine sitting on the front row of one of these monstrous theaters. You’re leaned back, looking almost straight up, and all you can see is this giant, glowing screen. It’s so big and so overpowering that you can’t even see all of it, you can’t see the movie clearly, and you definitely can’t see anything else around it. He explained that if you meditate on something, it takes over your mind the way an IMAX movie screen engulfs you on the front row. It is on the forefront of your mind, and it’s all-consuming to you. It becomes so overpowering that these magnified thoughts not only affect your emotions; they control your decisions.

As we examine the things that consume our thoughts, it’s often the difficult experiences that overwhelm us long after they have come and gone.

Someone special hurt you years ago, and it hinders your ability to have a healthy relationship today.

You were taken advantage of by a friend, and now, you respond differently to people because of it.

You had a bad experience at a church, so you’ve never gone back.

As a child, you witnessed your parent’s marriage fall apart, and it’s preventing you from committing to the person you love.

You won’t go to that grocery store out of fear that you’ll run into that person that you despise.

If you’re constantly meditating on something bad that’s happened to you, you magnify it, and you won’t move on from it. I once heard a sermon on forgiveness where the pastor said, “When you hate somebody, your world gets smaller.” Isn’t that true? You might actually choose not to go to a place or participate in some activity because someone you don’t like might be there. What a shame! If your mind is consumed by the negative, you will live in the shackles of your past circumstances.

Maybe, as you’re reading this, you are thinking of something that you have dwelled on for far too long. Perhaps this is the first time you’ve realized that you’re allowing those experiences, that pain, and those thoughts to control you. Decide today that you will stop meditating on and magnifying that experience. Once you stop dwelling on it, it will become smaller to you. The smaller an object becomes, the less control it will have over you.

Instead, focus your thoughts on what’s important. “Let your eyes look directly forward, and your gaze be straight before you” (Proverbs 4:25, ESV). When you magnify what matters, your life will improve.

Earlier this year, I was in a meeting at Chick-fil-A, listening to David Salyers speak. David spent many years in marketing at Chick-fil-A, and he shared incredible insights, but one thing in particular stuck with me. It’s an idea that Truett Cathy, the founder of Chick-fil-A, always promoted and espoused.

He explained, “Sometimes, 10% more effort yields 100% more results.”

“Sometimes, 10% more effort yields 100% more results.” - Truett Cathy

In business, we often focus on addressing the negative—finding the things that are lacking that need improvement. We spend time, energy, and effort on fixing the problems, and we should. The experiences of our customers and employees are vital to our success. But we often focus so much on the problems, that we forget to make the good even better. There are times when investing 10% more of our time and effort into improving positive experiences will yield 100% more of a return.

A few months ago, I discussed the power of moments in a blog focused on a family’s experience at Disney World. In many ways, I’m sure the people at Disney spend time addressing the negative—they look at improving wait times, having contingency plans for rainy days, providing more places for families to rest, and creating more food options for their diverse customers. However, Disney understands this powerful principle: some of the most important work they do is making their top experiences even better. They ask questions like, how do we rework the fireworks show, so it’s even more magical?

How do we add to our number one attraction to make it more memorable?

‍With finite time, people, and resources available to us, often the greatest return on investment comes in an unconventional way—not just from fixing the broken things but from improving the best things.

One of the programs we do in conjunction with Chick-fil-A is Chick-fil-A Leader Academy. As part of the program, participants create projects that impact their community. This is one of the highlights and the most important parts of our program. We have applied the principle of focusing on the positive and have found ways to make these even better.

For example, we’ve found that short, personal conversations with facilitators or participants in the program—where we provide a little bit of direction for something remarkable that’s already going to happen— can take their good project to the next level. A short interaction makes a major difference in a project’s overall impact. One participant had an idea to create a Senior Senior Prom, an event where seniors in high school hosted senior citizens for a dance at their school. Our team reached out and provided a couple of small ideas that could increase the impact of the entire project;

‍What if you also provide a red carpet that the senior citizens walk down to make them feel more special? And what if you have each of the senior citizens write down what they wish they would have known at their high school senior prom? These are examples of how 10% more effort could yield 100% more results. Now, when everyone walks away from this event, they will remember the little touches, the extra special moments, and the emotional connections that made this event impactful.

This idea of 10% more effort takes many different shapes in our daily interactions.

It could be the balloon the hostess tied to your daughter’s chair at the restaurant on her third birthday.

It could be the quick email you sent to one of your student’s parents, letting them know how their child has grown in his reading comprehension this month.

It could be the “my pleasure” you received after thanking the Chick-fil-A employee for setting up your child’s highchair when your hands were too full.

It could be the phone call you make to a faithful client, asking them about their most recent experience with your company.

It could be the hotel staff that grabbed your bags and helped you to your room before you even had time to ask.

This week, audit your activities. Are you dedicating all of your time to fixing the negative? Look at positive areas of your life where spending 10% more effort could yield 100% more results.

Social media is flooded with inspiration for us to consume. Whether it’s a memorable clip from a TED Talk or a quote from some anonymous philosopher, people share what moves them, and often, it seems profound. But lately, I’ve struggled with a lot of these messages. In fact, when I stop to think about them, I’ve started to ask myself, “Does this just sound good, or is it actually true?”

I think a healthy dose of skepticism can be a good thing. We should audit quotations or catchy phrases about faith, family, friendship, or business to see that not everything that sounds good is always honest, or even helpful. On the other hand, sometimes we can dig deeper and find the opposite is true. Sometimes a statement that, on the surface, seems too good to be true actually contains deep, applicable wisdom.

One of these quotes that falls into the latter category is one by Zig Ziglar: “You will never consistently perform in a manner that’s inconsistent with the way you see yourself.”

“You will never consistently perform in a manner that’s inconsistent with the way you see yourself.” -Zig Ziglar

It feels fluffy and self-centered, doesn’t it?

“You just need to see yourself better, so you’ll act better.” “You can’t be different until you see different."

But if you dig deeper, you’ll find that Zig Ziglar was right. His simple statement is even backed up by deeper truth found in the Bible. “As a man thinketh in his heart, so is he” (Proverbs 23:7, KJV). In other words, how you think in your heart determines who you become.

Life-change really does start with a change in our minds. So if we want to be different, we need to start thinking about things differently.

I will not be able to consistently perform well if I don’t see myself correctly. If I don’t believe my actions have an impact on my children, I won’t be intentional in my parenting.

If I don’t see money and possessions in the right perspective, I won’t be generous.

If I don’t see myself as a leader, I won’t lead others well.

If my co-workers aren’t important to me, I won’t show them that they are valuable.

If I am not convinced my faith will transform others’ lives, I won’t consistently share it with my neighbors.

If I don’t see myself as someone created in the image of God, I will allow my worth to be dictated by the opinion of others.

The way we see ourselves and think about ourselves matters. As I’ve said many times, how we view things really does change how we do things.

So this week, don’t focus on doing anything differently. Instead, just think about your thoughts. (That seems weird, doesn’t it?)

Simply make a conscious effort to be aware of what’s on your mind. If you can change your thinking, you will most certainly change your life.

Each of us have goals, dreams, and aspirations. We have people we want to become and things we want to achieve. In addition to these goals, we also have habits, activities, and routines that dominate our daily lives. Unfortunately, those habits don’t always help us pursue our goals—and this is a big problem.

Newsflash: If your daily activities don’t line up with your goals, you either need to change your activities, or you need to change your goals.

If your goals and activities aren’t in alignment, you simply won’t succeed. I have clear goals and benchmarks of what I want to achieve, but often the things I do in my daily life don’t help me grow closer to these goals. Two weeks ago, I explained leading and lagging indicators in a blog. This same concept applies to our personal goals. Our daily activities (leading indicators) will help us achieve our desired goals in the future (lagging indicators). So the real questions is, if your activities are not lining up with your goals, are you willing to make changes?

Our habits matter. What activity do you need to change in your life? Do any of these resonate?

• changing the time you wake up in the morning
• deciding to go to the gym more
• changing your diet
• reading more books
• investing in your own leadership skills
• taking a class
• going back to school
• attending a seminar
• having tough conversations with people
• meeting regularly with a business mentor
• getting constant feedback on your most important project
• reaching out about potential promotions in your company
• reading your Bible everyday
• committing to attending church each week

The possibilities are endless and diverse, just like our goals and aspirations. Maybe you resonated with one of the examples above, or maybe you need to change a different activity. But here’s the truth: If you’re not willing to make necessary tough changes, you need to give up on your goal. You’ll never achieve your goals without an alignment of your daily activities. If you aren’t willing to get to the gym or change your diet, you won’t live a healthier lifestyle.

If you aren’t willing to invest in your professional growth through reading books, attending seminars, taking classes, or meeting with a mentor, you’ll stagnate in your current position.

If you aren’t willing to have difficult conversations with the people that matter most to you, your relationships won’t go beyond the surface.

If you aren’t willing to receive and learn from constructive feedback about your work, you won’t grow in your field.

If you aren’t willing to spend more time reading Scripture and praying, you won’t grow in your faith.

This week, make a list of your goals, dreams, or aspirations and figure out what you need to do every day to eventually achieve each one. Don’t allow the comfort of a routine keep you from reaching your full potential.

I was recently having a conversation with a friend that’s in the community affairs department of an organization. This person feels discouraged and disillusioned because they accepted their current position with a desire to make a difference. They now find themselves in a role that’s less focused on impacting people and obsessed with telling their organization’s story in the most compelling way. How do we get the right photo at the event, find the right student with the sad story, or talk about the project in a way that we get the most credit for what we’re doing?

‍This is not the first time I’ve had a conversation like this. In fact, this is the classic battle of cause-related marketing. If you’re new to this term, let me explain. Cause marketing, or cause-related marketing, is when a business or organization puts resources into charitable projects and then tells that story to consumers. This is important because individuals are drawn to companies, brands, and organizations that stand for things that are bigger than themselves. However, within each of those organizations, there’s this constant struggle to focus on making a difference while also telling the story of impact without being disingenuous, manipulative, or self-serving. This is not an easy thing to do.

At its core, cause marketing is meant to promote your brand, and that is not a bad thing. But within organizations, there are those who simply want to help others but can’t always articulate the value of their business. On the other hand, there are people who only care about their business message and story, and they miss an opportunity to make a tangible difference in somebody’s life.

I believe our organization, ADDO, has found an honorable and strategic way to do both—make a difference and tell our story effectively. One of my favorite ways we’ve done it most recently is with the Atlanta Braves.

Any time we design a program, project, or initiative that is meant to make a difference in other people’s lives and build a brand, we take these three steps in this order:

1) Impact.

The first thing we think about is how we are going to impact the person we’re trying to help. For the Atlanta Braves Leadership Institute, we first considered how to equip student leaders to live and lead at a higher level.

2) Integration.‍

Next, we determine how to integrate the brand (or brands) in an authentic way. If a bank is a sponsor, how do we discuss the importance of finances in leadership? For the Atlanta Braves Leadership Institute, we wanted to integrate professional athletes, but we needed it to have broad application to all students. We decided to focus on “Leading Yourself” and asked professional ballplayers to talk about the discipline it takes to play baseball at the major league level. We then applied those principles to other lines of work.

3) Influence.

Once we have carefully considered the impact we want to make and integrated the brand in an authentic way, we work to articulate the influence that this program is making to the broader community. Then, and only then, do we work on public relations, storytelling, and how to measure impressions of the program or product we’ve put in place.

Cause marketing might seem simple, but if you don’t follow these steps in this order, it won’t work.

The cause marketing initiatives that focus first on impact, have authentic brand integration, and share their influence in the community are the ones that are most effective.

Working on a cause marketing play? Try these steps. Need some help doing it? Reach out to us at ADDO.

Our communities need you to make a difference, and we also need you to tell the story effectively, so there are more businesses like yours where we work, play, and live.

At ADDO, we believe one of the most important aspects of teaching leadership is creating a common language for corporations, teams, and students. In this blog, I simply want to make a couple of business terms accessible to everyone so that you can use them on your team. When we put words around concepts, we are able to communicate them more clearly and act on them more appropriately. Today, I want to talk about leading vs. lagging indicators.

When we put words around concepts, we are able to communicate them more clearly and act on them more appropriately.

Most people focus on lagging indicators. A lagging indicator is not the thing that shows us where we’re going; it’s the thing that shows us where we have arrived. Here’s an example that we can all relate to—when you’re trying to lose weight, this is the number that appears on the scale. If I want to lose 20 pounds, I’m going to eat healthier and exercise, but every single day, I will measure my success by standing on the scale to see how much weight I’ve lost. If this is your strategy, you’re focused on lagging indicators.

However, if I plan to focus on leading indicators, I’m less concerned with the number that appears on scale every day. In this example, leading indicators are the elements that go into losing weight, so I’m going to eat fewer calories each day and complete 30 minutes of cardio six times a week. When you focus on the leading indicators, the lagging indicators almost always have a better result. So if I focus on living a healthy lifestyle rather than changing the numbers on a scale, I’ll be more likely to lose weight and make changes that have a positive lasting impact on my life.

This principle of leading vs. lagging indicators applies to our personal and professional lives.

It’s baseball season. A lagging indicator is a player’s average. A leading indicator is how many first-pitch fastballs they do not swing at. A lagging indicator is a student’s grade on an exam. A leading indicator is how many hours they prepared for the test or how many classes they attended. A lagging indicator is a customer’s Google review of your restaurant. A leading indicator is the time you spend training your team on effective customer service strategies.

A lagging indicator is your company’s revenue growth. A leading indicator is the three new products your company added to its portfolio this year.

A lagging indicator is the number of friends that call you on your birthday. A leading indicator is the time you spend investing in your friendships.

A lagging indicator is your adult child’s tendency to come to you for wisdom and encouragement. A leading indicator is the years you spend fostering a culture of open communication and acceptance in your home.

A lagging indicator is your perception of your faith walk. A leading indicator is the amount of time you dedicate to spiritual disciplines—praying, reading your Bible, and regularly worshipping with a local body of believers.

I think that understanding these terms is important. There isn’t magic in terminology, but terminology allows us to communicate more clearly and to change our actions more effectively.

There isn’t always a one-to-one ratio between leading and lagging indicators. But I want to challenge you to think of what you’re doing on the front-end (leading) to achieve your desired results on the back-end (lagging).

In other words, what are the leading indicators that you can focus on to gain the lagging indicators you desire? Stop dwelling solely on the results, and start focusing on the things you can do to improve them.