Mission

Mission: "Committed to Lives of Excellence"

When you become a Delt, you are part of an organization that teaches and supports individuals to live the Delt mission: Committed to Lives of Excellence. A mission is more than just a bunch of words: a mission is a declaration of a future, the place where you want to stand in all life’s challenges and experiences. A mission is what drives you, motivates you and keeps you focused in life. The mission and values are not only a reflection of the Fraternity’s history and accomplishments; the mission and values are also the future of the Fraternity, the purpose of the organization. By pledging Delta Tau Delta, you will commit to be responsible in everything you do to ensure that your actions reflect a life of excellence.

Defining Excellence

Every man must determine the specific achievements he must accomplish in order to deem his own life "excellent." Your responsibilities include choosing a career path, deciding what beliefs to adhere to, what to learn and apply in life, and what actions to take. Delta Tau Delta helps you with these responsibilities by consistently asking one simple question: How are your thoughts and actions reflective of a life committed to excellence? What is "excellence?" Think of it as the process of continually growing and improving yourself and your life. Excellence entails achievement and accomplishing goals that can be measured by constantly asking the question, "Is what I’m doing truly reflective of a life committed to excellence?" Your greatest responsibility as a lifelong member of Delta Tau Delta is to define excellence in your life, then to choose the best course of action to make it happen. Excellence is not a relative term, it is the standard by which you must judge what you do. You will quickly discover that committing yourself to a life of excellence cannot be accomplished haphazardly. First, you need to establish exactly what it means to be "committed" to excellence, and "committed" to the Delt value system. The dictionary provides a definition of the word "commit":

"To commit is to bind or obligate, as by pledge.

To commit is to be consigned, given over.

To commit is to do, perform.

To commit is to give in trust or charge."

The first two parts of the definition involve intention; the second two involve action. Commitment transforms promises into reality. It is the words that speak boldly of your intentions, and the actions that speak louder than words. Commitment is making the time for a brother when there is none; helping your brother and the Fraternity time and time again, year after year. It is the stuff character is made of, the power to change the face of things. Making the commitment to living a life of excellence is a binding obligation that will enormously affect your life and that of those around you. Having given yourself over to the Delta Tau Delta mission in trust, you will be well on your way to building behaviors and values that will generate a great advantage for you in obtaining your personal and career goals.

Truth, Courage, Faith and Power are Our Foundation

The next part of the equation is the value system that guides actions of Delts. Values are the roadmap and tools you need on the journey through a life committed to excellence. Values are guiding principles that help you make decisions and take action in life. You have already lived within many sets of values in your life. Your parents, school, community, and church promote values like respect, a good work ethic, and honesty. To survive and thrive in those environments required compliance with those values. A commitment to Delta Tau Delta will place you in another environment, one where you will play a different and more responsible role in living your life according to values. Delta Tau Delta is a value-driven, private membership organization. Our value system will help you address specific aspects of your life; from academics to social behavior. The Delt value system helps you make decisions and take action. Delta Tau Delta values are guiding principles, a lens through which to view the world. Simply having values is not enough; the real challenge is to truly understand and apply those values into your everyday language, decisions, and actions. The consummate Delt is a man centered in his principles and naturally behaving in a way consistent with the value system of the Fraternity. Since its beginning Delta Tau Delta has embraced truth, courage, faith, and power as its fundamental principles. In addition, the Ritual will reveal other values woven into the fabric of the Fraternity; values like integrity, accountability, and lifelong learning. Although a firm foundation supports even those who are clueless of its meaning, understanding the characteristics of the Delt values of truth, courage, faith and power are necessary to properly appreciate, maintain, and lead the Fraternity’s foundation.

One part of leading the Delta Tau Delta foundation is truth. Truth is fundamental to any organization built on values, but truth is particularly critical to Delta Tau Delta because honest relationships among members are mandatory for brotherhood. Telling the truth to yourself and others is fundamental to your commitment to a life of personal and career excellence, and a cornerstone of the very survival of the chapter. Courage is another principle that Delts incorporate into their thoughts and actions. Being courageous means aggressively taking on challenges and being a leader in the face of adversity. Courage means caring for the lives of the people around you and understanding that sometimes saying "no" is a necessary act of responsibility and love for your brothers and the Fraternity as a whole. The Fraternity itself serves as an excellent role model, having taken on and overcome numerous challenges in its history. As a member of Delta Tau Delta, you will seek out and accept personal challenges in your journey through a life of excellence. Another fundamental value is faith. Faith means fidelity, loyalty, and honor among men. Faith also means knowing that the people around you will choose to do the right thing provided they have the necessary information and understand the consequences of their actions. Even today faith is absolutely necessary for our stability as a Fraternity and for us as men. Power is another value woven into the Fraternity’s fabric. Power is the basic energy to initiate and sustain action; translating intention into reality. The inherent ability and talents of each Fraternity member are valuable resources at your disposal. Intellectual strength provides ideas and recognition of the challenges you will face daily. Moral superiority provides you the under-standing of what is right and good in your life, and the determination to keep it. These are the qualities that give Delts the power and the energy to continue looking and moving towards a great future together. The words, "truth, courage, faith, and power," represent far more than outlined here; the initiation ceremony provides a greater description of their richer symbolism. The knowledge of these four fundamental principles of Deltism is important, as they are not only the foundation for the Fraternity, but also keys to the advancement of each individual member’s personal and career goals. These four principles are also directly connected to five important values to which we are committed (integrity, accountability, lifelong learning and growth, strengthening community, and brotherhood).