THE MOST IMPORTANT INGREDIENT OF LEADERSHIP — INTEGRITY
People with integrity have nothing to hide and nothing to fear. Their lives are open books. Sadly, integrity is a vanishing commodity today. Personal standards are crumbling in a world that has taken to the hot pursuit of personal pleasure and shortcuts to success. Integrity is not only the referee between two desires. It is the pivotal point between a happy person and a divided spirit. It frees us to be whole persons no matter what comes our way. “The first key to greatness,” Socrates reminds us, “is to be in reality what we appear to be.” Too often we try to be a “human doing” before we have become a “human being.” To earn trust a leader has to be authentic. For that to happen, one must come across a good musical composition that does the words and the music must match.
If what I say and what I do are the same, the results are consistent. For example
- I say to the employees: Be at work on time
- I arrive on time
- They will be on time.
- I say to the employees: Be Positive
- I exhibit a positive attitude
- The will be positive
- I say to the employees: Put the customer first
- I put the customer first
- They will put the customer first
If what I say and do are not the same, the results are inconsistent. For example
- I say to employees: Be at work on time
- I arrive at work late
- Some will be on time, some won’t
- I say to the employees: Be Positive
- I exhibit a negative attitude
- Some will be positive, some won’t
- I say to the employees: Put the customer first
- I put myself first
- Some will put the customer first, and some won’t
89% of what people learn comes through visual stimulation, 10% through audible stimulation and 1% through other senses. So it makes sense that the more followers see and hear their leader being consistent in action and word, the greater their consistency and loyalty. What they hear, they understand. What they see they believe! Too often we attempt to motivate our followers with gimmicks that are short-lived and shallow. What people need is not a motto to say, but a model to see.
THE CREDIBILITY ACID TEST: “My goal is to inspire you to change: if that happens, the organization will also be changed.” As I have said time and time again, everything rises and falls on leadership. The secret to rising and not falling is integrity. Let’s look at some reasons why integrity is so important.
- Integrity builds trust: In order to be a leader a man must have followers. And to have followers, a man must have their confidence. Hence, the supreme quality for a leader is unquestionably integrity. Without is, no real success is possible, no matter whether it is on section gang, a football field, in an army, or in a office. Too often people who are responsible for leading look to the organization to make people responsible to follow. They ask for new title, another position, an organization chart, and a new policy to curtail insubordination. Sadly they never get enough authority to be effective. Why? They are looking to the outside when their problem is on the inside. They lack authority because they lack integrity.
- Integrity has a high influence value: “Every great institution is the lengthened shadow of a single man. His character determines the character of the organization.” That statement “lines up” with the words of Will Rogers who said, “People’s minds are changed through observation and not an argument.” People do what people see.
- Integrity facilitates high standards: Leaders must live by higher standards than their followers. This insight is exactly the opposite of most people’s thoughts concerning leadership. In a world of perks and privileges that accompany the climb to success, little thought is given to the responsibilities of the upward journey. Leaders can give up anything except responsibility, either for themselves or their organizations.
- Integrity results in a solid reputation, not just image: Image is what people think we are. Integrity is what we really are. In ancient China the people wanted security against eh barbaric hordes to the nor, so they built the great wall. It was so high they believed no one could climb over it and so think nothing could break it down. They settled back to enjoy their security. During the first hundred years of the wall’s existence, China was invaded three times. Not once did the barbaric hordes break down the wall or climb over it. Each time they bribed a gatekeeper and then marched right through the gates. The Chinese were so busy relying on walls of stone they forgot to teach integrity to their children.
Your answers to the following questions will determine if you are into image-building instead of integrity-building:
Consistency: Are you the same person no matter who you are with? Yes or No
Choices: Do you make decisions that are best for others when another choice would benefit you? Yes or No.
Credit: Are you quick to recognize others for their efforts and contributions to your success? Yes or No.
We cannot give what we do not have. Image promises much but produces little. Integrity never disappoints.
- Integrity means living it myself before leading others: Recently I heard of a man who interviewed a consultant to some of the largest U.S. companies about their quality control. The consultant said, “In quality control, we are not concerned about the product. We are concerned about the process. If the process is right, the product is guaranteed.” The same holds true for integrity: it guarantees credibility.
When the challenger exploded, America was stunned to discover Quality Control had warned NASA that the space shuttle was not fully prepared to go. But the production said, “The show must go on!” Crash, just like many leaders.
I remember hearing my basketball coach repeatedly emphasize to our team, “You play like your practice; you play as you practice.” When we fail to follow this principle, we fail to reach our personal potential. When leaders fail to follow this principle, eventually they lose their credibility.
- Integrity helps a leader be credible, not just clever: “The final requirement of effective leadership is to earn trust. Otherwise, there won’t be any followers…A leader is someone who has followers. To conviction that the leader means what he says. It is a belief in something very old-fashioned called “Integrity.” A leader’s actions and leader’s professed beliefs must be congruent or at least compatible. Effective leadership and again this is very old wisdom is not based on being clever, it is based primarily on being consistent.”
Leaders who are sincere don’t have to advertise the fact. It’s visible in everything they do and soon becomes common knowledge to everyone. Likewise, insincerity cannot be hidden, disguised, or covered up no matter how competent a manager may otherwise be.
The only way to keep the goodwill and high esteem of the people you work with is to deserve it. No one can fool all the people all of the time. Each of us, eventually, is recognized for exactly what we are not what we try to appear to be. “People of integrity expect to be believed. They also know time will prove them right and are willing to wait.”
- Integrity is a hard-won achievement: Integrity is not a given factor in everyone’s life. It is the result of self-discipline, inner trust, and a decision to be relentlessly honest in all situations in our lives. Unfortunately, in today’s world, the strength of character is a rare commodity. As a result, we have few contemporary models of integrity. Our culture has produced few enduring heroes and few models of virtue. We have become a nation of imitators, but there are few leaders worth imitating.
“When wealth is lost, nothing is lost; when health is lost, something is lost; when a character is lost, all is lost.” Integrity is an inside job. The Leadership Challenge, followers expect four things from their leaders: honesty, competence, vision, and inspiration.
YOU WILL ONLY BECOME WHAT YOU ARE BECOMING RIGHT NOW: Though you cannot go back and make a brand-new start, my friend. Anyone can start from now and make a brand-new end.
