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INDIANAPOLIS BUSINESS
JOURNAL
Small
Biz
VOL. 26 NO. 3, MAR. 28-APR. 3,
2005
Leadership
What does it
really mean to have integrity?
Leaders who claim
to have certain principles need to ensure their actions are
truly guided by those values
By CJ
McClanahan
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What values and
principles drive your business? More important, does the
leader of your business consistently demonstrate these
values?
This month, I will address an important
leadership characteristic that is all too often overlooked
in our society today--integrity. Although many leaders use
this term to characterize themselves, I find very few who
are able to even tell me what it means to have integrity.
It's not necessarily their fault; the definition
found in the dictionary--"the quality or condition of being
whole or undivided"--isn't exactly crystal clear.
So
what does this word--integrity--really mean?
Let's
start by looking at the definition offered by best-selling
Christian author V. Gilbert Beers: "A person of integrity is
one who has established a system of values against which all
of life is judged."
In other words, a person with
integrity has carefully determined exactly what principles
and values are most important to him/her and decided that
these will guide all of his/her actions. In addition, the
most important characteristic of a person with integrity is
that he/she live by these principles, regardless of the
situation or circumstance.
That's what makes it so
tough to have integrity. You can't have "service to others"
as one of your core values and then choose to only spend
time with people who improve your situation (help you make
more money, gain more influence, etc.). If your principles
and values truly guide your actions, you will seek out those
in need and help them regardless of the return to you
personally or professionally.
Unfortunately, some
business leaders don't understand the importance of
integrity. They will argue that it is their job to get
results, regardless of the principles and values that
influence their decisions. These are the same presidents and
CEOs who advocate misleading their customers and suppliers
as long as it drives more profit to the bottom line.
What they don't realize is that, although they might
succeed in improving profit in the short term, they are
significantly damaging their long-term ability to develop a
successful and loyal team of employees.
Why? I
believe the answer is trust.
Employees will not give
their best efforts and truly follow a leader unless they
trust him/her. The words of Dwight Eisenhower reinforce this
concept: "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 of a leader is
unquestionable integrity. If a man's associates find him
guilty of being a phony, if they find that he lacks
forthright integrity, he will fail. His teachings and
actions must square with each other."
If we can
agree that integrity is a critical component to becoming an
effective leader, how do you become a person who practices
the "quality or condition of being whole"? I would recommend
three basic steps as a guideline:
-- Decide what
principles/values are most important to you and write them
down somewhere that you will refer to frequently (weekly at
a minimum). Note: If this is your first time contemplating
your core principles, don't get frustrated if you draft many
versions. This is a challenging process and one of the
reasons so few people take the time to do it.
--
Share your principles/values with your closest friends and
associates. You will need the help of others to hold you
accountable to these concepts.
-- Practice these
principles/values in everything you do--not just at work and
during management meetings. These core concepts should guide
every single decision that you make. --
McClanahan
is a business coach with Action International. He can be
reached at 845-9742 or info@coachcj.com.
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