John Maxwell writes that “The true measure of
leadership is influence – Nothing more, Nothing less.” I believe that a
leader’s ability to influence others starts with integrity.
That’s a word we hear a lot in life.
“INTEGRITY.” We see people in our lives who walk in “integrity” and people who
don’t. We will often see that word on the walls of organizations, within their
mission statements etc. But do these organizations and individuals live
up that standard or is it just a word that looks good and sounds good so they
use it? These are good questions and questions that every organization, and
individual for that matter, should ask themselves on a regular basis.
Perhaps a better question to ask though is:
“What does the word INTEGRITY really mean?
Here’s a few definitions from dictionary.com:
1) adherence
to moral and ethical principles; soundness of moral character;
honesty
2) the state of being whole, entire, undiminished:
to preserve the integrity of the empire
3) sound,
unimpaired or perfect condition: the integrity of a ships’ hull.
To simplify this a bit, let’s put it in layman’s
terms: Integrity is doing the right thing, “adherence to moral and
ethical principles, being honest” at all times, even, and I
would venture to say, especially, when no one else is watching (this
is the honesty piece).
I emphasize “when no one else is watching” because
how easy is it to just quietly cut a corner, or fudge a number here and there
on a report, or fail to report a mistake, because, “who’s going to know if I
don’t say anything?” Well, maybe no one for a while, but eventually, those
small little compromises catch up with us.
To paraphrase a biblical verse: It’s
the little foxes that spoil the vines. Each time we compromise, it
gets a little easier so that pretty soon, these little compromises become
habits that we develop. These habits become governing practices that can lead
to some pretty devastating consequences. Not the least of which is losing the
faith and trust of others in your midst. Having a reputation of lacking
integrity is pretty hard to overcome.
The fundamental point drives home is this: “success
is temporary; but integrity is forever.”
How true is that? Nothing is more important than
being known as a person of unwavering integrity. Things are fleeting; character
is not.
Character is something to take very seriously.
Revenue is up and down, but integrity is not.
INTEGRITY: always being honest and doing what is
right. It’s the way we do business here at Etech Global Services and that is
one thing that will never change.
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