Honesty is the best policy

To be honest means to do what you know in your heart is right.  Sometimes being truly honest means giving up something you want in exchange for doing the right thing.  Leadership means being your own person and when you earn a reputation for integrity, values and honesty, you’re likely to be a respected leader within the company.  Leaders who have gained success pay attention to the inner voice that provides their moral compass, and they learn to guide their conduct according to the virtues and principals that flow from their moral identities.  Ed McMahon once said, “Honesty is the most single most important factor having a direct bearing on the final success of an individual, corporation, or product.”  Webster says that the definition of honesty is the ability to be truthful and having freedom from deceit.

Here is a story about an elderly carpenter who is ready to retire.  He tells his employer-contractor of his plans to leave the house building business and live a more leisurely life with his wife enjoying his extended family.  He would miss the paycheck, but he needed to retire.  They could get by.  The contractor was sorry to see his good worker go and asked if he could build just one more house as a personal favor.  The carpenter said yes, but in time it was easy to see that his heart was not in his work.  He resorted to shoddy workmanship and used inferior materials.  It was an unfortunate way to end his career.  When the carpenter finished his work and the builder came to inspect the house, the contractor handed the front-door key to the carpenter.  "This is your house," he said, "my gift to you."  What a shock! What a shame!  If he had only known he was building his own house, he would have done it all so differently.  Now he had to live in the home he had built none too well.

Think of yourself as the carpenter.  Think about your house.  Each day you hammer a nail, place a board, or erect a wall. Build wisely.  It is the only life you will ever build.  Even if you live it for only one day more, that day deserves to be lived graciously and with dignity.  We all must not forget that life is a do-it-yourself project.  Your life tomorrow will be the result of your attitudes and the choices you make today.

Learning Respect can be very hard at times

 G. Alan Bernard once said, “The respect that leadership must have requires that one’s ethics be without question.  A leader not only stays above the line between right and wrong, he stays well clear of the gray areas”.  Webster says that the definition of respect is having a feeling of deep admiration for someone or something.

Here is a story that a good friend shared with me many years ago.  A young man was getting ready to graduate from college.  For many months he had admired a beautiful sports car in a dealer's showroom, and knowing his father could well afford it, he told him that was all he wanted.  As graduation day approached, the young man awaited signs that his father had purchased the car.  Finally, on the morning of his graduation, his father called him into his private study.  His father told him how proud he was to have such a fine son, and told him how much he loved him.  He handed his son a beautifully wrapped gift box.  Curious, but somewhat disappointed, the young man opened the box and found a lovely, leather-bound Bible, with the young man's name embossed in gold.  Angry, he raised his voice to his father and said "With all your money, you give me a Bible?" and stormed out of the house, leaving the Bible.

Many years passed and the young man was very successful in business.  He had a beautiful home and wonderful family, but realized his father was very old, and thought perhaps he should go to him.  He had not seen him since that graduation day.  Before he could make arrangements, he received a telegram telling him his father had passed away, and willed all of his possessions to his son.  He needed to come home immediately and take care of things.  When he arrived at his father's house, sudden sadness and regret filled his heart.  He began to search through his father's important papers and saw the still new Bible, just as he had left it years ago.  With tears, he opened the Bible and began to turn the pages.  And as he did, a car key dropped from the back of the Bible.  It had a tag with the dealer's name, the same dealer who had the sports car he had desired.  On the tag was the date of his graduation, and the words PAID IN FULL.

Self-respect is at the heart of respecting others.  When you can identify and appreciate your strengths and accept your vulnerabilities, it's easier to truly respect the value in others.

How do you define Integrity?

How do you know if a person has integrity?  These are people who are honest, kind, fair minded, and generous.  A characteristic of a great leader is their integrity.  Maria Razumich-Zec once said, “Your reputation and integrity are everything.  Follow through on what you say you’re going to do.  Your credibility can only be built over time, and it is built from the history of your words and actions”.  Webster says that the definition of integrity is the ability to adhere to moral and ethical principles.

Integrity encompasses many qualities, and one of them is accountability or taking responsibility for one's actions.   The lack or personal accountability is a major pitfall of leadership.  A leader who does not take responsibility for their actions and decisions is bound to fail.  Without personal accountability, a person has the tendency to play the blame game.  Whatever the consequences of their decisions are, particularly their mistakes, they blame on others.  This is a manifestation of cowardice and dishonesty and very unbecoming of a leader.  A leader without courage and integrity does not gain the respect of their followers.  In such a case, leadership has lost its essence.  There is no true leadership without responsibility.

Another quality of integrity is true virtue and true virtue comes from within.  It is instilled by time, experience and understanding.  If you know virtue and you have it in you, you will know it in other people.  You can always search in Google to find the meaning and criteria of "integrity" and you will read its definition.  If you yourself are a person of integrity, or are searching for integrity in yourself, your inner knowing and your intuition will give you the understanding to know the virtue from the pretense.  Virtue as a part of our true humanity will speak to the true humanity in others.  Otherwise, if virtue has been subdued and clouded by negativity, you cannot see its light or feel its voice.  Lastly, decisions may fail, but true leadership admits that mistake and makes means to recover.  True leadership knows the humility to admit mistakes, the integrity to take responsibility and the courage to move on.  The journey in being a great leader starts with acquiring integrity first.