According to the Wikipedia, “Integrity is holding true to one’s values. Said another way: being one’s word; doing what you said you would do by when and how you said you would do it. Integrity is knowing what is important to you and living your actions accordingly.”
From historic disasters like Enron and WorldCom, to more recent ones in the financial industry, there’s certainly no shortage of examples of leaders with who are more than willing to compromise when it comes to matters of integrity. These dangerous leaders have destroyed personal and professional lives, companies, industries, not to mention adversely affecting others around the world.
From this mess, we’ve inherited even more distrust of leaders, Sarbanes-Oxley and thousands of pages of compliance requirements from every regulatory agency imaginable. Leaders who lack integrity destroy lives and futures. Their selfishness drives dreams into the ground and dashes the hopes we have for a better and brighter future for our children.
Today’s successful leaders must subscribe to a higher level of performance. Their success and the success of the organizations they lead are dependent on how well they live their values, how closely they align words and actions. Without integrity, there is no trust, and certainly, no followers or believers. Without integrity, there is nothing for anyone.
How would you rate your level of integrity? Are your words and actions highly aligned? How does being in high integrity affect your success as a leader?
Start with yourself. Do you make promises to yourself and keep them? If you do, you’re on the right track. If not, practice over the next month or so. If you’re having difficulty following through, take a look at what you’ve obligated yourself to do. If you’re overextended, then you’ll need to prioritize and cut back on activities that aren’t serving you or which are standing in the way of you being the best leader you can be.
When you make a promise to do something for yourself or for anyone else, do whatever you can to follow through. Once this becomes a habit, not only will you enhance your leadership abilities, but also your overall performance will improve.
— Mark A. Clement
If you want to lead yourself and your business in a new direction in the New Year, I’d invite you to explore coaching with me. I offer coach-on-call, quarterly coaching sprints, as well as year-long opportunities. Consulting is also available if you’re seeking specific strategies, insight, and feedback on your personal and business projects. Connect with me at https://www.tarahelpdesk.com or reply to this email. I work with established professionals and business owners.
