WOW Word-Of-the-Week #358: Integrity
June 8, 2011 by Susan Clarke
Integrity – steadfast adherence to a strict moral or ethical code.
Would your staff, co-workers, family, and friends say that you are an honest person? Whom do you know that you trust implicitly? Do you have a clear sense of what is “right and wrong?”
This week’s WOW features more excerpts from the chapter in Chris’ book featuring, “The Six Guidelines I Ask Of My Direct Reports.”
Guideline #4 – Integrity
Dalai Lama
“To provide real solutions, we must act with integrity and have honest conversations about the reality of the healthcare environment. As children, most of us took honesty for granted. You don’t realize that the world isn’t always truthful until that first time someone lies to you.” – Dr. Jeffrey Weisz, Executive Medical Director, Southern California Permanente Medical Group
“High performing organizations have leaders that make decisions and take action based on strong social values and high integrity. We all like to think we have integrity. But what does it look like? What behaviors do you think of? As leaders, we exhibit integrity when we ‘walk the talk’ and act as good role models for the vision we espouse, when our behaviors are consistent with our values, and when we hold to our values – our personal values, as well as ‘our organization’s values’ – during good times and bad.”
“At Intel, the officially sanctioned norm of behavior is to ‘disagree and commit.’ They expect each employee to express his or her opinion openly, even if it goes against the grain of the group. They have an obligation to speak up and ask questions. In our organization, if you have questions, you should ask them. If you have a better idea, you should share it. If you think a decision is wrong or ill founded, you should say so. And once a decision is made, you should stand behind it.”
“A climate of honesty and integrity leads to trust, and trust leads to openness. People will be more creative, innovative and open to change. Change tests all of us. We are naturally opposed to things that are different than what we are used to.”
This week’s focus is on integrity. Do you know anyone who often times doesn’t tell the truth? Are you comfortable expressing your opinion openly? Do you believe you can disagree without being disagreeable?
Reader Responses
“It’s not a coincidence that folks with Integrity have “Grit”!:)” – John
“Everyone wants to have integrity. I heard someone say once that how we act when no one is watching is a good sign of a person’s integrity. Being able to look in the mirror and see who we really are, not when others are around. In the 30-plus years I have worked in the corporate world, I have seen a lot of people who talk the talk, but never walked the walk. Usually, they are the loudest. But behind the scenes, their integrity is lacking. No one is born with integrity. But it is ingrained in us as we experience life. We can see integrity in others, especially corporate hierarchy, in their decision-making. Unfortunately, many peoples’ decisions are based on self-interest. They will do what they need to do, and let the chips fall where they may. What happens to those people is that they do not get respect. Without integrity and respect, we do not go far in this world. But they must be earned each and every day. There are many who practice “situational” integrity, picking and choosing their spots as to when to exercise integrity. This does not work or help earn respect. It has to be an everyday practice. While we must be true to ourselves, we have to act with integrity as an example to everyone in our daily lives. Great word, Susan. Take care.” – “Warrior” Joe