This guest posting is by Douglas Ross, who describes himself as a displaced Canadian now living in Georgia, awaiting his green card. You can read more of his ideas at www.resultsthroughintegrity.com

Over 1800 years ago, Marcus Aurelius said “If it is not right, do not do it. If it is not true, do not say it.” These are simple words from another time and place. Do the right thing and speak the truth.

Integrity is about wholeness, consistency, objectivity and purity. In simple words, it is about doing the right thing (wholeness), doing the next right thing (consistency), and doing things right (objectivity). Marcus Aurelius also points out that what we say is as important as what we do.

Some people mentally walk away when words like this appear. Maybe they believe they already know the truth of these words. Maybe they just do not care. Only a few reflect on the true standard of behavior set out in these words.

Defining integrity

Today, many people define integrity in a vague way that only roughly distinguishes good from bad. These people usually recognize integrity as a refusal to engage in lying, blaming, or other behaviors that evade accountability.

This definition, although simple and easy, misses part of the meaning. Webster’s Third international dictionary defines integrity as precluding expediency, artificiality, and shallowness. This means you don’t use others for your own purposes (expediency); make promises you never intend to keep (artificiality); or hide behind politically correct and social acceptable things (shallowness).

Maybe you define integrity as ‘do what you say and mean what you say.’ This definition adds to the clarity and suggests integrity is compromised when you break promises you truly meant to keep; break promises to one person to meet a promise to others; or break promises to yourself to keep promises to others.

Unfortunately this definition too, although helpful and easy to remember, misses another part of the meaning. The intent of action is as important as the action or the words. Some people do what they say and mean what they say, but they do it to serve their own ends. That is not integrity either.

Organizational integrity

Many organizations, like all too many people, treat integrity lightly. Any time a company delivers less than they promised in terms of quality, quantity, or service, there is a breach in integrity. Some companies make promises they can’t keep. When they are caught out they blame others or refuse to accept the consequences for broken promises.

For example, in manufacturing there is a term called the death spiral. It works like this:

• In response to increased Return on Investment demands, leaders put pressure on their organizations to increase sales and to cut manufacturing costs. The sales group makes unsubstantiated quality and delivery promises to attract customers, while manufacturing cuts people and programs to reduce costs.
• As sales increase, product quality and delivery suffers as manufacturing struggles to achieve more with less. Warranty costs rise and increased customer service demands negatively impact the bottom line. Pressure to perform grows again. A new cycle of broken promises and cost cutting efforts fuels the death spiral.

Fortunately, some organizations do strive to make integrity work. They learn their lesson and start developing their internal systems and structures to ensure integrity in the marketplace. They know that economic sustainability is not built on expediency, artificiality, and shallowness.

Some people also strive to make integrity work in their lives. They weigh the costs of their promises and commitments before making them. They take responsibility for broken promises and instill the discipline to act and speak with integrity through a process of correction and validation. They learn that speaking the truth, not only to others but to themselves, is the right thing to do. This motivates them to do the next right thing and to do it right.

Be that person, not for the world, but for yourself.

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