#33 - Integrity
The definition of integrity is, “the quality of being honest and having strong moral principles; moral uprightness.” This definition really has two distinct parts—I will do what I say I will do, and I will say and do the right thing. Today we’re going to focus on the first part.
When I hear the word integrity, it sounds like such a major word—not something that applies to everyday life. But that couldn’t be further from the truth. Following through and doing what I say I’m going to do applies all the time. Living every day by this tenant is easier said than done.
It means not committing to things I don’t plan to follow through on. I also believe that it’s more than things I won’t follow through on at all but anything that I won’t give a reasonable effort on. If I’m not going to take it seriously and have my heart in it, I am not the right person to be involved. It is truly astonishing how frequently this kind of situation arises. I was recently at a conference where there were a number of activities available for sign up. One particular one was going to be very popular and there was limited space. I would’ve enjoyed the activity to some extent but realized that I would be going mostly because my friends wanted to go. I realized that I would be taking a spot on a list for a special opportunity that I would not be 100% “in.” Being able to step away and let someone else have that spot, was a chance to exercise my integrity. Would it have been wrong for me to go? No. But it would mean putting myself first without regard for others or the purpose of the activity which would not be integrity.
When I started consciously focusing on integrity I also realized how often I’m asked requests, which seem very trivial to me, but I don’t take seriously at all when responding to. A buddy of mine contacted me recently asking for some information from a class we’d taken together. He was about to enter grad school and wanted to review some of our undergrad material that he’d lost when his computer crashed. I said that I would check it and get back to him ASAP. And then I promptly forgot about it for several weeks. All of a sudden, it popped back into my head while I was doing something else. It took me probably three minutes to get back to him but I had to apologize profusely for taking so long. Little things like that seem minor to us—after all it didn’t really affect me; it was only three minutes. To my buddy, it was probably a lot more significant. He was about to take a big step in his future and I was holding him back on prep he wanted to do. That was a failure in integrity.
I want to avoid situations like that because I want to be someone that my friends and teammates can count on—they know that when I say something, it’s going to happen. Not only will it have a major impact on relationships with your teammates, integrity is a major career advancer when you are older. When your boss knows that they can count on you to follow through, you will get raises and promotions.
I’m going to leave you today with this quote by author, philanthropist, and businessman, W. Clement Stone.
“Have the courage to say no. Have the courage to face the truth. Do the right thing because it is right. These are the magic keys to living your life with integrity.”