Originally posted 11/14/2020
I have always told my kids that integrity is doing the right thing even when no one is looking. Dictionary.com defines integrity as “adherence to moral and ethical principles; soundness of moral character; honesty.” The definitions are pretty much the same. The issue isn’t in defining integrity, it’s in living it out in our day to day life—both personally and professionally. All of us have thoughts, decisions, or moments that we aren’t fully proud of. That is part of being human. Our natural inclination as human beings is to be self-focused, self-preserving, and self-righteous. That doesn’t lead as readily to sound moral character as we might hope. Integrity takes work. It takes being intentional, making hard decisions, and being courageous. That is hard, and we don’t always like hard.
Sound moral character must include honesty. Being honest is great when it comes to positive things. We like to talk honestly about our accomplishments or the good things happening in our lives. It is much harder to be honest about our mistakes. Taking responsibility for mistakes is difficult, especially when those mistakes have hurt others. It is sad how infrequently people truly and fully take responsibility for missteps—too often self-preservation kicks in in combination with self-righteousness to help us to find an outside circumstance or another person to view as responsible—or at a minimum more responsible than we are.
I strive to live a life of integrity. I want to be transparent, open, vulnerable, and real. I fall short. Daily. The hope of honesty, sound moral character, and doing what is right is to do better as you know better, to learn from mistakes and moments of struggle. Integrity is more than seeing and admitting mistakes, it is also about having the courage to learn from those mistakes and change going forward.
Integrity is also about speaking with honor and dignity about others—being honest when we speak of others. We must remember that we can lift others up and support their growth and success without diminishing our potential for success. We don’t have to tear others down or see competition in others in order to grow and progress ourselves. As much as I cringe a little bit when I hear some of the cliché comments on teamwork, it is so true that when we surround ourselves with people we can grow and develop with, we all benefit. We are more than the sum of our parts, which is how we were designed to be.
I hope you will think about the role that integrity has in your personal and professional life. Where can you be more honest, take more responsibility, lean into to help yourself and others grow stronger? How can your honesty, integrity, and positive sense of responsibly build up those around you? If we could all focus on learning from our mistakes rather than trying to deny them, cover them, or make them someone else’s responsibility, the better we will all be.
Thanks for reading! 😊 EW