Five ways to maintain your integrity

Posted by Perspect

Watch the news any given day and there will be a scandal rooted in lack of integrity. Zig Ziglar said, “with integrity, you have nothing to fear, since you have nothing to hide. With integrity, you will do the right thing so you will have no guilt”. Lack of integrity is one of the prominent ethical challenge in our world today. In a world of declining integrity, we hide our selfish intention behind their actions.

If we are to be seen as women and men of integrity, every area of our life will be treated with the same intensity. We have the same commitment to excellence in our marriage as we do in our career and our parenting. We can’t choose which ones we show up with integrity in. You are or you aren’t a person of high integrity.

We have to establish an authentic code of moral values as our guiding beacon. Said another way, the root of integrity is about doing the right thing even when it’s not acknowledged by others, or convenient for you.

1. Keep our promises
People of integrity keep their word. If they say they’ll do it, they do it. If they say they’ll be there, they show up. It’s that simple.

“People who promise things that they never give, are like clouds and wind that bring no rain”

2. Paying your bills
We may not think this is a big deal, but it’s a huge deal. Do you spend more money than you make? That is a lack of integrity. Do you get yourself in debt for things that you can’t pay off? That is a lack of integrity. Ever have someone borrow money and “forget” about it – or keep delaying it? How did that make you feel?

“The corrupt borrow and never pay back”

3. Refusing to gossip
We are all looking for friends of high integrity who know how to keep a secret and not pass it around on social media. Don’t talk about people behind their back. Don’t even listen to that stuff, muster the courage to walk away or hold people accountable in the moment.

“Gossip can’t be trusted with a secret, but someone of integrity won’t violate a confidence”

4. Be authentic with others
A person of integrity doesn’t act one way at home and another way at work and another way on the golf course.

“We refuse to wear masks and play games. We don’t maneuver and manipulate behind the scenes. rather, we keep everything we do and say out in the open”

5. Show compassion and sympathy/empathy towards others
You cannot live a life of integrity without showing empathy for others. A lack of compassion for others results in poor judgment, selfishness, and poor relationships.

“Give strong drink to him who is perishing, and wine to him whose life is bitter. Let him drink and forget his poverty and remember his trouble no more.”

Do you have a 6th?  Please share it here so others may befit from your experinces. How do you see leadership coaching supporting this?