Character Cornerstone 1: Integrity

What is Integrity?

1. Doing the right thing.
2. Being honest and ethical.
3. Possessing strong moral character.
4. Following through on your commitments.
5. Having your behavior match your values.

High Score Profile

People who score high on this cornerstone demonstrate these attitudes and behaviors:
1. Remind themselves that integrity brings self-respect and peace of conscience.
2. Resist peer influences that attempt to compromise their personal values.
3. Willingly risk embarrassment or personal loss to remain honest and ethical.
4. Are careful in making personal commitments and diligent in keeping them.
5. Do not overpromise performance or results.
6. Coach and mentor others with no thought of reward.
7. Do not make exaggerated personal claims.
8. Are transparent in dealing with others.
9. Internalize the truth that everything of value has its price.
10. Remind themselves that leadership is about contribution not consumption, service not status.

Low Score Profile

People who score low on this cornerstone demonstrate these attitudes and behaviors:
1. Exploit or take advantage of the weaknesses of others.
2. Make ethical decisions based on risk and reward rather than values and principles.
3. Are susceptible to the influence of others to follow the crowd.
4. Look for shortcuts or opportunities to get something for nothing.
5. Allow themselves to be lazy, arrogant, or entitled in their thoughts and feelings which makes them vulnerable to ethical misconduct.
6. Attempt to hide their behavior or performance; dislike being measured or observed.
7. Justify and rationalize ethical misconduct.
8. Place self-interest and profit above principle.
9. Fail to hold themselves accountable; rely on rules, laws, and authority from the outside to make them compliant.
10. Hypocritical, do not act consistent with the values they profess.

Development Tips & Action Steps

To increase your performance in this area, apply these best-practice tips and action steps:
1. Create a personal magna carta: Write down the values and moral principles that govern your life—the ones that you are unwilling to compromise or negotiate.
2. Surround yourself with people of integrity. If you have a friendship that is not based on integrity, it is not a true friendship.
3. Catch yourself at the earliest possible point when you begin to rationalize or justify something that you know is not ethical.
4. Make a habit of thinking through the consequences of your moral choices. Ask yourself if you are trading short-term pleasure for long-term pain.
5. Recognize that you will face a series of ethical challenges. Prepare yourself and rehearse your response to potential issues before they arise.
6. Ask yourself if there is any difference in your ethical behavior when you are being directly supervised versus when you are alone.
7. Measure your words carefully. Don’t over-promise even if it’s well-meaning or done out of sympathy.
8. Identify any low-grade forms of dishonesty that you may engage in. Create a plan and make a personal commitment to avoid these in the future.
9. Identify and immediately complete any financial or time commitments that you have made with other people that you have not fulfilled.
10. Don’t fall for “just this once” logic even though it may be very seductive and offer an immediate reward.