Nul n’est plus chanceux que celui qui croit à sa chance.
(Proverbe allemand)
Be into your
society
Integrity is a value, like persistence, courage and
industriousness. Even more
than that, it is the value that guarantees all the other values. You are a good
person
to the degree to which you live your life consistent with the highest values
that you
espouse. Integrity is the quality that locks in your values and causes you to
live
consistent with them.
Integrity is the foundation of character. And character development is one of
the
most important activities you can engage in. Working on your character means
disciplining yourself to do more and more of those things that a thoroughly
honest
person would do, under all circumstances.
To be impeccably honest with others, you must first be impeccably honest with
yourself. You must be true to yourself. You must be true to the very best that
is in
you, to the very best that you know. Only a person who is living consistent
with his
or her highest values and virtues is really living a life of integrity. And
when you
commit to living this kind of life, you will find yourself continually raising
your own
standards, continually refining your definition of integrity and honesty.
You can tell how high your level of integrity is by simply looking at the
things you
do in your day-to-day life. You can look at your reactions and responses to the
inevitable ups and downs of life. You can observe the behaviors you typically
engage
in and you will then know the person you are.
The external manifestation of high integrity is high-quality work. A person who
is
totally honest with himself or herself will be someone who does, or strives to
do,
excellent work on every occasion. The totally honest person recognizes,
sometimes
unconsciously, that everything he or she does is a statement about who he or
she
really is as a person.
When you start a little earlier, work a little
harder, stay a little later and
concentrate on every detail, you are practicing integrity in your work. And
whether
you know it or not, your true level of integrity is apparent and obvious to
everyone
around you.
Perhaps the most important rule you will ever learn is that your life only
becomes
better when you become better.
All of life is lived from the inside out. At the very core of your personality
lie your
values about yourself and life in general. Your values determine the kind of
person
you really are. What you believe has defined your character and your
personality. It
is what you stand for, and what you won’t stand for, that tells you and
the world the
kind of person you have become.
Ask yourself this question: What are your five most important values in life?
Your
answer will reveal an enormous amount about you. What would you pay for,
sacrifice for, suffer for and even die for? What would you stand up for, or
refuse to
lie down for? What are the values that you hold most dear? Think these
questions
through carefully and, when you get a chance, write down your answers.
Here’s another way of asking that question. What men and women, living or
dead, do you most admire? Once you pick three or four men or women, the next
question is: Why do you admire them? What values, qualities, or virtues do they
have that you respect and look up to? Can you articulate those qualities? What
is a
quality possessed by human beings in general that you most respect? This is the
starting point for determining your values. The answers to these questions form
the
foundation of your character and your personality.
Once you have determined your five major values, you should now organize
them in order of importance. What is your first, most important value? What is
your
second value? What is your third value? And so on. Ranking your values is one
of
the very best and fastest ways to define your character.
Remember, a higher order value will always take precedence over a lower order
value. Whenever you are forced to choose between acting on one value or
another,
you always choose the value that is the highest on your own personal hierarchy.
Who you are, in your heart, is evidenced by what you do on a day-to-day basis,
especially when you are pushed into a position where you have to make a choice
between two values or alternatives.
Ralph Waldo Emerson said, “Guard your integrity as a sacred thing.” In study
after
study, the quality of integrity, or a person’s adherence to values, ranks as
the number
one quality sought in every field. When it comes to determining whom they will
do
business with, customers rank the honesty of a salesperson as the most
important single
quality. Even if a they feel that a salesperson’s product, quality and price is
superior,
customers will not buy from that salesperson if they feel that he or she is
lacking in
honesty and character.
Likewise, integrity is the number one quality of leadership. Integrity in
leadership is expressed in terms of constancy and consistency. It is manifested
in an
absolute devotion to keeping one’s word. The glue that holds all relationships
together—including the relationship between the leader and the led—is trust,
and
trust is based on integrity.
Integrity is so important that functioning in our
society would be impossible
without it. We could not make even a simple purchase without a high level of
confidence that the price was honest and that the change was correct. The most
successful individuals and companies in America are those with reputations of
high
integrity among everyone they deal with. This level of integrity builds the
confidence
that others have in them and enables them to do more business than their
competitors whose ethics may be a little shaky.
Earl Nightingale once wrote, “If honesty did not exist, it would have to be
invented, as it is the surest way of getting rich.” A study at Harvard
University
concluded that the most valuable asset that a company has is how it is known to
its
customersits reputation.
By the same token, your greatest personal asset is the way that you are known
to your customers. It is your personal reputation for keeping your word and
fulfilling
your commitments. Your integrity precedes you and affects all of your
interactions
with other people.
There are several things you can do to move you more rapidly toward becoming
the kind of person that you know you are capable of becoming. The first, as I
mentioned, is to decide upon your five most important values in life. Organize
them
in order of priority. Then write a brief paragraph defining what each of those
values
means to you. A value combined with a definition becomes an organizing
principlea statement that you can use to
help you make better decisions. It is a
measure and standard which enables you to know how closely you are adhering to
your innermost beliefs and convictions.
The second step to developing integrity and character in yourself is to study men
and
women of great character. Study the lives and stories of people like George
Washington,
Abraham Lincoln, Winston Churchill, Florence Nightingale, Susan B. Anthony and
Margaret Thatcher. Study the people whose strength of character enabled them to
change their world. As you read, think about how they would behave if they were
facing
the difficulties that you face.
Napoleon Hill, in his book, The Master Key to Riches, tells about how he
created an
imaginary board of personal advisors made up of great figures of history. He
chose
people like Napoleon, Lincoln, Jesus, and Alexander the Great. Whenever he had
to
make a decision, he would relax deeply and then imagine that the members of his
advisory council were sitting at a large table in front of him. He would then
ask them
what he should do to deal effectively with a particular situation. In time,
they would
begin to give him answers, observations, and insights that helped him to see
more
clearly and act more effectively.
You can do the same thing. Select someone that you very much admire for their
qualities of courage, tenacity, honesty, or wisdom. Ask yourself, “What would
Jesus do in
my situation?” or, “What would Lincoln do if he were here at this time?” You
will find
yourself with guidance that enables you to be the very best person that you can
possible
be.
The third and most important step in building your integrity has to do with
formulating your approach based on the psychology of human behavior. We know
that if
you feel a particular way, you will act in a manner consistent with that
feeling. For
example, if you feel happy, you will act happy. If
you feel angry, you will act angry. If
you feel courageous, you will act courageously.
But we also know that you don’t always start off feeling the way you want to.
However, because of the Law of Reversibility, if you act as if you had a
particular feeling,
the action will generate the feeling consistent with it. You can, in effect,
act your way
into feeling. You can “fake it until you make it.”
You can become a superior human being by consciously acting exactly as the
kind of person that you would most like to become. If you behave like an
individual
of integrity, courage, resolution, persistence and character, you will soon
create
within yourself the mental structure and habits of such a person. Your actions
will
become your reality. You will create a personality that is consistent with your
highest aspirations.
The more you walk, talk, and behave consistent with your highest values, the
more you will like yourself and the better you will feel about yourself. Your
self-image will improve and your level of self-acceptance will go up. You will
feel
stronger, bolder, and more capable of facing any challenge.
There are three primary areas of your life where acting with integrity is
crucial.
These are the three areas of greatest temptation for forsaking your integrity,
as well
as the areas of greatest opportunity for building your integrity. When you
listen to
your inner voice and do what you know to be the right thing in each of these
areas,
you will have a sense of peace and satisfaction that will lead you on to
success and
high achievement.
The first area of integrity has to do with your relationships with your family
and
your friends, the people close to you. Being true to yourself means living in
truth
with each person in your life. It means refusing to say or do something that
you
don’t believe is right. Living in truth with other people means that you refuse
to stay
in any situation where you are unhappy with the behavior of another person. You
refuse to tolerate it. You refuse to compromise.
Psychologists have determined that most stress and negativity comes from
attempting to live in a way that is not congruent with your highest values. It
is when
your life is out of alignmentwhen you are doing and saying
one thing on the
outside, but really feeling and believing something different on the insidethat you
feel most unhappy. When you decide to become an individual of character and
integrity, your first action will be to neutralize or remove all difficult
relationships
from your life.
This doesn’t mean that you have to go and hit somebody over the head with a
stick. It simply means that you honestly confront another person and tell them
that
you are not happy. Tell them that you would like to reorganize this
relationship so
that you feel more content and satisfied. If the other person is not willing to
make
adjustments so that you can be happy, it should be clear to you that you don’t
want
to be in this relationship much longer anyway.
The second area of integrity has to do with your attitude and behavior toward
money. Casualness toward money brings casualties in your financial life. You
must
be fastidious about your treatment of money, especially other people’s money.
You
must guard your credit rating the same way you would guard your honor. You must
pay your bills punctually, or even early. You must
keep your promises with regard to
your financial commitments.
The third area of integrity has to do with your commitments to others,
especially
in your business, your work and your sales activities. Always keep your word.
Be a
man or a woman of honor. If you say that you will do something, do it. If you
make
a promise, keep it. If you make a commitment, fulfill it. Be known as the kind
of
person that can be trusted absolutely, no matter what the circumstances.
Your integrity is manifested in your willingness to adhere to the values you
hold
most dear. It’s easy to make promises and hard to keep them, but if you do, every
single act of integrity will make your character a little stronger. And as you
improve
the quality and strength of your character, every other part of your life will
improve
as well.
