Integrity

 

Integrity is the next quality that Brady and Woodward include in the Trilateral Leadership Ledger's factor of Character.

The Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary defines integrity as: firm adherence to a code of especially moral or artistic values: incorruptibility.

So much can be written about integrity, the need for integrity, and the dire consequences that occur when people in a position of leadership do not exercise integrity it is difficult to know where to start.

While there is no word in ancient Greek for integrity, the concept can be clearly traced back to the ancient Greek philosophers, especially Plato and Aristotle.

Further, all of the world's major religions teach integrity in one form or another.  Each one has some iteration of the Golden Rule... The idea of treating others the way you would want and expect to be treated.

More recently (when compared to ancient philosophy and religion) Benjamin Franklin, George Washington, and Jonathan Edwards all developed themselves, and their integrity, through a series of life guiding resolutions that influenced, and even dictated, their actions. 

In his Top 100 Leadership Book Selection Resolved: 13 Resolutions for LIFE, Orrin Woodward writes:

Integrity is essential for leadership, because without it, people will not follow the leader for long.  They will tire of the leader's words not matching up with his [or her] actions.  Of course, even when leaders have integrity, they still receive criticism from other without integrity.  Nevertheless, leaders of integrity expect to be believed, and when they are not, they let time prove them right.

Integrity is about having and following a moral code that guides one's actions in a selfless, positive direction.

Leaders MUST have integrity or they cannot effectively lead, and thus remove themselves as a leader!

 

Excerpt From: Chris Brady & Orrin Woodward: "Launching a Leadership Revolution."  Business Plus. New York. p.96

Excerpt from: Orrin Woodward: "RESOLVED: 13 Resolutions for LIFE."  Obstaclés Press. Cary, NC. p.51