{"id":160,"date":"2021-02-18T08:48:09","date_gmt":"2021-02-18T08:48:09","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/allred10.com\/~allred6\/?p=160"},"modified":"2022-10-18T03:04:50","modified_gmt":"2022-10-18T03:04:50","slug":"i-never-compromise-your-integrity","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/allred10.com\/?p=160","title":{"rendered":"I. Do What Is Right"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Directions<\/span>Early in my executive career, I was the CFO of a construction company.\u00a0 The company picnic was held on a Sunday the second year I was there.\u00a0 I missed the picnic so I could teach a Sunday School class. \u00a0The owner called me into his office on Monday and asked why I\u00a0<\/span>wasn’t<\/span>\u00a0at the picnic.\u00a0 When I\u00a0explained my obligation to him, he responded that if I wanted to advance in the company I would have to always put the company first.\u00a0 I told him that the company was not my first priority in life. \u00a0I then said that I would always get my work done but being true to my commitments would be my first priority.\u00a0 A month later, he fired me and hired his brother-in-law.<\/span><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

Even though I was the sole supporter of my wife and five children, I never regretted that decision.\u00a0 It took ten months to find a new job, but I never regretted my decision to be true to my sense of right.\u00a0 As my mother taught me, \u201cDo what is right, let the consequence follow.\u201d\u00a0 I cannot claim to always have done what is right, but I know that when I have followed my mother\u2019s counsel, I have been content with my decisions.\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

The lesson of this story is that everyone must establish what is most important for themselves \u2013 their principles.\u00a0 If you compromise those principles, you lose your moral ground, which makes each successive compromise easier.\u00a0 Eventually, you lose all integrity.<\/span><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

Integrity can be defined as a firm\u00a0adherence<\/span>\u00a0to a code of moral values;\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0incorruptible. \u00a0It is the stuff of which great men and women are made. \u00a0It is absolutely essential for an exceptional leader. \u00a0As President and General Dwight D. Eisenhower said,\u00a0\u201cThe supreme quality for leadership is unquestionably integrity.\u00a0 Without it, no real success is possible, no matter whether it is on a section gang, a football field, in an army, or in an office.\u201d \u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

Some might say that putting a career before everything else is a good thing, both for the individual and the employer.\u00a0 My response is that when a job becomes more important than one\u2019s principles, the sense of right and wrong is distorted.\u00a0 This distortion is what has allowed so many perpetrators of corporate fraud to justify their actions.\u00a0 After all, they were being true to their highest priority – getting ahead in their career.<\/span><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

From the employer’s perspective, if the employee has put his or her life on the altar of their job, consider what they might be capable of if they ever felt like they were not being treated fairly.\u00a0 They would have no virtuous principles to temper their decisions.<\/span><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

In the last 15 years, we have seen massive fraud in financial markets.\u00a0 The size of fraud in government, sports, entertainment and non-profit organizations is typically not as large but it is just as prevalent, and the impact on employees is the same.\u00a0 The root cause is all the same – the lack of integrity.<\/span><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

It would be well to remember the words of Richard Herlin, partner at the CPA firm of Deloitte, \u201cThere\u2019s nothing – no issue, opportunity, client, boss, or fee \u2013 that should compromise your integrity or divert your moral compass.\u201d<\/em><\/span><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

When a manager compromises his integrity or diverts her moral compass, the problem has a ripple effect in the organization.\u00a0 In addition to the potential problems created for the company by a manager himself, there are two typical responses from the employees.\u00a0 The honest employees will begin to look for a new job because they have lost trust in their manager.\u00a0 The less honest employees are likely to follow the actions modeled by their boss.\u00a0 Dishonesty, lack of trust and turnover combine to do tremendous damage to the organization.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

A good leader<\/a><\/span> will be true to her moral compass.\u00a0 He will never compromise his integrity.\u00a0 She will do what is right.\u00a0 The employees of good managers will usually respond in kind and the organization will prosper.\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

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