resultsthroughintegrity

KNOW YOURSELF

In 432 BC Socrates said, “Know yourself.”

Easier said than done.

The word “Know” means to regard as true beyond any doubt. The word “Yourself” means your unique, usual, and normal self.  So to “know yourself” means regarding that which is unique, usual, and normal about you as true beyond doubt.

Integrity is wholeness and completeness, unfolding and becoming, purity and objectivity. Integrity is rooted in your self. If you don’t know yourself, you don’t know integrity.

Do you know yourself as true beyond doubt?   

Let’s see...

What is Right?

“What is right with the world is the world. In fact, nearly everything else is wrong with it.”
G. K. Chesterton.

People want to do the right thing. It is something we all regard as worthy and desirable. It is a belief, and a standard that is the heart of everything we do.

Organizations want to do the right thing. It is a fundamental principle that shows up in people, processes and products. 

Integrity is doing the right thing, doing the next right thing and doing things right.

But, what is right?

INTEGRITY AND TRUST ARE FREE

Integrity and trust are free and the ultimate in “what is in this for me”.

It is realizing all that you can be.

Integrity and trust are the cornerstones of journey from possibility to actualization. They take you from separateness, stagnation and perception to completeness, growth and reality.  

The potential for integrity and trust exist in the here and now of ordinary existence. Every day choices about small things like eating and or big things like work offer us the opportunity to pursue integrity and build trust.

Every choice has a consequence that either adds or subtracts from your integrity and trust.   

Integrity is the optimal experience. The process of its realization is the path way to an authentic individuated life. It is the ultimate journey into the mysteries of one’s life.  

INTEGRITY AND TRUST ARE THE ESSENCE OF EVERYTHING SUCCESSFUL

Integrity and trust are real and observable. They are the essence of everything successful.

Yet we know so little about them.

Even though we have no commonly accepted definition, integrity and trust are critical variables in every choice we make -whether it is consumer products, or the selection of a mate or friends.

We easily judge levels of integrity and trust in others but have trouble assessing it within ourselves. 

We say integrity and trust are critical to professional success, yet we have no way to develop them.

Integrity is your unique potential and possibility.  It is your value added proposition

SYNERGY IS AN OUTCOME OF INTEGRITY

It can’t be but it is!

Think about it, the whole is greater than the sum of the parts.

This is like saying 2+2 is not four but more.

Synergy means that things work together.

Words can’t explain the essence of this. We know it and want it but what and how do we get it?  

For a long time, the known world had no thought of synergy. The second law of thermodynamics dominated. It stated that everything will increase in entropy.

In other words, disintegration is the way of the world and chaos is destiny.  

And since we are of the world, well then ….the way and end are clear.

WHAT IS INTEGRITY IN PRACTICE?

 “Integrity is the cornerstone, if not the bedrock, upon which all financial markets are based.”

(Hank Paulson, Chairman and CEO, Goldman Sachs Group June 2002)

 Whilst we have described a number of values and vices, this list is not exhaustive and should not imply that integrity can be learned by heart like the “The Ten Commandments”.

We do not propose that it is right that people should merely read a code of ethics or a list of values and then sign a declaration to that effect.

 In the early 1970s, Harvard Professor Lawrence Kohlberg proposed a model of Moral Development which demonstrated that people shaped their sense of morality through the following stages9:

 1. “Obedience and Punishment” – We are children and we behave acceptably because we are told what to do by an authority figure such as a parent or teacher. This obedience is enforced by the threat or application of punishment.

 2. “Individualism, Instrumentalism and Exchange” – This is when we recognize that it is in our best interests to be moral.

 3. “Good boy/girl” – We do the right thing because it will gain the approval of others.

 4. “Law and order” – We abide by the law and have a sense of duty.

5. “Social contract” – We have a strong sense of social responsibility and the welfare of others.

 6. “Principled Conscience” – We accept universal principles of morality and the demands of individual conscience.

 

AN ETHICAL FOUNDATION FOR FINANCIAL SERVICES

Integrity and fairness thus emerge as core business principles. We contend that firms and individuals must always place these principles above profit if they are to be ethical.

 If this statement seems challenging, then simply consider in what situations you are prepared to compromise these principles?

 Are you happy to share these instances with your customers, employees and investors?

 

The Integrity Covenant

Are you working through things or are things working through you?

It is easy to perform when everything is going well. Rules tell us what is right and wrong.  

Rules require duty and obedience. These are duly rewarded when the whole is progressing as it should in an orderly fashion. Life is predictable. It is all good.

But everything doesn’t always go well. Rules no longer work.

Duty and obedience are rewarded with injustice. Chaos and confusion rule.  Life is no longer predictable. It is not so good.   

What to do?

Winston Churchill offered this advice

"Destiny is not a matter of chance, it is a matter of choice;
it is not a thing to be waited for, it is a thing to be achieved."

Fiduciary Duty: Simple Ethics Concept for Government Officials:

The English word "Fiduciary" comes from the Latin fides (faith) and fiducia (trust). (Wikipedia).

A fiduciary has engaged in a relationship with his/her client that includes a trust and obligation (duty) to act only in that client’s best interests – without gain or benefit to the fiduciary.

Under the US Governmental structure: We, the citizens of the USA, elect our government officials to act as fiduciaries on our behalf. This democratic election process is the ethical grounding for giving our leaders the power and authority to run our country. 

By virtue of being elected – and hence having our trust placed in him/her, he/she is obligated to use an ethic of duty and care on our behalf in all his/her official actions. Period.

CORRUPTION AND INTEGRITY

What is corruption? And what does it have to do with integrity?

Transparency International defines corruption as the abuse of entrusted power for private gain.

Corruption is widespread. It hurts everyone whose life, livelihood or happiness depends on the integrity of people in a position of authority.

So, it affects us individually and collectively. The watchdogs and whistleblowers are doing their part but the real question is why, other than getting angry or disappointed, do we do nothing about the corruption in our lives?