resultsthroughintegrity

WHISTLEBLOWERS ANONYMOUS

Hi…  My name is Doug. I am a whistleblower.     

My story is irrelevant. It is the same everywhere.  Good versus bad.  The problem is that those with power see themselves as good and see me as bad.

The majority of employees are afraid of retribution for reporting a wrong doing- with good reason.  I am proof.  In spite of the disclosure of the incident to the federal watchdog agency, I was terminated.   

This is real stuff! You are reading about it, I am living it.

WORKPLACE MISCONDUCT

Albert Camus said that integrity has no need of rules.

KPMG in their 2008-09 integrity survey conclude that there is a real need for integrity in the workplace.

The survey reports that 3700 out of 5000 employees say they have seen or know of wrong doing or misconduct in the workplace.

THE WAY OF INTEGRITY

It is easier now.  It is what it is.

A day is a day. Moments unfold as they should. My response is requisite. When it is complete, it is done.

Shakespeare’s Polonius uttered these famous words about integrity

“To thine own self be true”    

Isn’t it ironic that the man who authored this famous statement represented everything we dislike in our character? He was a pompous old windbag who loved expediency and superficiality.

It is not easy to trust those who speak of light from the darkness. No wonder he had to be killed off before the story could evolve. 

When I started this journey, I spoke about integrity in darkness. I could not understand why no one listened.

In time, the journey became more than I and I learned about integrity in the light. Now I understand why no one listens.

THE ROLE OF ETHICS AND INTEGRITY IN ORGANIZATIONS

When employees act unethically and/or without integrity, customers lose trust and confidence in organizational products and services.

When leaders act unethically and/or without integrity, employees lose trust and confidence in organizational processes, systems and products.

Both directly impact the bottom line and the return on investment. 

What is the correlation between return on investment and unethical behavior and/or a lack of integrity?

Organizations are built on the principle that the whole is greater than the sum of the parts.

Working together creates results and outcomes for the whole that outweigh the results and outcomes of everyone working for themselves.

The secret to success is not the principle but the way synergy is created. 

Equanimity - serenity within the chaos

by Peter Vajda

"So nothing is ever good or bad unless you think it so, and vice versa. All luck is good luck to the man who bears it with equanimity." - Boethius (Anicius Manlius Severinus), Consolation of Philosophy
 
It seems most everyone I know is experiencing life these days caught up in some flavor of crisis or conflict either at work, at home, at play or in relationship. They're experiencing a form of conflict and stress around issues, for example, like leading and managing, or processes, deadlines, budgets and job security, or personal relationships and unresolved conflicts, or how to resolve health and education challenges, or whether what they are doing is what they really want to be doing with their life.
 
Stress is the wrapper surrounding their lives - consistently experiencing racing heartbeats, shortness of breath, tight jaws, facial frowns, rigid postures, negative emotions and feelings, critical and judgmental inner dialogue, illness and dis-ease. A life defined by automated, robotic reactivity to conflict and crisis. But, it doesn't have to be this way. 
 

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.

 

INTEGRITY OR DESPAIR

If you are in the bloom of life, take a good look around-other people are wilting.

As you now are, so they were. As they are now, so shall you be.

If you are wilting in life, you may have closed a door and not be aware that you have done so.

As you were, so you shall be again-only not in that way!

Human growth is a natural iterative process that does not end with old age or retirement.

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? 

Pointing Fingers

By Peter G. Vajda

Hardly a day goes by that the newspapers, magazines, TV talk shows, and workplace water cooler conversation does not include some mention of Bruno, Bernie and Blago – notorious folks who have been accused of actions that are either immoral or unethical, but folks who maintain that “I have done nothing illegal.” There seems to be no end to the line of folks who wait their turn to point their accusatory finger at Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich, New York’s former State Senate Majority Leader Joseph Bruno and the infamous financier Bernie Madoff.
 
Each of these three individuals has concocted a “story” that allows them to rationalize and justify their immoral or unethical behavior – a story each uses to absolve themselves of blame or guilt so that they can create their own so-called truth and not own their inappropriate behavior. Thus, their “I did nothing illegal” story or some flavor of it is simply a ploy to evade self-responsibility.
 
However, there’s something more here in the groundswell of the masses who are so quick to judge others. What is not being “outed” among this list of folks who aggressively assert their “legal non-guilt” in order to mask their unethical behavior is that this list does not include another individual, and that is “Everyman” – you and me.

 

INTEGRITY IS LIKE PREGNANCY –EITHER ONE IS OR ONE IS NOT

Some people say that integrity is like pregnancy –either you are or you are not. Either you have integrity or you don’t.   

This simplistic analogy provides an important insight into the nature of integrity. 

Pregnancy can be good or bad depending on whether you are or you are not and if it is wanted or not. Does it work the same way for integrity? Can integrity be a good or bad depending on whether you have it or not and if it is wanted or not?

Pregnancy is a natural, universal, reproductive process that is essential to survival of the species. Is integrity also a natural, universal regenerative process that is essential to sustaining the species?     

Is integrity really like pregnancy? You be the judge.