Are You Known for Your Integrity?

By Deb Boelkes

If I were to ask your peers, your boss, your staff, and your colleagues in the community to describe your most outstanding qualities, how many would define you as a person of high integrity?

The Merriam-Webster dictionary defines integrity as “Conduct that conforms to an accepted standard of right and wrong; devotion to telling the truth; faithfulness to high moral standards.” Some define integrity as “Doing what is right; never wanting to let anyone down; following through on commitments.” I believe integrity is one of the most important pillars of Virtuous Leadership.

In my last blog post, I asked the question, “Who’s responsible for developing virtuous leaders?”.  At the end of that post, I committed to highlight important characteristics of virtuous leaders in a series of subsequent posts. Because I believe integrity is so important, we’re covering it first, right here. In my opinion, it’s impossible to have a WOW Factor Workplace or a best place to work culture if you don’t have integrity.

If you watch the TV news on any given day, you’ll find plenty of examples of corruption, slander, deceit, and loose moral values. In fact, that’s almost all you’ll see on the news. When was the last time you saw such a shining example of integrity that you pointed it out to your kids, saying something like “Now, that’s a role model example of integrity. We should all try to behave like that”?     

Whether on TV or in your daily life, does anyone come to mind as a shining example of integrity?

The first person who always comes to my mind—at least in the public realm—is the UCLA basketball coaching legend, John Wooden. Being female, I couldn’t be on the team. But I so admired him, I would go out of my way just to be around him during my freshman year there. Even at the tender age of 17, I recognized integrity and virtuous leadership when I saw it. 

Coach Wooden described integrity as “doing the things that we know are right and not giving into the temptation to do the things that we know are wrong.”

He also said, “Integrity in its simplest form is purity of intention. It’s keeping a clean conscience. Purity of intention is really a reflection of the heart. The heart of a person with integrity always wants to do what’s right, once he or she is sure what ‘right’ is.”

Now I’m going to share an example—a real-life situation currently underway in my community. It’s also a hat tip to someone who is doing the right thing in a very difficult, public situation:

A local political party chair decided to run for a seat in the state legislature. During our recent primary race, he ran against a political novice, a former military officer. Paraphrasing a letter written by a former party chair to Party Leadership that recently went public:

I wish I didn’t have to write this letter, but the conduct of [Party Chair] as a candidate in the primary is indefensible. In my opinion, he brought discredit on the Party he was elected to lead.

Unfortunately, the [Party Chair] I thought I knew changed dramatically when he decided to run for the legislature. His campaign against [Political Novice] is a classic example of the “politics of personal destruction.”   No decent person will ever run for public office if this is what they can expect.

Given his unrelenting attacks on [Political Novice]….the kind of “scorched earth” campaign run by [Party Chair] serves only to divide, not unite. However you may feel about [Political Novice] as a candidate, [Party Chair’s] conduct was inexcusable. He ran a campaign of character assassination against [Political Novice] that brought dishonor to the Party. 

I believe [Party Chair] owes [Political Novice] an apology. He needs to do this soon, publicly and in writing.    

As I said, this story is ongoing. How it will play out remains to be seen. But in the words of Coach Wooden, “The heart of a person with integrity always wants to do what’s right, once he or she is sure what ‘right’ is.”

In this case, writing such a letter to those in decision-making authority shows real integrity. People of honor, people of integrity, do not stand idly by and allow vice or villainy to rule.  Doing what you can to right harmful malfeasance is sometimes the most virtuous thing you can do.  Standing up against bullies in a respectful yet forthright manner is almost always appropriate and called for. If more people would demonstrate virtuous leadership and stand up for what they believe is right, the world would be a better place.      

As a child, my parents instilled in me a strong sense of right and wrong. I knew if I ever lied about something or mistreated anyone, there would be serious consequences. Depending on my age, the consequence might be a few minutes in “the time-out chair,” or being grounded for a few days, or surrendering some privilege that was important to me. I learned early on that knowingly doing the wrong thing never paid off in the end.

While I may not have known what integrity was back then, I quickly learned the importance of intention. I therefore strived to be honest in thought, word, and deed. I strived to do whatever I believed my parents would agree was the right thing to do in a given situation.  

I couldn’t wait to go to elementary school and join the Girl Scouts. I was taught to believe Girl Scouts exemplified virtuous girlhood. In second grade I joined Brownie Scouts. Two years later I promoted into Girl Scouts. I took great pride in memorizing the Brownie and Girl Scout Promises we recited at each meeting. I still remember—and ever after held myself accountable to upholding—The Brownie Scout Promise,  

I promise to do my best

To love God and my county

And to help other people every day

Especially those at home

and The Girl Scout Promise,    

On my honor, I will try:

To do my duty to God and my country,

To help other people at all times,

And to obey the Girl Scout Law.

The ideals of the Girl Scout Law remain embedded in my psyche to this very day:

I will do my best to be
honest and fair,
friendly and helpful,
considerate and caring,
courageous and strong,
and responsible for what I say and do,
and to respect myself and others,
respect authority,
use resources wisely,
make the world a better place,
and be a sister to every Girl Scout. 

While Scouting programs have navigated tumultuous seas in recent decades, I still believe these organizations are invaluable in terms of instilling admirable traits, such as integrity, in our next generation.  May God bless the Scouts for continuing to develop virtuous leaders.  

Of course, heartfelt leadership is virtuous leadership, and heartfelt leaders are known for their integrity.