Integrity is Founded upon the Small Things

Integrity is Founded upon the Small Things

S. Chris Edmonds is a sought-after speaker, author, and executive consultant. He’s the founder and CEO of The Purposeful Culture Group, which he launched in 1990. Chris helps senior leaders build and sustain purposeful, positive, productive work cultures. He is the author or co-author of seven books, including Amazon bestsellers Good Comes First (2021) with Mark Babbitt, The Culture Engine (2014), and Leading at a Higher Level (2008) with Ken Blanchard.

It isn’t always the big integrity issues that destroy an individual’s reputation – or an organization’s reputation. After all, in the end, there are no small lies.

What erodes your integrity? Some examples might be if you demean, discount, or dismiss others with your:

Plans
Decisions, or
Actions

Your integrity is built and maintained when you do what you say you will do, in service to others. Your integrity is eroded when you behave in ways that are self-serving or demeaning to others around you.

Why do people lie?

to get their kids into an elite university
to take credit for others’ work
to make themselves look good
to win arguments
they don’t want to disappoint others
The truth may reveal they’ve fallen short or made mistakes

And more.

Sometimes our lies are subtle – little “white lies.” It doesn’t matter; every lie erodes our integrity.

If a social media meme you “like” or share is not factual, you are promoting an untruth. Your integrity takes a hit.

If you blame one political party or the other for conspiracies, for example, you’re missing the mark – and you’re promoting lies. That chips away at your integrity.

Your integrity is built and maintained when you do what you say you will do, in service to others.

CHRIS EDMONDS

Sometimes, a boss will ask you to lie. That’s what happened to me.

Thirty years ago, my branch of the non-profit I worked for had raised $25,000 in our annual campaign in my first year as executive director — double the amount that branch had raised in its long history. At the closing dinner of the campaign, in front of 300 volunteers and staff, my boss told me to announce that we’d raised $30,000. I refused and gave the actual total. He was not happy. I did not care.

If I had announced the higher total, it would have made my boss look good. He might well have asked other branch executives to inflate their totals. I never asked.

I realized that I couldn’t work for a boss that asked me to lie for his benefit. I left that organization as quickly as I could.

Don’t lie. Be honest and caring and of service to others, every day. That will build your integrity, something this world needs more than ever today.