Integrity

Good Morning Brilliant and Excellent People,

I look forward to sharing with you Brilliant and Excellent tips for attaining your goals and fulfilling your Purpose.

           

(The greatness of a man is not in how much wealth he acquires but in his integrity and is ability to affect those around him positively- BOB MARLEY)                                         

Kemi’s boss had informed her that a client’s order was about leaving the company’s warehouse for delivery. Few hours later she picked up the phone to call them when her boss walked in, he tells her that there’s a problem. “The product was accidentally damaged by the warehouse manager” he says. 

“There are some scratches on the surface, but this wouldn’t affect the product performance at all, if they complain we’ll blame it on the company that delivered it to us”.

Kemi sees a red flag immediately, feeling quite uncomfortable as her boss continues. “We need to be smart about this, I’ll just file a claim saying it was damaged on delivery. Don’t worry, the client might not even notice the damage.

As he leaves, she sits slowly at her desk, unsatisfied about the ideas. She knows it’s dishonest to blame the delivery company for a damage not done by them. It’s also dishonest to deceive her clients and give them an imperfect product.

Now, often times many of us are caught between making decisions that define our personality and beliefs. Do we follow the crowd or stand by our moral values? Is it better to gain with deceit or loose with honesty. Many times we are faced with situations that may seem insignificant and we fail to remember that even the smallest actions can have an impact on our self-esteem or reputation.

Integrity simply means being sincere and genuine in your words and actions. It means having strong moral principles in everything you do. In ethics, integrity means accuracy in one’s values, methods, measures and outcomes.  The word integrity stems from the Latin word ‘integer’ which means  “whole and complete”, therefore integrity requires an inner sense of ‘wholeness’ and consistency of character. When you have integrity, people should be able to visibly see it through your personality. When you are ‘whole’ and consistent, there is only one YOU. You bring that same YOU wherever you are, regardless of the circumstance. You don’t leave parts of yourself behind. You don’t have a ‘work you,’ a ‘family you,’ ‘school you’ and a ‘social you.’ You are YOU all the time! Accurate and consistent.

Understanding the real definition of integrity, we will agree that it is actually difficult to have integrity 100% of the time. We aspire to have integrity with what we believe but sometimes, we mess up. Sometimes, our emotions get the best of us and we are unable to intentionally manage our behavior and actions. Sometimes, we don’t give ourselves permission to be our true selves out of fear of what others may think or due to an inability (in Kemi’s case) to truly ‘integrate’ the various parts of ourselves into ONE, complete WHOLE person.

3 WAYS TO BECOMING A PERSON OF INTEGRITY

1.      Be committed to being yourself: It starts with accepting yourself on your way to becoming a better you. Understand your limits and weaknesses without trying to be like someone else.

2.      Be true to your words: If you promise to do something, then do all you can to ensure that you get the job done. If you are unable to, simply explain to the person why you were unable to and offer to do it at a more comfortable time- that’s integrity. Don’t try to cover up your mistakes or believe that the person should understand your inadequacies.

3.      Be realistic to the task: When asked to do something or when you undertake a project for personal reasons, ask yourself, ‘is this something within my ability to do?’ Don’t struggle with a task you cannot complete and risk losing your integrity when you begin to make excuses. As you become proficient in your primary assignment, you may become more responsible and trustworthy but at the beginning, stay within the confines of what you can do and do it well.

ATTRIBUTES OF INTEGRITY

·         Self-control

·         Honesty

·         Comportment

·         Discipline

·         Self-respect

WHY INTEGRITY IS IMPORTANT

When you live a life of integrity, you open doors of mental freedom knowing that you have nothing to fear since you have nothing to hide. You never have to question your morale, past or present. Your hands are clean because you are honest in all your actions. Lastly, integrity secures your reputation and dignifies your actions.

Determine today to raise your level of preparation, determination and attitude towards your set goals.

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