HerWork

In today's sometimes murky ethical environment, where top executives do regrettable things simply because they can, it's refreshing to hear from experts on the subject who can make a clear case for integrity.

One such expert is Joseph White, President of University of Illinois, Champaign-Urbana (my alma mater). White has a new book out, The Nature of Leadership: Reptiles, Mammals and the Challenge of Becoming a Great Leader. I just read about the book in my alumni magazine. He makes some exciting points about leadership and ethics.

White talks about leaders having to have both reptilian and mammalian qualities, i.e., order, stability and routine balanced with attention, nurturing and encouragment. But if these aspects form two side of a pyramid, the foundational qualities of ability, strength and, above all, character form the base.

Character, or high integrity, is fundamental to excellent leadership—you can't gain trust without it. White has developed four simple points to test yourself on your integrity level.

• You will never knowingly violate laws and regulations in any consequential way.
• You will be honest and not mislead others.
• You will make commitments carefully and keep them faithfully.
• You will avoid conflicts of interest, and when they are unavoidable, resolve them in favor of your duties and responsibilities, rather than by benefiting personally.

What I'm liking about these integrity indicators is that while they seem to demand a lot, they are actually liberating. By sticking to standards like these, you become free to succeed in every way possible, with no skeletons in your closet and no noose around your neck. The standards lead to freedom, and ultimately, power.

I've written before about honesty on the job. At that same job, I had a co-worker who lied all the time, even about little things. If he had even the slightest idea he might get in trouble, he'd lie to cover his tracks. He wasn't always successful, and often got in even more trouble with our volatile bosses. Finally, the bosses made him my subordinate, and told me to take care of it or they'd fire him.

I worked with him to build trust between us first. Since I had been a co-worker, I already knew a lot the shenanigans he was used to pulling, so I could joke with him about not being able to do that anymore. If I suspected he was lying to me, I'd lightly kid him into being more honest. I avoided getting mad or aggravated with him, and he became habitually honest with me. But he was still afraid of the bosses.

One day he came barreling into the office very scared about the fact that he'd just gotten a company car into a minor fender-bender while on a delivery. He came to me to help him make up a convincing story! Which of course I couldn't do. But I did help him calm down, and told him he'd get much better results by just telling the truth.

I knew that telling the truth not only makes you feel you're on firm ground rather than in quicksand, but that it's also related to embodying that higher Truth that connects us all. Lying betrays that connection; honesty solidifies it. If you think of divine Truth as our Creator, which is one way I like to think about it, it's clear that as its creation, we need to be honest with each other.

My work friend steeled himself, and went into one boss's office. He just laid out what happened, the boss figured these things happen and that our insurance would cover it, and that was it.

I laugh now when I remember how stunned he was that he didn't get in trouble. From that time forward, he more manfully admitted mistakes when he needed to, and also began to get more credit for when things went well. When I left that job a few months later, he had grown in responsibility and was in charge of many aspects of our inventory, including the company cars.

I love the simplicity of this maxim from spiritual author Mary Baker Eddy: "Honesty is spiritual power." My work friend experienced this increase in power from being honest. Joseph White shows in his book how leadership at its most powerful and effective is also dependent on being honest. It's actually natural to be honest, since we're all connected through divine Truth.



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