Intentional Integrity Book Chapter 2

Lou Hager is a property manager. Lou held a $40,000 a year position as superintendent of maintenance. He reported to the vice-president of property management. Lou’s boss was a back-slapping, foul-mouthed individual who consistently pushed Lou to negotiate his people’s salaries downward. He would page Lou at midnight after a fourteen-hour day, showing no concern for Lou’s rest or family life. Lou’s integrity came under fire when his boss ordered him to buy materials like carpet and paint and deliver it to his personal residence . . . while entering the tab on the bill sent to the owner of the properties being managed.

Because Lou was intentional about his integrity, he couldn’t do it and told his boss so. Lou quit. The president of the company called him to find out what had happened. Lou told him; but a second wrong was committed—the president wasn’t willing to do anything for fear of losing a vice-president that “made things happen.”

Lou kept his integrity intact and got a new position in a company with sound ethical standards for doing business. He was happy and relieved to be out of the former environment. Later he found out that he and other employees would receive several hundred dollars in back pay as a result of a labor board investigation initiated by another employee of the company. He also watched as the unethical practices of the vice-president and the lack of courage of the president brought the company into bankruptcy. Over the long haul, what goes around comes around.

Let’s start where the rubber meets the road: your commitment to being a person of intentional integrity. By maintaining your commitment and this focus, you’ll begin the process of immunizing yourself with God’s truths against the virus of dishonesty.

If intentional integrity seems like a difficult commitment, it is! God has warned us about trying to worship two masters. Yet God calls us to a high standard of conduct. Jesus told us in Matthew 5:48, “Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly father is perfect.” Peter also told us in 1 Peter 1:15–16 “But just as he who called you is holy, so be holy in all you do; for it is written: Be holy, because I am holy.” Emphasizing the need for consistency between faith and conduct, James admonished us in James 1:22, “Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says.”

Warren W. Wiersbe stated it well in his book, The Integrity Crisis, when he said, Jesus made it clear that integrity involves the whole of the inner person: the heart, the mind, and the will. The person with integrity has a single heart. He doesn’t try to love God and the world at the same time. . . .The person with integrity also has a single mind, and single outlook (“eye”) that keeps life going in the right direction . . . .

Jesus also said that the person with integrity has a single will; he seeks to serve but one master. 4

Integrity is the principle that gives bridges, buildings, companies, families, and people their wholeness, quality and strength. The word comes from the Latin integras which means “sound, whole, complete.”

None of us would drive across a bridge if we knew the steel in the structure lacked integrity or the bolts were not tightened or the cement was not mixed properly. The same applies to a house we are ready to buy or office space in a high-rise building we are about to rent. We now have over 35 million laws to try to protect us from those of low integrity. Without integrity people and bridges suffer from a lack of soundness, wholeness, and completeness and are vulnerable to collapse or failure.

Do you ever think about issues of integrity where you work? Did you think about it before you got hired? Did you think about the consequences a lack of integrity within the organization’s leadership, managerial, marketing, sales, employee service, and customer service functions could have on you and your career?

How important is the issue of integrity to the well-being of your family? What about family relationships, interpersonal communication, your budgeting process, your family problem-solving process or healthy food purchases?

What about the integrity of a person? Do you want to depend on services or products produced by people of low integrity? Do you want to be associated with them? Do you want to trust your life to them?

While we can’t control the integrity of others, we can influence and inspire them by making sure our own integrity is as intact as possible. Modeling perfect integrity is one way Jesus so effectively taught others and why He wants us to follow Him and be salt and light in all dimensions of our lives.

A few years ago I hired a secretary who was transferred from another department in a large public agency to help my consulting and training team with a major project. There was no doubt she had the skills to do excellent work for the project. She was outwardly friendly, and I thought she would fit in well with the group. Her former supervisor was pleased with her, but the type of work she had been doing in his department was no longer needed.

After a month on the job it was clear to me and our team that she was an albatross. It appeared her goal was to diligently work at avoiding work. I felt betrayed and was on a slow, controlled burn. I knew she had the “can do” to do the work, because I had checked it out with performance tests.

I started regularly reviewing the expectations I had laid out before hiring her. I tightly supervised and coached her, using all of the management and supervision tools at my command to try to help her become productive. I became angrier and angrier about the situation.

I blamed her for our project falling behind and felt she had been dishonest with me during the interview and assessment process. Finally, I verbally blasted her in front of the entire team at one of our staff meetings. It was embarrassing.

Things got worse. She continued to manipulate the environment to her advantage and did less and less work. I finally developed my documentation for her dismissal. I lost because of her previous glowing evaluations from others and she was transferred to another department.

When my rationalizing and anger had subsided, I reviewed this hiring mistake. Where had I gone wrong? How had I continued to go wrong? How could I avoid this in the future?

I came to realize that I had diligently evaluated regarding her “can do” competencies. What I had failed to check out was her “will do” motivation to work in a fast-paced, high energy, high demand training environment. When she didn’t work out in the job, the virus of dishonesty attacked me. Rather than look inward and accept the responsibility of where I had failed to do due diligence in hiring her, I became angry and blamed her.

As I backtracked through her previous work situations, I discovered that she had been functioning in bureaucratic environments where little was expected in the way of work production. She had never faced tight time demands or sudden changes in materials. Others verified that she had high motivation for social involvement and friendships. The settings she had been in gave her ample opportunity to socialize, talk, and make phone calls to friends. She probably assumed that working on our project, since it was in the same public agency, would be the same. It wasn’t, so she didn’t and couldn’t produce work at the level we needed.

Since this episode, I have diligently used surveys and computer technology to determine the “will do” factors of a potential employee. In addition to the competency requirements, I’ve made clear the operating values and norms to potential new hires and invited them to visit, talk to others, and assess for themselves if the environment supports their personal motivational needs.

Time Out!

Reflect on: What? So What? and Now What?

Key Reflections:

1. What will it take for you to choose to be a Total Integrity Management champion?

2. What are the benefits of having intent and commitment to being a person of integrity?

3. What action steps will you take to “notch up” your integrity?

The integrity crisis can be turned around by ordinary people like you and me who are committed to having open hearts, willing spirits, and an intent to think, say, and do the right things to strengthen the integrity of every aspect of our lives.

As an integrity champion, you will serve as a model at home and in the marketplace. You will demonstrate the stability and contribution that’s possible when a person thinks, says, and does what is right. I’m pleased that you’re committing yourself to being an important member of this group of integrity champions.

Fortunately, there are many others on the integrity journey. My favorite story about practical and value-driven business leaders came out of the Johnson and Johnson Tylenol tragedies. The account of these integrity champions is told well, and in detail, in Tom Haggai’s book, How the Best Is Won.5

The tragedy of poisoned Tylenol hit Johnson and Johnson twice, in 1982 and again in 1986. Given their respected position and company credo that said, “Never offer for sale any product that might prove to be a hazard to a person’s health,” high-integrity decisions were made based on the Judeo-Christian values deeply inculcated into the company culture. Company chairman Jim Burke wanted to uncover convincing evidence to support his contention that having standards of integrity based on the Judeo-Christian ethical standards for conduct and morality when making corporate decisions was good business financially.

Burke’s staff worked with The Business Round Table’s Task Force on Corporate Responsibility and the Ethics Resource Center in Washington, D.C., to compile a list of twenty-six companies that met the criteria for ethical, high-integrity companies. The compounded growth of these companies was 10.7 percent over a thirty-year period, which was 1.34 times the growth of our GNP; and GNP was 10 times greater than it was thirty years before. The net income of these companies turned out to be 21.2 percent greater than average. If you and I had made an investment of $30,000 thirty years before in the composite of the Dow Jones, we would have received $134,000 on our investment. If we had invested in those companies that the study identified, our investment of $30,000 would have given us a return of $1,310,714.6

High-integrity companies driven by Judeo-Christian ethical standards for conduct are far more successful financially over the long term. I believe the same holds true for individuals, their families, and their careers.

Smaller companies that are the “integrity” brothers and sisters of the twenty-six companies reported above also have excellent profit records over the long term. They, too, experience longevity and develop value-added assets by the time they are sold. These smaller companies are also led by ethical, high-integrity leaders who expect highly ethical practices from all who participate in their enterprises. They model what they expect.

A shining example is Wetherill and Associates, Inc. (WAI), an automobile starter replacement parts company in Pennsylvania. The company’s founding president and top management team have strictly adhered to the Right Action Ethic^TM they incorporated into the company culture from the beginning. “Think, say, and do the right thing” is their simple but powerful personal and business credo. By diligently following their credo over a fourteen-year period, they’ve enjoyed growing to $120 million plus in annual revenues. They were selected as the number-one customer focus company by MCI and Inc. magazine in 1994. Their company has experienced low employee turnover and high customer loyalty. Everyone—managers, employees, suppliers, and customers—is encouraged to challenge any personal or corporate practices which are not perceived as doing the right thing; and the company’s team of managers and employees make every effort to make things right for everyone.

The privilege of working with quality leaders in all types and sizes of organizations, like WAI, has allowed me to gain insight and proven strategies for developing the components of my Intentional Business Integrity System Model found on my website. I’ve observed these leaders as they carried out key functions in their companies with a focus on intentional integrity.

Leaders who practice intentional integrity have demonstrated to me over and over again that “good folks” don’t finish last! I’ve seen how they set standards and expect the same from others.

They truly discern the difference between freedom and license. They expect to be held accountable in terms of personal conduct, performance, and the maintenance of a good company profit margin. They live well-balanced lives. They value integrity within their marriages and their relationships with their children and other family members. They value integrity in the people they work with and exhibit it themselves as they relate to employees, customers, and suppliers. They value and expect integrity in the products and services they deliver to their customers.

For the most part, they have good health and work at keeping it. They experience peace of mind and are content while still eager to contribute more, serve more, and give more. They value friendships and are valued friends. Their focus is on need over greed, service vs. being served, and making their lives count for something.

They have not fallen into the trap of “business as usual” by compromising their ethical standards of conduct for the modern-day, conditional approach to integrity. They know the truth and live it because high ethical standards of conduct have produced multiple dimensions of true profitability—economic wealth, career and company longevity, good personal health, good relationships, and family stability.

By holding true to high ethical standards for conduct, they have kept their lives and their businesses on solid rock. They hold firm to proven standards for conduct regardless of bad situations, personal whims, opportunities for short-term profits, or personal convenience or advantage. My observations support the conclusion that the Judeo-Christian ethical standards for conduct serve as a solid foundation for promoting

People who are consistently productive are firmly committed to personal performance that is firmly based on Judeo-Christian ethical standards for conduct. Those who base their performance on the conditional approach to integrity too often capitulate under pressure and behave in unproductive and often destructive ways.

Review the proven and profitable leadership traits below. Write in front of each trait the degree to which, 1 (low) to 4 (high), you have personally exhibited the bold face traits grounded on Judeo Christian ethical standards for conduct. How have you experienced them helping you improve your productivity and extend your vital physical, emotional and time reserves. If you’re employed, what about your organization’s financial reserves?

Also write to the right of each opposing italicized trait the degree to which each trait has deterred your success at home and work. Under each pair, note examples to support your views and discuss them with your family or a trusted colleague and ask for their feedback.

Now formulate a few personal growth targets, list them below, and diligently hold yourself accountable for growing in character.

“Total Quality Management” and “Continuous Measurable Improvement” have given us valuable strategies focused on improving productivity and economic success.

The following elements are included in the criteria for the prestigious Malcolm Baldridge National Quality Award. I have described them in terms you can apply to the management of quality in yourself, your family, and your work place.

· Customer—Driven Quality—You, your family members, and your colleagues at work should let quality be judged by your “customers.” (Spouse, children, employees, consumers.)

· Leadership—As a leader at home or elsewhere, you must create a customer orientation.

· Continuous Improvement—Achieving the highest level of quality requires a well-defined and well-executed approach to continuous improvement.

· Employee Participation and Development—Your organization’s (personal life, family, business) success in improving performance depends increasingly on the skills and motivation of those who are part of it and work in it.

· Fast Response—Success demands ever-shorter cycles of improvement and service.

· Design Quality and Prevention—Place a strong emphasis on design quality and achieve problem and waste prevention through building quality and service into all processes.

· Long-Range Outlook—Maintain a strong future orientation and a willingness to make long-term commitments to all stakeholders.

· Management by Fact—Build your organization upon a foundation of measurement, data, and analysis rather than opinion.

· Partnership Development—Seek to build internal and external partnerships to better accomplish your overall goals.

· Corporate Responsibility and Citizenship—Have objectives and ethics that protect public health, public safety, and the environment.

Though the quality and improvement formulas are valuable, I’ve found two key components weak or missing that need to be in place if quality standards are to pay off consistently and over the long haul: (1) Clear standards for ethical conduct; and (2) Workable performance accountability processes.

I don’t want to come across as suggesting you throw the baby (TQM) out with the bath water because the soap isn’t effective enough. To the contrary, I urge you to understand and keep the “stuff” of TQM and strengthen it with clear standards for conduct and mutual accountability processes.

I’m proposing that you and I join hands with others who are committed to intentional integrity and who want it to emerge as the new operational paradigm driving America’s future. Wouldn’t you like to see it embodied by individuals, families, schools, governments, churches, and other institutions throughout the land?

Integrity ideally starts with fathers and mothers in their families and with the board members and top executives in any given organization. When modeled from the top down, integrity has a greater chance of becoming an operational reality among members of the family and among all levels of employees in an organization.

Time Out!

Reflect on: What? So What? and Now What?

Key Reflections:

1. What are the attributes of your character?

2. What are the benefits of being a person of good character?

3. What action steps will you take to be accountable for good conduct?