Integrity is a quality that’s taken as a positive, highly prized and often associated with good leadership. Dictionaries define it as the quality of being honest with adherence to strong moral principles (our understanding of right and wrong).
Yet we can be in integrity if our behaviours are consistent with our own morals even if those morals take us to the less positive end of the spectrum. If they’re driven by mistrust or malintent or self-preservation or advancement what shows in outer action is likely to be unattractive to say the least and unlikely to be identified as integrity.
So, when we talk about integrity, considering it as a quality for ourselves as well as ascribing it to others we must take more care and go deeper.
What’s our relationship with morals and ethics? Are they steeped in goodwill towards others and to all living things? Would we be considered to be of good character in the wider court of public opinion? Do we do the right thing irrespective of who’s watching? The path of integrity, in all its positive glory, isn’t an easy one, at times requiring sacrifice and certainly constant vigilance.
Billionaire businessman and investor Warren Buffett once offered an interesting test for integrity to a group of university students, asking how they would feel about their actions if they knew they would be reported in the following day’s news. It seems like a pretty good test to ensure a higher quality of action.