What values and principles drive your business? More importantly, does the leader of your business consistently demonstrate these values?

This month, I will address an important leadership characteristic that is all too often overlooked in our society today integrity. Although many leaders use this term to characterize themselves, I find very few that are able to even tell me what it means to have integrity.

Its not necessarily their fault, the definition found in the dictionary the quality or condition of being whole or undivided isnt exactly crystal clear.

So what does this word integrity really mean?

Lets start by looking at the definition offered by best-selling Christian author V. Gilbert Beers: A person of integrity is one who has established a system of values against which all of life is judged.

In other words, a person with integrity has carefully determined exactly what principles and values are most important to them and decided that these will guide all of their actions. In addition, the most important characteristic of a person with integrity is that they live by these principles regardless of the situation or circumstance.

Thats what makes it so tough to have integrity. You cant have service to others as one of your core values and then choose to only spend time with people that improve your situation (help you make more money, gain more influence, etc). If your principles and values truly guide your actions, you will seek out those in need and help them regardless of the return to you personally or professionally.

Unfortunately, some business leaders dont understand the importance of integrity. They will argue that it is their job to get results, regardless of the principles and values that influence their decisions. These are the same presidents and CEOs who advocate misleading their customers and suppliers as long as it drives more profit to the bottom line.

What they dont realize is that although they might succeed in improving profit in the short term, they are significantly damaging their long term ability to develop a successful and loyal team of employees.

Why? I believe that the answer is trust.

Employees will not give their best efforts and truly follow a leader unless they trust him/her. The words of Dwight Eisenhower reinforce this concept: In order to be a leader a man must have followers. And to have followers, a man must have their confidence. Hence the supreme quality of a leader is unquestionable integrity. If a mans associates find him guilty of being a phony, if they find that he lacks forthright integrity, he will fail. His teachings and actions must square with each other.

If we can agree that integrity is a critical component to becoming an effective leader, how do you become a person that practices the quality or condition of being whole? I would recommend three basic steps as a guideline:

Decide what principles/values are most important to you and write them down somewhere that you will refer to frequently (weekly at a minimum). Note: If this is your first time contemplating your core principles dont get frustrated if you draft many versions. This is a challenging process and one of the reasons so few people take the time to do it.

Share your principles/values with your closest friends and associates. You will need the help of others to hold you accountable to these concepts.

Practice these principles/values in everything that you do. Not just at work and during management meetings. These core concepts should guide every single decision that you make.