Monthly Mantra: July 2021
I DO THE RIGHT THING BECAUSE DOING RIGHT FEELS GOOD.
My sister and two of her colleagues have recently been vying for a promotion at work. The process has entailed Zoom interviews (shudder) and lots of inter-staff chatter. This manager talks to this manager who talks with their other manager, who eventually presents the candidates to the Big Boss. His response: from out of the three of them, my sister has the most integrity. Boom.
Can you blame him for prioritizing that? (Obviously, I cannot.)
Likability is important. Reliability is crucial. Innovation is favored. But integrity eclipses everything. Integrity is the whole package, because it is both honesty and responsibility; respectfulness and respectableness.
Integrity is also authenticity. To have integrity is to be yourself, a caring, trustworthy, and honest person, no matter what the circumstance is and whose back is turned.
When our motives aren’t pure, when we’re deceptive, calculating, manipulative, or careless, we splinter ourselves into fragments. We tell different stories to different people and in the process we lose our own truth. Each deception moves us further away from our innate goodness.
Having integrity is noble, it’s true. It also happens to be an easier way to live. (And really, in what other scenario do the right thing and the easier thing coincide?)
When you speak honestly, uphold promises to yourself and others, and act courteously and compassionately you have significantly less to worry about.
The more you lie, you more you worry others will find out the truth. The more you cheat, the more you worry you’ll be caught. The more you steal, the more you’ll doubt you had ever the ability to earn things.
Integrity is living by a pure-intentioned code of virtue. It isn’t showy or loud or performative. You aren’t seeking to make a point to others or seeking accolades at all. You are just being your excellent self.
But don’t be surprised if you end up being celebrating for having integrity in the end. People notice. We are watching each other. We are the recipients of each other’s actions.
The ones with integrity stand out from the crowd. Sometimes, they even get promoted.
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