Maintaining Integrity
You are viewing: Do The Right Thing Even When No One Is Looking
Excerpted from: If Success Is a Game, These are the Rules,
And written by: Cherie Carter-Scott, Ph.D.
Integrity means doing the right thing, especially when no one is watching. It is easy to act honorably when others are present to give credit for your actions. It might be convenient, however, to take the easy road or deviate from honor when no one is present. The true test is how you behave when your actions are witnessed by you and you alone.
Integrity means doing the right thing, especially when no one is watching. It is easy to act honorably when others are present to give credit for your actions. It might be convenient, however, to take the easy road or deviate from honor when no one is present. The true test is how you behave when your actions are witnessed by you and you alone.
The word “integrity” comes from the root “integer,” which means “whole.” To live with integrity means that you align and encompass all aspects of your being into your actions. You live from a set of personal values that dictate your behavior. These values permeate everything you do; hence your life is lived holistically and authentically.
Maintaining integrity is one of the highest lessons to learn in terms of human evolution. It is a lesson that often comes up when you succeed, for it is then that you may be called upon to compromise your values in order to proceed. Integrity demands that you remember who you are in light of your success and honor that person.
What do you stand for? What principles do you embody? Do you have the moral fiber to stick with them when no one else is looking or when compromising your values looks like it might accelerate your speed or progress?
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We live in a society that sorely lacks integrity. Whom do you know who wouldn’t exceed the speed limit if it was the middle of the night, on a straight road with no other cars around? Would anyone you know find a suitcase of money on the side of the road and take it to the police?
Doing the right thing takes fortitude. It requires tuning in to your conscience, listening to what it says, and honoring the values you know to be correct. Many times as you travel along on your journey you will be faced with situations that demand that you choose between your conscience and getting ahead. That’s just the nature of the game.
Bella, for example, was a young actress from Italy I knew years ago when I was still acting. She had come to America to study acting. She loved the theater and grabbed on to every opportunity to excel in her art. She had studied Shakespeare, the classics, and George Bernard Shaw. One day, after auditioning for a new director, she was taken aback by his offer for a “private audition.” Since she was new to the nuances of the English language, she did not understand what he meant and innocently asked him to explain.
“Come back to my place later,” he encouraged her, “and you can audition for me privately.” Now the message was clear.
Bella considered her career goals side by side with her values. She desperately wanted the part in this director’s play, as it would be a tremendous boost to her career. On the other hand, who would she be if she accepted a part based on something other than her acting ability? In this one moment, Bella’s naïveté about the world vanished, and she knew that this wasn’t the last time she would face such a choice.
“That’s all right,” she answered. “I think I’ll pass. Thanks anyway.” As she walked away, she breathed a sigh of relief and didn’t look back.
Sometimes the choices we are presented are less black and white than Bella’s. Sometimes it is a boss asking us to do something that makes us feel uneasy, such as stretching the truth. Or it might be the temptation to take a shortcut that looks foolproof to reach your goal. These moments are hard, because we observe situations daily that reinforce that in today’s world we must compromise ourselves in order to succeed.
You will know if integrity is one of your life lessons if people or situations repeatedly try to seduce you to compromise your values. In these moments you may feel conflicted or in crisis. If you stand for some principles, if you know your values, you must ask yourself if the cost is worth the choice to ignore or abandon them. The conflict can be as large as stealing from your company or as small as cheating on an exam or taking the credit for someone else’s work. Almost always it will seem as if departing from your values and principles will bring a quick and large payoff.
What can you do in these moments? You have to weigh the consequences of your actions, consider the payoff, and make a choice. These questions might help in your assessment process:
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1. What do I stand for?
2. How will I feel if I do or do not take this action? Is the payoff worth the feeling?
3. Is this action in line with how I define myself?
4. Will this choice get me where I want to go? Or is it a detour?
5. If I do this, will I feel proud of myself?
6. What are my alternatives?
7. What are the possible consequences of doing or not doing this?
If you like what you’ve read and would like to read more, visit www.drcherie.com/books.php to purchase a copy of If Success Is a Game, These Are the Rules today!
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