integrity

For me, INTEGRITY IS AS SACRED AS THE HOLY GRAIL!  It is virtually unfathomable how a business can succeed for the long term if integrity is not an integral component of leadership.

What does “integrity” mean to you?  My definition consists of one word – HONESTY.  Of course, the ever-verbose yet ever-faithful Wikipedia expands on the definition:

Integrity is a personal choice, an uncompromising and predictably consistent commitment to honor moral, ethical, spiritual, and artistic values and principles.  It is regarded as the honesty and truthfulness or accuracy of one’s actions.

The opposite of integrity is hypocrisy which is “the state of falsely claiming to possess virtuous characteristics that one lacks.  It involves deception of others and is thus a kind of lie.”  In our lifetime, a perfect example of a person known for his deception is Bernie Madoff.  He lived a rich and famous life for many years, but in the end his lack of integrity destroyed him and an untold number of other people.

Many may contend that integrity is not valued in our culture and has thus caused […]