What is Integrity? How does one identify it?

Imagine that you are pursuing your dreams. Achieving and enjoying all highs of your career choice. The opportunity of a lifetime lands on your lap, challenging you to identify the credibility, and integrity of the individuals presenting themselves before you. Based off the Google search engine, Facebook friends in common, Linked In skills & endorsements, Instagram followers & likes, Twitter re-postings and the certified mark beside their names, you need to base your decision. Challenging, no? Look at the society created by technology advancement and superficial/impersonal communication. We are all guilty of basing these few social media outlets as integrity certifications/validations. However, many of them are, if you know what to look for.

"Let's Build On Common Ground"

I find integrity certification challenging in this technological driven era. Building relationships has become much more difficult if face-to-face interaction isn't present. In this article, I want to challenge you to open your mind to better understanding what integrity entails. Walk in my shoes while reading this article. Try to identify my intentions for challenging the status quo of how we perceive integrity. To do so, you will need to understand who I am as an individual in three words that describe me. I am a human first, artist second and philanthropist third. This decision came about by accepting my greatest flaw of having a very high moral compass. As a teenager, I found it difficult to associate myself with certain people due to the following characteristics: negative energy emitted, contemptuousness, overconfidence, loftiness and dishonesty.

You are probably wondering what does understanding my high moral compass have to do with integrity? My high moral compass is my own intuition based off the fact that human behavior is always sensitive to context. How we perceive integrity in this era is predictable based off the instruments we use. In fact, trustworthiness is entirely unpredictable when the guidelines we use to make predictions are flawed and varied. What if I told you integrity can be determined if we cease to emphasize on socioeconomic status, reputation, social status, and perceived confidence?

"We Are Only Human"

Understand the old saying," We are only human." Integrity certification/validation by others is varied and also flawed because our mind focuses on two types of gains: short-term and long-term. Rather than approaching it with that in mind, why not base certification/validation around genuine intentions, and our own intuition? I can admit it's easier said than done. We have to understand that power corrupts and trustworthiness depends on circumstances. What demonstrates a lack of integrity is the intention behind one's action to satisfy short-term/temporary desires to acquire long-term benefits at another's undoing.

When deciding whom to trust, question one's intention by evaluating their present/future situation, proposition, power distribution/structure, consistency of claimed abilities, competency and relationships/affiliations. Many people wear a mask of confidence to conceal their incompetence. Honorable intentions verbalized aren't always the base of trust building. There are many factors that play a role in establishing an individual's integrity. Confidence is alluring but cannot be taken as integrity certification nor validation.

"At The End Of The Day"

Trust your gut, your intuition. The set of cues that we instinctively use to predict or reveal an individual's motivation is accurate. Be mindful, this does include mental heuristics which can be based on prejudgment, and stereotypes that are inaccurate assumptions. Your intuition is a valuable piece of information that should not be trusted blindly. Before we assess and associate with someone, we need to trust and appreciate the value of our intuition and gut feelings, as well as, allow our minds to arrive at a judgement without disquiet or distress. This process will allow an individual to identify honest and deceptive people and to be less influenced by common perceptions, and social integrity certifications/validations platforms. One can either have integrity, work towards acquiring it or not have it all. However, having and maintaining integrity is a choice and a beautiful journey.

How to Prompt Trustworthiness in Others

1. Be generous & gracious
2. Emphasize a common ground
3. Respect eachother's limits
4. Be open to personal growth and feedback
5. Be honest with yourself and your intentions
6. Don't over promise or overcompensate

Author: Zxandria Joseph

*Please take my article with a spoon of honey and an open mind. Thank you for reading.*