Winning with Integrity

Looking around at the political discourse confronting us, what with some new lexicon entering the mainstream vocabulary like "alternative facts" and "fake news", it's time to reflect on some core values that need to be defended vigorously within ourselves, our families, our communities and our institutions.

Integrity is at the core of such values.

Integrity defines how we conduct ourselves, how and what we communicate, how we interact and respect people around us while standing steadfast to our beliefs and principles. In short, Integrity is how we do the right things. It's no denying that doing the right thing is not as easy as it sounds since it takes a lot of strength to step beyond the shadow of one's own self-interest and the imperatives of achieving short-term results. After all, short-term results are easier to measure than embarking on long-term strategies, especially if someone else would benefit from the efforts, even if that's the right thing to do. That's why we all have such low opinions about politicians and their low standards of integrity.

Integrity is the essential ingredient for establishing trust between people. It is the foundation of personal and business relationships. You expect integrity and ethical standards when buying products and services from companies. It is expected that companies have used safe and healthy ingredients when manufacturing products. Integrity is also the fundamental premise when people come together in teams, whether it be in professional sports or entrepreneurial ventures. Teams want to win games "fair and square" and not by deceit or "bending the rules"; though there are many examples where such tactics have yielded short-term results. The long-term conclusion of such conduct is usually an unhappy one. Remember Lance Armstrong?

It is inevitable that lack of integrity or ethical standards will cause damage to reputation, trust, business performance, and ultimately relationships. We have seen the impact of this leading to the last financial crisis and the loss of trust of people towards banks and many financial institutions. The fallouts from Lehman Bros., Bernie Madoff, Enron, Worldcom, Tyco, Healthsouth, Stanford Financial, Barings, Theranos, and VW, to name a few, have had long-lasting impact on the companies, their employees, communities, customers, partners and shareholders.

It's not that companies and teams set out to be unethical; the evolution of the human race has been based on adapting to the environment and mimicking the behaviors of leaders among us. It ultimately is all about leadership. As much as we're inspired by the leadership of Lincoln, Mandela, Martin Luther, and Gandhi, we've seen the impact that leaders like Hitler, Stalin, Lenin, Mussolini and Mao have had on their people and on the wider world. Faced with new paradigms, people respond with behaviors to cope with the culture that surrounds them. Similarly, the companies that have faced ethical challenges have done so because their leaders have demonstrated, through their actions, that taking short-cuts is acceptable behavior. It is not! It only leads one down a slippery slope from which climbing back to the higher grounds of ethical standing is all but impossible without a massive purge. When leaders set the right culture, and emphasize integrity, reinforcing core values in their conduct, people respond correspondingly leading to a virtuous cycle of motivation, engagement and extraordinary performance. It creates an environment of confidence and transparency where people do not fear to raise issues and express their opinions. It creates the environment for people to think above and beyond, without limiting their horizon to self-survival.

Several researchers have studied the performance of companies correlated with their strong corporate culture. Such companies have higher long-term returns. Indeed researchers have found that a real culture of integrity—as perceived by employees—adds value to a company.

It's time to commit to upholding Integrity and win with confidence!

-Rangam Bir