Integrity is your license to practice, not your idea or skill

In the 1860s, many entrepreneurs sold adulterated tomato ketchup. Heinz believed that his clients deserved the best quality products. 

Keeping his integrity, he sold his tomato ketchup in clean, bright glass bottles. His honesty inspired trust in the brand, a precious ingredient for business longevity. Now we know who laughed last and the brand that stood till today. 

Despite the clear benefits of maintaining integrity, many entrepreneurs, professionals, and leaders still stop at the station of compromise. 

Recently, some entrepreneurs on the Forbes 30 under 30 ranking of entrepreneurs have been handed jail terms for engaging in unethical activities. 

According to the Cambridge Dictionary, "integrity is the quality of being honest and having strong moral principles that you refuse to change." 

When integrity concerns someone's work, it means "someone's high artistic standards or standards of doing their job, and that person's determination not to lower those standards." 

The mindset to do what is right and to keep the standards (or, better still, raise the bar) is a fundamental trait that highly successful professionals and entrepreneurs share. 

The entrepreneurial journey has several stations with opportunities to compromise. Highly successful entrepreneurs take the high road. They put themselves under severe pressure to do what is ethical for all the stakeholders in the business. They keep the promises they make to stakeholders.

Jack Welch noted in his book Winning, "Integrity is just a ticket to the game. If you don't have it in your bones, you shouldn't be allowed on the field". No professional intending to succeed in our complex, technology-driven, hybrid working culture can ignore integrity in pursuing their practice. 

The benefit of carrying a mindset of integrity and acting with that daily is the opportunity to play the game for a long time and enjoy the rewards of playing without any embarrassment. 

The Book of Proverbs says, "Whoever walks in integrity walks securely, but whoever takes crooked paths will be found out." integrity is needed to safeguard our obligations to all stakeholders, including clients, employers, teams we work with, and professional groups we may be part of. 

Even in a crisis, integrity will keep every professional and business headed in the right direction.

Integrity to the profession

Remaining faithful to the requirements and expected norms of behaviour in any profession secures the profession's future. 

To deviate from this is to destroy the foundations upon which to trade. Over the past decade, I have taught finance professionals preparing for the Chartered Financial Analyst exam. 

I teach the Ethics and Professional Standards module. Many are always surprised at the level of integrity demanded of the members and candidates in the profession. 

Given the highly competitive environment in many industries, the vast rewards at stake, and the need to deliver results, there is pressure on professionals to cut corners, overstate benefits, and compromise on quality. Integrity builds trust in the services offered by the profession's members. 

Integrity is one of the highest standards of conduct expected of members in almost every work. Every professional must identify the core integrity requirements of their profession and keep them.

Integrity to clients

Every professional makes a promise to a customer or client. Highly successful professionals do what is right and deliver their best service to the customer. 

They do not deviate from established standards to serve the client's best interest. Compromising for whatever reason leads to disastrous consequences for the professional. 

A professional artist cannot deliberately limit their creativity and paint 100ghc pieces because that is what his clients can afford. 

A professional artist is significantly better off painting a masterpiece while keeping with the integrity of his practice and selling it for 100ghc. 

In doing so, the professional artist holds her promise to deliver her best and remains true to the standards of her practice, which guarantees the future of her profession. In this instance, the price does not determine the excellence of the offering. 

Every business must operate with integrity, whether they list it as a core value or not. Every professional made a promise to the world when they launched their product or service and must do everything possible to keep that promise.

Integrity to the team 

Warren Buffett reminds all professionals that "it takes 20 years to build a reputation and five minutes to ruin it. If you think about that, you'll do things differently." 

When you decide to join a team in a professional capacity, you have made a promise to be a valuable team member. The team is not your family. You must keep that promise and live up to what it means to be a professional in that team. 

Maintaining team agreements, performing your side of the bargain, supporting others to carry out their duties, bringing your skills to the table, and remaining committed to the team's goals, not your agenda, are ways professionals keep their promises to the team. 

Your team will succeed when you share your best ideas with them. Finding a new group may be appropriate if you cannot demonstrate this level of integrity in a team setting.

Integrity to the employer

The employment relationship requires that professionals offer their best efforts in line with the expectations of their employment contract. 

Hybrid working structures sometimes make it impossible for employers to supervise the work done by employers, which has created a huge concern for employers. 

As a professional, you must not deprive our employers of our skills, abilities, and the time expected under your contracts, whether you work remotely or not. 

In some instances, the guilty party is the employer, who always asks for additional time beyond what has been paid by the employer. 

Suppose other factors in the employment situation make it difficult to operate with integrity. In that case, explore different options that allow you to serve with integrity. You want to avoid falling into the destructive habit of being in an employment relationship with unethical behaviour.

Ideas to action

Below are a couple of actions to reflect on and use to guide your practice and maintain an integrity mindset on your professional journey. 

I. Identify your specific promises to your team members and your organisation and keep them.

II. Identify practices and strategies you can take daily to support you in keeping the standard as a professional. 

III. Ask yourself questions that help you to hone your moral compass. For example, who am I? What do I stand for? What legacy do I want to leave in this team or organisation?

IV. Conduct a regular review of the code of ethics and standards of your profession, industry, or organisation and discuss with colleagues. 

The mission of The Leadership Project is to harvest highly effective leadership practices and share them in a manner that other leaders can easily incorporate into their leadership practice. 

If you have an idea or leadership practice to share, kindly write to programs@thelearningtemple.com. Until you read from us again, keep leading…..from leader to leader, one practice at a time.