A Very Difficult Subject: Integrity

Joachim De Posada

By Joachim De Posada

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A very difficult subject: Integrity

In working with dozens of companies as a consultant, I have been seen vision, mission, principles and value statements that companies exhibit in posters pasted  all over the company and now a days in their websites.

I have had a lot of fun asking employees about what is written in the posters and almost 100% can’t recall or verbalize what they say. Sometimes they can’t even name one single principle out of the 5 to 7 that are usually listed.

Honesty and integrity are present in most statements, along with excellence, teamwork, customer service, innovation and a few others.

Sometimes they list only the words, other times they use stock phrases such as:

“We act with integrity in everything we do…”

“We combine integrity with superb customer service…”

“Our employees hold honesty and integrity as our guiding principles…”

They are positive statements, right? Have you ever wondered why they have to be listed in the first place?

After all, who would want to do business with a company that is not ethical, honest or that provides poor customer service? Nobody wants to get involved with an organization that doesn’t tell the truth, cheats or takes advantage of clients.

Nor do people want to work for an organization or supervisor that is not honest, lies or mistreats employees.

As one senior executive said to me, “we do what we say we are going to do. We keep our promises”.

Hours later, I asked an employee about a pay raise that was promised and he said that he never got it. Six months had gone by after they promised him.

It is not that simple as you may imagine to really practice integrity.

It is a natural human ability to rationalize all kinds of behaviors. For example, if you ask students in school, college, high school or middle school if cheating is wrong, most will tell you that it is wrong. 

Yet, research shows that at least 95% of students have admitted to have engaged in some form of cheating. Most of the time it involves a particular situation, maybe under pressure, where a choice had to be made in order to get a better grade and the choice was made: Cheat.

Looking back, the students often justify the choice as “no big deal”, “everyone does it”. “I don’t do it all the time”. In other words, they rationalize their behavior and in their minds they are honest people.

Let’s be real, all of us, not only students constantly are being tested by choices we are faced with on a daily basis. Do we tell a client that wants to buy a house that in the master bedroom the previous owner killed his wife? Or that every night at 2am a train goes by and makes such a noise that people can’t have a peaceful sleep and always wake up?

Do we tell the prospective buyer that the transmission in the car we want to get rid of acted up and we bought real heavy oil to mask the symptom until we sell the car?

What is considered a legitimate expense when we go on a company paid business trip?

Do we declare some expenses as business expenses even though we were on vacation?

Do we list everything on a resume or we leave out some incidents or experiences that might disqualify us from a much needed job.

By the way, social media is really affecting people looking for work. Employers are searching for you in Facebook, Linked in, Google plus and some pictures you posted or statements you made will disqualify you from being hired. Be very careful.

Also, there is a new site, www.klout.com that will measure your level of influence in the world. For some high level positions, employers are looking you up to see how influential you are. As of today I have a 68, anything above 50 is very good. Check your score or sign up if you don’t show up.

Getting back to integrity:

How honest should I be when I see that my boss is not doing the right thing?

None of these examples have crystal clear answers and no company policy, no matter how hard it tries, can cover every situation. As a result, no matter what choices we make, we are very good at convincing ourselves that we acted with integrity.

In fact, let me take this to an extreme.

Ted Bundy, one of the worst serial murderer in history, when caught, he defended his actions in terms of the fact-value distinction. He scoffed at those, like the professors from whom he learned the fact-value distinction, who still lived their lives as if there were truth-value to value claims. He thought they were fools and that he was one of the few who had the courage and integrity to live a consistent life in light of the truth that value judgments, including the command "Thou shall not kill," are merely subjective assertion.

Even a murderer can rationalize his behavior.

Another problem we face with integrity is the fact that there is no one definition that applies to all.

Paying a purchasing agent under the table to be able to win a contract might be considered an acceptable business practice in a particular country and inexcusable in another. I have travelled all over the world, at last count over 60 countries, and I have been told in many countries that if I was not willing to bribe the buyer (la mordida); I would not get the business.

I know of reputable, big name companies here in Puerto Rico and the United States whose officers have bribed government officials in Latin American countries.

The ability for people to rationalize and the difficulties to define integrity, leads us to believe that the matter is not easy or simple. This is why only relying on compliance measures, policies, rules and even accounting audits is usually not enough. These mechanisms can be of help in identifying clearly illegal violations but they don’t come close to dealing with the little choices, the little decisions we face every single day.

For this, you will have to rely on personal judgment.

So, let me end with three good integrity quotes so that they can be of help in your daily professional and personal lives.

In looking for people to hire, you look for three qualities: integrity, intelligence, and energy. And if they don't have the first, the other two will kill you.
— Warren Buffet

There are seven things that will destroy us: Wealth without work; Pleasure without conscience; Knowledge without character; Religion without sacrifice; Politics without principle; Science without humanity; Business without ethics.
- Mahatma Gandhi

Trust is rebuilt by focusing not on what the other person did or did not do but on critiquing one's own behavior, improving one's trustworthiness, and focusing attention not on words and promises but on actions, attitudes, and ways of being.
- Kenneth Cloke and Joan Goldsmith

One last question: What are you willing to do to make integrity more than just a word in your company's mission statement?

 

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