Leadership Thought: Walking the Integrity Journey

Dear Friends,

A number of years ago, I was asked by one of my children if I could give one bit of advice to a young person, what would it be?

That was an easy question. I answered, "Always be a person of integrity."

The world is looking for people who will say what they mean and mean what they say, whose yes is a yes, and whose no is a no.

Ted Engstrom wrote a book called Integrity, and he defines integrity as follows: "It is keeping our promises.......doing what we said we would do.......choosing to be accountable, and taking as our motto, 'semper fidelis,' the promise to always be faithful" (Forward to Integrity).

The late Lloyd George Patterson, who was the historian at Episcopal Divinity School, was once asked how he accounted for the endurance of the early church, when so many of the tools of communication that we associate with growth either did not exist or could not be used in a hostile environment- they couldn't even have church buildings, let alone clever PR programs. He responded by saying that "The early Christian communities were characterized by unusual integrity, and some people were attracted to that."  

Simply put, this historian was saying they walked what they talked. There was consistency between their belief and their behavior, their creed and their conduct, their life and their lips.

Jesus was like that. His life was marked by consistency.

If he told his disciples to do something, you could be sure he did it himself. 

He taught his disciples to take up their cross, and follow him, and of him the scriptures say, "Christ. pleased not himself." (Romans. 15:3)

He taught that "Whoever would be great must become a servant, and he said, "I am among you as he that serves."(Luke 22:7)

He encouraged his disciples to pray in secret, and we see him rising early and retreating to the mountains to be alone with his Father. 

In short, Jesus practiced what he preached, and so did the early church. That is why they were so attractive to the unbelieving world.

If you want to be a leader today, one who is followed and respected, you must possess integrity. 

Dwight Eisenhower calls it "the supreme quality for a leader. Without it, no real success is possible, no matter whether it is on a section gang, a football field, in an army, or in an office. If a man's associates find him guilty of phoniness; if they find that he lacks forthright integrity, he will fail. His teachings and actions must square with each other. The first great need, therefore, is integrity and high purpose."  The Right to Lead, John Maxwell, p. 105

One of my favorite poems that addresses this very subject is called "The Guy in the Glass," but it could just as easily have been called the Girl in the Glass, and it is directed to all of us who seek to live lives of integrity.

"When you get what you want in your struggle for self, 

And the world makes you king for a day, 

Then go to the mirror and look at yourself, 

And see what the guy has to say. 

For it isn't your father, or mother, or wife, 

Whose judgment upon you must pass. 

The feller whose verdict counts most in your life 

Is the guy staring back from the glass. 

He's the feller to please, never mind all the rest, 

For he's with you clear up to the end, 

And you've passed your most dangerous, difficult test. 

If the guy in the glass is your friend. 

You may be like Jack Horner and 'chisel' a plum, 

And think you're a wonderful guy, 

But the man in the glass says you're only a bum

If you can't look him straight in the eye. 

You can fool the whole world down the pathway of years, 

And get pats on the back as you pass, 

But your final reward will be heartaches and tears

If you cheated the guy in the glass."  Dale Wimbrow.

These are good words to keep in mind for all who would travel the integrity journey.

Yours in faith and friendship,

Tom

P. S. Abraham Lincoln said, "When I lay down the reins of this administration, I want to have one friend left, and that friend is inside myself."