What is integrity?

May 20, 2010 at 4:22 pm (Uncategorized) (advice, communications, communicator, integrity)

I have always felt a connection to the word, but when asked I often struggle to explain exactly what integrity means to me. According to Wikipedia, integrity is a concept of “consistency of actions, values, methods, measures, principles, expectations, and outcomes”. This definition is as close to what I use the word for as possible.

I was taught at a young age that being dishonest was wrong, thanks to an older brother with a penchant for lying. Seeing how upset my parents were, not by his actions, but by his excuses and made-up stories, made me an exceedingly honest child. This is not to say that I didn’t stretch the truth here and there, and I’m sure my parents would be more than willing to elaborate on this point, but I was more conscious of it. It was then that I realized that words and actions are intertwined. When I was around 12, my mother told me, “You shouldn’t do anything you feel ashamed of telling someone later.”

As an angst-ridden teen, I despised hypocrisy, and pointed it out any chance I got. When I began a career in sales, I had to find a balance between my integrity and earning enough money to live. It was difficult, but I still feel that I made the right choices. When I had to make a decision that questioned my integrity, I quit. To me, it was more important that I like the person I was than make a dollar. Not everyone would have made that choice, and it may have been a dumb, impulsive move, but I felt good about it.

Now, as I work on building my career as a professional communicator, I feel even more strongly about the importance of integrity. There are many sharks out there, who will say or do anything to try and make money, but I will never allow myself to be on that level. If I ever get into a situation where I am tempted to compromise my integrity, I hear my mother’s advice, and it guides me to make the right decision.

But this always leads me to wonder, What does integrity mean to others? Do the people whose value do not match their actions not have integrity, or do they just follow a different definition?