Honesty and Integrity in Business

Rajeev is the founder of PR3 Systems and is responsible for Strategic Planning and Leadership. Prior to starting PR3 Systems, he was a consultant to various Fortune 500 companies in the Insurance and Options industry. He started his consulting career with Price Waterhouse Coopers in their MCS division and consulted at leading manufacturing companies. On a personal front, Rajeev is currently an active member of ToastMasters International and is a past president of the Chicago Toastmasters club, TradeMasters. He holds a Bachelor of Science degree from the Indian Institute of Technology, Mumbai, and a Masters of Business Administration from the Indian Institute of Management, Calcutta.

Every day, we find someone falling from grace. Sometimes, it is a big debacle like ENRON, which shakes us up, and begs the question if we are on the right track with our strategies and techniques for getting ahead at the work place. I always hear that in this cut-throat competitive workplace, we cannot succeed or get ahead without playing the “game”. I can see that it would seem to be true in many places. I have often seen people being promoted by bad-mouthing their peers by asking “innocent questions”. I have seen organizations where no one trusts anyone else because they are afraid of losing their job or getting behind in the race to the top.

Why is this happening? This is because of our inherent nature to compete and beat the competition. Maslow’s work on Hierarchy of Needs proved this point. We need to get ahead on the workplace. We need to keep up with the Joneses in our friend circle. This pressure to get ahead and our environment makes it very difficult to live our lives with honesty and integrity.

But, think about it. Are we actually reaching a better place because of this attitude and actions? How would you feel if your kids and spouse are not honest with you? How would you feel if your friends are not honest with you? My guess is that you would feel miserable. Now, you might say that home and business are different. It is important to be honest and have integrity in your home life but it is not necessary to have these traits at work place. Is that true? Imagine that you worked hard on a project and a colleague of yours happens to be a golf-buddy of the boss. This colleague of yours in one of his friendly chats with the boss, takes credit for your work. As a result, he gets promoted and your contribution does not get recognized. How would that make you feel? I have a feeling that you might not like it. You might protest. Why is that? It is also because human beings are hard wired to expect fairness in life. This is why movies in which the good guy wins at the end, are more popular. Therefore it is pretty clear that you don’t like when others are not honest with you, whether at workplace or home. So, what do we do about it?

The only way to solve this problem is to make honesty and integrity core values for your life. It sounds much easier than doing it. When you decide to live life by a strict code of conduct, you will be able to live with peace. By living daily with a very strong code of conduct and by performing daily small acts which are in sync with your core values, you will gradually create a positive reputation at your work place or in your friend-circle. Does that mean that you will not run into issues? Chances are that you will run into a lot of issues. By refusing to play the game like everyone else, you can get singled out. You could be target of back-office politics. It is important to remember that being honest and having integrity does not mean being naive. It does not mean being timid. It does mean that you have to stand up for what is right. It does mean that you should understand the games being played, so that you can respond with the highest level of honesty and integrity.

Whatever I said above is not rocket-science. We all know it. Why don’t we actually follow it? My guess is that we don’t follow it because we are afraid of losing at the workplace. I can tell you from my experience, that these fears are not unfounded. Let us examine why exactly do we really want to get ahead in our career. We do it because getting ahead in our career means more respect and more money. Assuming that the premise is correct meaning that if you live with honesty and integrity, you do get left behind. So, we have one of the two following outcomes with our hypothetical characters Jack and Matt:

1. Jack is the king of political games and back-stabbing and he is still getting promoted. However, some of the people he has trampled hate him and people don’t trust him. Since, it is difficult to be one person at home and different person at work he is not trusted at home either and his home life is not based on love and trust. He has tons of money, but no genuine loving relationship. When he lies on his bed at night, he does think about his new moves to get ahead at work but also sighs at the emptiness of his current life.

2. Matt lives a life of honesty and integrity. He walks the talk and people know that when he speaks, he speaks the impeccable truth. He might not be on the high ladder of success but he is well respected and has spotless reputation. He has a family where there is trust because he is also honest in his role as a father and a husband. When he lies in his bed at night, he is at peace with himself because he is living a life with the core values of honesty and integrity.

Between the two options as given above, which one would you choose to be the story of your life? My guess is that, it would be option 2. Living a life of honesty and integrity is not just about outward behavior. It is about our core character. Nowadays, we focus a lot on how to say and what we say, but we don’t focus enough on who we are at the core. When we try to work on who we are, the impact is much more long lasting that just working on behaviors.

However, sometimes living an upright life leads to pride – a potentially dangerous combination. When you live with honesty and integrity and find that others are not living accordingly, there could be tendency to have “holier than thou” attitude. This can negate all the positives that your sterling character can bring forth. You have to be humble enough not to correct every one. The only person we can control is ourselves. Remember, that the doors of change open inwards. You can’t change anyone else. If others see you living your life with integrity, they might be inspired to change. Even if they don’t change, it should not matter to you. You can just work on yourself and if you are able to live according to these values, your job is done.

There are some people who are like an oasis of integrity in the world.Denzel Washington carries himself with dignity and lives a life of integrity in Hollywood, where we have daily scandals. But his way of life inspires many to live a life of integrity. We can aspire to be that symbol of integrity and become the breath of fresh air that would be refreshing for people who come in our contact. Gradually, our impact will expand, one heart at a time creating a beautiful world of trust and respect.

One of the core habits of honest living is being loyal to those who are absent. Gossiping and criticizing people behind their back is a favorite pastime for a lot of people. What happens when someone comes and criticizes a mutual friend before you? What would you do? If you have chosen to live with the values of honesty and integrity, your choice would be pretty straightforward. Irrespective of whether you agree or disagree with the opinion, you would let the person know that you don’t want to be part of this conversation. However, if the other person really feels strongly about it, you would be happy to mediate a conversation with the person in question so that the issue can be discussed and resolved. Initially, people would not like it. By behaving in this manner, you have snatched from them the happiness of criticizing somebody behind their back. But, you would have earned his trust. This would gradually lead to greater respect and more healthy relationships because we are ready to confront the issues and are willing to solve them by mutual discussion.

When I started PR3 Systems, two of our key values were chosen to be were honesty and integrity. We found that it is easy to talk about, but very difficult to adhere to these values. Sometimes, we slipped. But, by keeping ourselves accountable to each other the frequency of these slips reduced. It was humbling experience for all of us.

Hence, I’d like to conclude by saying that we cannot be truly happy and at peace if we don’t follow the principles of honesty and integrity in business and at home. When others see us living a life according to carefully chosen principles of honesty and integrity, they get encouraged to live accordingly. When our children see us living our life with these principles, they learn what no book can teach them about honest living. What we do is much more important than what we say. Living with honesty and integrity can give us genuine friendships based upon deep love and respect. I’d like to end with a quote. “Make yourself an honest man and you will find that there is one rascal less in this world.”