True leadership demands strength of character that must be built up over time. How can you prepare and be ready when the test comes?

Read on: blog.WednesdayWin.com​

Read time: 3 minutes

I love sharing positive stories about lessons learned. But today I'm tackling a tougher topic: how you can prepare for the inevitable tests of character that leadership and management responsibilities will bring.

How can you ensure that you are ready to maintain your integrity, especially when that will come at some level of personal cost?

Throughout my career, I have been surprised at the easy willingness of some to abandon their ethical standards. And often it's just done in the face of a bit of pressure or in order to gain some small advantage in terms of role or position.

Small failings tend lower our defenses for even tougher, more consequential temptations.

Those ethical lapses often catch up and cause problems for both the organization and the individual. But beyond the external negative consequences, living without integrity is a very poor life to live.

So how can we build healthy teams and help prevent ourselves and our colleagues from slipping into these ethical traps?

1. Don't be fooled

The news is filled with stories of fraud, deceit, harassment, and plain thievery. And there's regular suggestions of many more who are getting away unidentified.

The academic sciences appear plagued by a replication crisis which suggests that a large number of studies may have used incomplete or falsified data. Plagiarism and falsely-claimed credential scandals have led to resignations of high profile figures.

There’s lots of evidence of bad behavior, but that doesn’t mean it’s universal.

Honest behavior rarely gets highlighted (or even noticed for its common occurrence). Success through diligence, fair competition, and hard work isn't too likely to get too many featured TikTok views. It won't win the algo on many social media platforms, but it does make you a great colleague, neighbor, and leader.

• Notice the everyday examples of low-key, common decency all around us
• Take a moment and explore, "today you, tomorrow me"
• Remember, there's no valid "everybody's doing it" excuse available

These stories of great crimes also open the door to thinking that our small transgressions aren't a big deal. Don't fall for that one either. Faking a report or two might not seem like the crime of the century, but once you break your code, the slope gets ever more slippery.

2. Manage incentives

While good choices from your team are not only about the direct benefits, it's still wise to think about incentives. Make it easy to operate honestly. Avoid creating needless temptations. Don't look the other way at minor transgressions. Instead, use them as an opportunity to show you are engaged, attentive, and care about the standards of your team.

When you manage, don't force your team to cheat. Don't give assignments that can't be completed properly in the available time. Make it easy for them to report their own errors. There may be a need to take action in response, but your first instinct should be to help to correct and not criticize or punish. Show through your actions that honesty and quick disclosure is respected.

These all sound great in the abstract, but this is where you are likely to be tested.

It's painful to have to take responsibility for errors your team has made. And worse to have to admit that someone you hired doesn't fit and isn't working out. But even if you have to fire someone, do it with compassion, honesty, and in compliance with the law.

Very few start a new job with the intent to commit misdeeds to succeed, but the inevitable temptations will emerge.

• Minimize possible temptations through processes, communication, and reasonable work expectations
• Be honest in your dealings with your team
• Don't push unreasonable assignments you receive down to your team to execute

3. Beware of salami slicing

I worked for a CEO who liked to issue this warning: "watch out for the salami slicing!" In negotiations, this refers to the steady erosion of your objections by forcing you to concede over and over again to what feel like minor points in isolation. But once your counterpart is done, they've won on everything they wanted and gained the whole salami.

For us today, think of this as the risk of slowly eroding your ethical standards. At first you are asked to shift the end date of a report to hide a problematic result. Next, you are asked to add a little credit to a customer's account. After that, you might be pressured to change your staff ratings to help your manager's statistics. And so on it goes.

These acts may each seem small in isolation, but once added together, you've given up your standards.

Vaclav Havel, the Communist dissident turned long-time Czech statesman, had a deep insight to the importance of living honestly even when there is no apparent benefit:

Don't give up in small matters or soon enough, you'll find you've given up the whole salami.

4. Think long-term

What would you like your colleagues, your staff, your customers, and your vendors to think of you?

Tough? Sure. Successful? Of course. Valued and valuable? Yes, that too.

How about respected? Oh.

Even more, living a life of good character pays benefits beyond just that external validation.

You can earn the ultimate respect: your own.

I read once that the great loss for the liar wasn't that he wouldn't be trusted, but that ultimately, he can trust no one. I think about that often.

No job, even in a company of your own creation, is worth losing the gift of trusting yourself and trusting others.

Action Summary

As a leader, your honesty, your values, and your integrity will be tested. And to live those standards, you might have to make sacrifices. Can you be ready?

• Find strength in the decency that's all around if you look
• Create positive incentives and reduce temptations for you and your team
• Don't allow others to chip away at your standards
• Consider the long-term impacts of your decisions

What do you think? Reply to this email and let me know.

​

To your success,

Christopher

Looking for a deeper dive on these topics? Connect here and reach out:

1. Connect and follow on Twitter/X: @cbell​
2. Connect and follow on LinkedIn: @cbell​

Like this newsletter? Please share the sign-up link with others. Thank you.

​

​

​