Let's face it. There's a lot of lying out there. So why not join in? Why hold out for honesty? Why take personal responsibility? What does making a commitment to leading with integrity do for you and for others?

Read on: blog.WednesdayWin.com​

Read time: 4 minutes

It won't always be easy, but there are clear benefits for you and others. Let's explore:

1. Honest reflection is essential to growth

At it's most essential, to improve yourself, you need to be honest about your performance, your engagement with others, and the progress you are making. Lying to others reduces the likelihood receiving honest feedback and your own trust in its value.

Liars aren't just damaged by the lies they tell. They are more grievously injured by their own inability to trust others. Be open to surprises from others that teach you something you don't already know or perceive.

Others may well be wrong about you, but their perceptions and insights can still be helpful in improving your positive impact on the world around you.

• We can only improve those aspects of ourselves that we understand
• Growth opportunities are revealed by honest feedback received from others
• Be open to allow others to share their perceptions and observations
• Be careful not to fool yourself nor assume others are automatically correct about you

2. How honest leadership benefits others

The greatest positive impact you can have for your organization and customers flows from making realistic commitments, delivering on those commitments, and continuing to show up and do the work necessary as promised each day. Consistency and low drama delivery day after day are far more positively impactful than occasional moments of brilliance sprinkled in with missed deadlines, unfulfilled promises, and general unreliability.

Trust requires time to develop from a team to its leader. But that trust once assured can help you power through an amazing array of mistakes and failures. If your team knows you value them and will support them under fire, they will feel safe to take smart risks and push for value-creating innovation.

You want mission-driven employees and not coin operated teams? Show that you too will support them in their development and through the inevitable mistakes and failures that are part of real expansion and growth for your business.

And just as insightful feedback is healthy for our own personal growth, so it is beneficial for your team and colleagues. Have the difficult conversations when necessary, but mostly be an honest example to guide them to self-realization of their gaps in skills and performance.

• They won't listen to what you say; they'll watch what you do
• Pass the praise to your team members in public and correct errors without embarrassing or scapegoating individuals
• Trust, once established, will drive teams to much greater results through smart and reasonable risk-taking and pursuit of innovation
• Take feedback as well as give it and respect honest no-drama, no-surprise admitting of errors and mistakes from your team

3. What it does for you

Being honest is simply more efficient, more productive, and more values than deception. Being honest requires no complicated false memories, made up stories to track, and no guilt to overcome.

It's often not easy, but it is far less physiologically taxing than constantly maintaining a false front. Now, I'm not pushing for some sort of radical truth telling of every last thought that moves through your mind. You don't need to speak up about someone's bad haircut or poor choice of clothing patterns (unless you are specifically in that line of work, I suppose).

But what's important is that you are honest with your team in what matters. Not only for that will mean to them, but for how it impacts your own sense of self and your own inner dialogue.

Deception in small matters lowers the barriers to lying in material ways. Regularly speaking in falsehoods diminishes your will power to stick to the real challenges in your business or your personal life.

If you are lucky, you will have a long career. And in that time, you will find that many who you encounter in one context may emerge in your life in new roles that have influence over your business or career. You'll benefit greatly by leaving a trail of trust and not anger and resentment.

I have seen this time and time again in my own experience. Don't burn a potentially lifelong contact for one easy transactional win through dishonesty. It's just not worth it.

• The Golden Rule has lasted for a reason: treat others as you wish to be treated
• Leading honestly is just mentally easier to practice
• Honest leadership encourages honest organizations and authentic connections among employees and customers
• The timeline of a career is long: your reputation will follow you whether good or bad

4. Personal integrity is completely, uniquely yours

The greatest benefit of honest leadership is that you can set a personal standard which is completely your own. It is a gift to yourself that you can rightly claim.

You will in turn attract more like minded people to work with you and be part of your circle of friends and colleagues. You will attract teams that appreciate that kind of leadership. It will encourage similar self-discipline in other aspects of your life that support healthy living, valued relationships, and opportunities for collaboration with others.

Be trustworthy in small matters and gain the opportunity for greater opportunities.

Cowardly leadership may get you out of a momentary jam or generate a higher payday, but it extracts a high price in terms of diminished reputation, a more negative sense of self, and often a pool of less desirable collaborators and partners.

And none of this even addresses the moral and ethical impacts of dishonest behavior.

• Take ownership of your integrity and let it support your other positive habits
• Set your high standard for yourself and celebrate each day as you live up to it; even when it's tough
• Build your network with similar leaders and trusted partnerships
• Avoid the small slips that lead to reduced resistance to bigger errors in judgement

Action Summary

In the end, the choice is to embrace the seemingly tougher road and lead honestly or take the quick wins and hope it doesn't cause you too much damage in the future. But like any truly valuable characteristic, integrity is built up a little bit at a time, but can be destroyed in a single act.

Decide who you want to be as a leader, the kind of company you wish to keep, and then live that standard everyday. Choose intentionally to influence those around you, the culture of your business, and the nature of your interactions with a set of values you can embrace for a lifetime.

• Lead in a way to enables you to grow and improve
• Respect others
• Benefit from enhanced relationships
• Embrace your own standard and live it fully each day

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What do you think? Where can we find any positive examples for this today? Reply to this email and let me know what you think.

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To your success,

Christopher

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