An Essential Ingredient to Business Success

What do you do when no one else is watching?

My simple definition of integrity is doing the right thing even when no one else is looking.

What is the right thing?

The right thing is more than just being honest. It’s being completely true to your values, beliefs and principles.

The word integrity has evolved from the Latin adjective integer, which means whole or complete. In math an integer is a whole number. In other words, it is complete and not a fraction.

This makes sense…

I want to live my life completely honest while being true to my values beliefs and principles. And I want to do so even when no one else is watching.

That’s integrity!

Integrity is Fundamental to Business Success

I recently wrote about the growth of our business, and I mentioned that our core values were one of the 5 Drivers of Business Success. As a business we hold many values near and dear to us, but integrity is one of 3 core values that has driven every single business decision we’ve ever made.

Integrity is the essence of business success.

Integrity often means playing the long game. There are no shortcuts with integrity.

Living with integrity leads to a free conscience:

“With integrity, you have nothing to fear, since you have nothing to hide. With integrity, you will do the right thing, so you will have no guilt.” – Zig Ziglar

Integrity is required to succeed in business over the long haul. It’s necessary to build trust with your clients or customers. Without integrity you will fall.

“People with integrity walk safely, but those who follow crooked paths will slip and fall.” (Proverbs 10:9, NLT)

Integrity is essential. It can’t be bought. It must be programmed into the DNA of your company. It starts with you.