Your integrity follows you
Wherever you go. Protect it.
Your integrity follows you. It’s a part of who you are. You might think it’s something you can hide, and while someone’s integrity, or lack of it, might not be immediately apparent when you first meet them, it becomes clear over time.
Years ago, I had a business deal with a friend. We disagreed, and he left the partnership. He left on his own and wasn’t forced out. In fact, I tried to get him to stay. He then started a competing business against me and his other business partners.
I saw this as a major lack of integrity, and it still affects how I see him. He didn’t break the law, and maybe he justified it as free-market competition. But in the end, he went back on an agreement and broke his word. Do you think I’ll ever work with this person again, no matter the circumstances?
Honesty and integrity follow you everywhere you go: your business, your relationships, your home life.
You can make a lot of money and be successful doing things with integrity. In the long run, I believe you make more money that way. Doing things honestly and legally is more rewarding and doesn’t carry the same risks of getting caught, thrown in jail, or kicked out of a business or partnership for dishonesty. It’s just not worth the risk.
The two biggest deals of my life came to me through people in my network who knew me and knew my integrity. They knew I would do what I said I was going to do and that I would never agree to a deal if I didn’t know I could follow through.
They knew they could count on me because they’d spent years working with me and watching how I handled situations where a shortcut would hurt my integrity or the easy road wasn’t the honest road. If they’d seen me take dishonest shortcuts, they never would have approached me with another deal or agreed to one with me because they couldn’t trust me.
I want to be someone people can trust, someone others can count on.
You build trust by keeping your promises.