Integrity & Ethics

7 Oct, 2012

What Is Your Key Question?

By |2016-10-29T15:29:47+00:00October 7th, 2012|Accountability, Business Growth, Business Strategy, Integrity & Ethics, Leadership, Personal Development, Results|

The "Weeds" series finale on the Showtime network left a lot of people disappointed. I was one of them until it hit me: The entire ending was about Nancy Botwin’s key question. What is your key question? Embracing your question provides the measuring stick for your success. It lights the path toward the results you need to achieve in order to be fulfilled. And, it defines what it means to be significant and contribute.

16 Sep, 2012

If They Don’t Trust You

By |2016-10-29T15:29:48+00:00September 16th, 2012|Accountability, Business Strategy, Corporate Culture, Government & Politics, Integrity & Ethics, Leadership, Results|

Two incidents occurred in the past week that reinforces a critical factor in every leader’s effectiveness: The impact of mistrust. Both incidents prove this truth about the ability to influence others: If they don’t trust you, everything you say will be twisted against you and nothing you say will be given the benefit of the doubt.

31 Aug, 2012

The Presidential Election & Defining Integrity

By |2016-10-29T15:29:48+00:00August 31st, 2012|Accountability, Communication, Government & Politics, Integrity & Ethics, Leadership|

There are several guarantees in the campaign for President of the United States: • The other side – regardless of the side you are on – will be portrayed by their opponents as completely out of touch with the “average” American • Every candidate will make promises that can only be kept with the cooperation of Congress, and every candidate will pledge to work with their opponents across the isle • Personal attacks will be plentiful and usually cloaked in an argument about policy implications • The choice between candidates will always be framed as two distinct visions that will determine the destiny and fate of the country • Integrity – or specifically the lack of it – will be called into question by the candidates, their surrogates, and the media pundits There is little any of us can do to change the first four items on this list. They are going to happen regardless of any efforts to restore civility and common sense to the campaign.

1 Jul, 2012

Delcare Independence from Fear and Uncertainty

By |2016-10-29T15:29:49+00:00July 1st, 2012|Accountability, Business Strategy, Integrity & Ethics, Leadership, Others, Performance Improvement, Personal Development, Results|

We live in an era of unprecedented uncertainty. At least that is what we are led to believe. Yes, the economy is sputtering at best. Jobs are at risk or non-existent. Europe could implode financially. The Middle East could implode politically. Depending on your political views, either the left or the right is about to take the country over a cliff from which there is no return. The challenges we face are certainly more expansive in their scope, but unprecedented uncertainty? Hardly. Do you believe that the level of personal anxiety is any higher today than that which existed during the Cuban Missile Crisis; World War I or II; the Civil War; the Great Depression; or life in the American colonies during the Revolutionary War?

22 Mar, 2012

Are Your Ethics For Sale Now That Times are Good?

By |2014-10-19T22:23:53+00:00March 22nd, 2012|Business Strategy, Corporate Culture, Integrity & Ethics, Leadership, Personal Development|

The Ethics Resource Center (www.ethics.org) released its latest National Business Ethics Survey results in January 2012. There is good news and bad news. The good news is that overall reports of misconduct are at historic lows and those who observe ethical misconduct are more willing to report it than in past years.

23 Dec, 2011

Act Now To Earn Trust

By |2016-10-29T15:29:51+00:00December 23rd, 2011|Accountability, Business Strategy, Communication, Corporate Culture, Integrity & Ethics, Leadership, Personal Development|

People trust you, right? Most people won’t look you in the eye and say, “I don’t trust you.” That is especially true if you are in a position of power. But, the symptoms of mistrust are there. It is up to us to see them. You could be experiencing a lack of trust if you are seeing any of the following:

6 Sep, 2011

Want Growth? Part I: Start With Trust

By |2016-10-29T15:29:53+00:00September 6th, 2011|Business Growth, Business Strategy, Government & Politics, Integrity & Ethics, Leadership, Personal Development|

The U.S. economy is in a self-fulfilling death spiral propelled by mistrust. There is a good chance that the same thing can be said of your industry, your employer, and your career. Growth requires investment, and that requires confidence. You can’t cut your way to sustainable growth. When trust is absent, people naturally protect their immediate self-interest. This will occur even if it leads to their long-term individual and collective undoing.

17 Aug, 2011

Let’s Be Honest About Dishonesty

By |2016-10-29T15:29:53+00:00August 17th, 2011|Accountability, Business Growth, Business Strategy, Corporate Culture, Integrity & Ethics, Leadership, Personal Development|

Dishonesty is not new, but let’s be honest—our society has raised the rationalization of dishonesty to an art form. When it comes to the truth, we embellish, expand, enrich, soften, shave, stretch, and withhold. We misspeak, pretend, bend, and improve. We are guilty of mistakes, misjudgment, and truthful hyperbole. We exaggerate, spin, filter, and inflate. However, we rarely—or perhaps even never—believe that we are guilty of dishonesty.

17 Aug, 2011

Leadership & The Tea Party

By |2016-10-29T15:29:53+00:00August 17th, 2011|Accountability, Government & Politics, Integrity & Ethics, Leadership, Personal Development|

What’s not to like? Millions of like-minded people promoting limited federal government, individual freedoms, personal responsibility, free markets, and a return of political power to the states and the people. How could anyone argue that the Tea Party is a bad thing? Oh wait! That can’t be right. The Tea Party is actually millions of small-minded people who engage in racist behaviors and want to take away the power of the federal government to set policy and help society by cutting the funding to every social program that they don’t like. So which is it? The answer is, “It depends on your point of view.”

3 Aug, 2011

The Love of Humanity

By |2014-10-19T22:37:48+00:00August 3rd, 2011|Integrity & Ethics, Leadership, Personal Development|

When I think of a “philanthropist,” I see someone like Bono, Oprah, or Bill Gates. I imagine that they wake up in the morning thinking about opportunities to influence the world for their cause. I, on the other hand, have a mortgage. I would like to spend my day tackling huge social and economic problems, but I have holes in my calendar that must be filled to pay my bills.

4 Jul, 2011

The Return of Responsibility

By |2016-10-29T15:29:54+00:00July 4th, 2011|Accountability, Government & Politics, Integrity & Ethics, Leadership, Personal Development, Results|

The trials of former Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich and disgraced self-help guru James Arthur Ray both ended in guilty verdicts. Blagojevich was found guilty on 17 of 20 counts of corruption. Ray was found guilty of three counts of negligent homicide from deaths in a sweat lodge ceremony. And though some would argue that the verdicts in both cases were never in doubt, the results could have gone either way. Here are three lessons leaders can learn from these two seemingly unrelated cases:

25 May, 2011

How Important Are Your Values? What Is Your Number 2?

By |2011-05-25T18:31:34+00:00May 25th, 2011|Accountability, Business Growth, Business Strategy, Corporate Culture, Integrity & Ethics, Leadership, Performance Improvement, Personal Development, Results|

Values – every company hangs them on the wall and distributes them on wallet cards. It is the same for individuals. Ask ten of your friends to list their values, and at least eighty percent will use words like respect, integrity, and honesty. So how important are your values? Will you sacrifice them for the results and outcomes you desire? Are they so important that you would lay down your life – figuratively or literally – to protect them?

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