I'm trying to not get too attached to my ego on this. I don't take it personally because if I did I might just want to retaliate in some way, to defend myself and my own integrity.
So where exactly is all the integrity gone?
Barrack Obama aside (these days) it seems that integrity has become like water. Everyone knows they need it to survive and everyone knows they need plenty of it each day. But it's not there every day.
In truth integrity is one of the first casualties when it comes to people justifying their own behaviour and their own poor judgement. Is it somehow connected to attibution error?
Could it be that when I look at someone else's behaviour I decide that they did what they did because of their personality, their way of doing things. That's a convenient explanation, especially when you decide to do it differently to me. You can put my actions down to 'the way he is'.
Integrity means that you stand for something. There are some things that you hold to be more important than others. There are certain behaviours that people can always expect of you. Yes, even in tough times like these.
Integrity draws the line you say you won't cross when it comes to how you go about your daily business. Integrity means that you take responsibility for your own actions and your own decisions.
It's just too easy to say "well things are pretty different now and all bets are off". You can't decide to have high integrity when things are good, and a free-for-all approach when things get tough. Isn't that what leadership is all about. The leader is the one who holds firm even in the worst of storms and tough times.
I haven't changed. My line is still the same.
Where has integrity gone?
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