by Rick Baker
On Dec 9, 2010
Definition of Integrity
- When you know your Personal Values and
- When you can express your Personal Values in writing [showing how you think the think] and
- When you can and do talk with others about your Personal Values [talk the talk] and
- When your actions are consistent with your Personal Values [walk the walk] and
- When you acknowledge your think-talk-walk errors and strive to not repeat them
…then you have Integrity
That definition of Integrity is ‘personal’: each person is the judge of his/her own Integrity. When we created the definition we intentionally avoided including judgmental things such as ‘honesty’, ‘probity’, etc. Our definition of Integrity is about do the pieces hold together rather than what is [morally] right or wrong.
Normal people know right from wrong.
Yes – there is a range. At the centre there is common ground.
Regardless, normal people know when they are doing right and they know when they are doing wrong.
Dr. David J. Lieberman states our mind consists of 3 parts:
- The Body…this part of the mind causes us to do what feels good
- The Ego…this part of the mind causes us to do what looks good
- The Soul…this part of the mind causes us to do what is good
That simple summary captures normal people know right from wrong.
That does not mean we always do what we know is right. As an example: sometimes self-esteem is low and ego takes over, causing us to do what makes us look good rather than what we know is right. Other times our desire for short-term pleasure trumps the right thing to do.
When we do wrong – when people of high Integrity do wrong – we find ourselves at Point 5 of the Integrity definition.
So - people possessing high Integrity do not need us to act as their judge: they are self-regulating.