David Maister states, “You don’t have to be unethical to be dumb” but when it comes to leadership, it is certainly dumb to be unethical. That is why Maister makes the point that while there are nearly two dozen skills which are important for leaders to master, integrity must be the central core if they truly want to rise to the top echelons of professionalism. It is true that successful leaders must expertly manage client relationships and lead technical teams, possess flawless and clear communication ability, be people-oriented and seek collaboration, be masters of their use of time, and more. However, according to Kyle Fedler, if any of these skills are done without the actions and behaviors of normative ethics, the leader is inviting calamity, as the writer of Proverbs warned, “A man of crooked heart does not discover good, and one with a dishonest tongue falls into calamity” (Proverbs 17: 20, English Standard Version).
Aside from the fact that being a person of integrity is the right thing to do and crucial to our witness as followers of Christ, the way we live, teaches N.T. Wright, speaks volumes to people who do not share our beliefs and was modeled and encouraged by the apostle Paul in 1 Corinthians 4 & 10. There is an immediate practical application and benefit for the professional leader of high integrity and trustworthiness. Horvath, as cited by Stroh and Johnson, includes integrity and ethics as part of the seven keys to successful leadership because “people are buying who you are,” and if they cannot trust you, they will find one whom they can. Key to this are actions over words. Greiner and Poulfelt state, “The key point is that integrity cannot be judged by what you advocate, only by that which you always do.” In other words, if a leader desires to rise to the level of being a true professional and have people follow them, their behaviors must match their words. Synman puts it clearly and simply – their integrity must be impeccable.
Once a leader is perceived as untrustworthy, is there anything they can do to change this impression? Yes, but it is very difficult and it will take a tremendous amount of time to earn the trust the people back. The best thing to do is to begin with integrity and make sure that one’s behavior is always in alignment with their words. The old adage of “do what I say, not what I do” is garbage. The people who follow us will instead follow the other old adage, “Your actions speak so loudly that I can’t hear what you say.” If we are to lead, we must earn the trust of the people we lead and serve. There is little that is more important for a leader to remember.
Lead well.
Additional writers used in the writing of this blog: Block, P., Kmetz, J., and McKnight, W.