by Steve Burden

Created on: October 24, 2010

One definition of integrity is: The quality of being honest and having strong moral principles. This definition makes it very clear why integrity is so important to leadership, for leadership that is dishonest and bereft of moral principles, will bring any organisation to grief in a very short time.

The reality of a leader's integrity, can be assessed only by an outside observer. For a leader to imagine that his integrity is beyond question, is itself, a worrying state to be in. Operating with no accountability, a leader is subjecting himself and his organisation to inevitable calamity. 

Integrity will seek to safeguard the long-term viability of the business. This will mean that profits alone, are not the only item on the agenda. Large-scale industrial disputes can often be prolonged and exacerbated by union involvement, but at least the interests of workers cannot be ignored. In smaller organisations and businesses, where unions play no role, leaders have to call upon their own moral principles and honesty to ensure that fairness is upheld at all times.

Integrity brings dimensions of character, wisdom and experience to leadership. A leader with these qualities will have an understanding of where he is going, the terrain ahead, the route and the likely conditions along the way. He will judge himself by how his people cope with the 'journey'  and by how many arrive safely at the destination. A leader with integrity is committed to taking his people to a better place - for themselves as much as for the business or the organisation he leads.

By contrast, the leader who has a performance agenda, will measure his success by the statistics of recruited members, bank balance or targets achieved. This kind of leader may not be without integrity, but it is less noticeable. A leader who can 'sell' himself or his ideas to the group, business or organisation, will not shrink from taking the platform, but leadership is about far more than this.

Being able to persuade investors to fund a business or project, does not make a leader. A leader sees a project through to a successful outcome, preferably with integrity. Most businesses need good people who can 'get out there' and sell the product, but more importantly, a business needs a leader to oversee, manage and co-ordinate the whole operation. 

In some business models, seniority is based on sales. There is a logic to this, but if we are looking for integrity in our business leaders, we ought to look beyond an impressive set of sales figures. We should look at how the business morality and honesty are interpreted by the most lowly of workers. This would more accurately measure leadership integrity.

A leader with integrity will be concerned about the 'means' used to achieve the 'ends' of business profitability. A leader with less or no integrity, will not care about 'means' at all. He has his eye fixed on the 'ends'. He is committed only to large profits. 

The price tag for this 'profit is everything' approach can be summed up very simply: the cost is integrity. A leader will pay this price at his own peril.

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