Integrity is the essence of everything successful

by my dear friend and CEO Coach Debra Benton

I’d like to share some lessons I’ve learned about integrity from speaking with the best business leaders out there:

• The same show has to go on in front as on the “backside of the curtain.”
• Your outward appearance has to show what’s beneath the skin.
• Just because you don’t like someone, doesn’t mean the person lacks integrity.
• What goes around comes around more annoyingly.
• Don’t expect someone to be honest with you, if they’re not even honest with themselves.
• You can’t succumb to “incrementalism” (taking a little from the cookie jar, which goes unnoticed, so you take a little more, and so on.)
• No one is completely worthless; a failure can always serve as an instructive example.

The best chance you have at making it big in your career and in life is to decide from day one forward that you’re going to do it ethically.