Integrity

"Over time, integrity produces loyalty. If you attempt to reverse them and go for loyalty first, you will find yourself temporizing and compromising integrity. It's better to be trusted than to be liked. Ultimately, trust and respect will generally produce love." - Stephen Covey

What is integrity? It's been described as "doing what you say you'll do." When I heard this at my supervisor orientation a decade ago, I bought into it. And lately, I still agree about integrity, though I kind of disagree with the definition. Integrity has the same root as "integrate." Something that's integrated is connected. It's all together. It fits. It's united. Harmonious. What about oil and water? If I approach a fountain that randomly disperses water or oil, I'm not going to drink from it - it has no integrity with me! And if I meet a person who sometimes says one thing and sometimes a contradicting thing, I'm not going to invest in a trusting relationship with that person. More extremely, if a person says one thing and does the opposite, that's dishonesty. Honesty, the old-fashioned best policy, is a special case of integrity - a consistency and dependability in one's actions that's the cornerstone of trust.