Whatever happened to Integrity

January 13, 2014
Ziad K. Abdelnour

Exploring Financial Strategies and Economic Insights

The blog laments the perceived decline of integrity in public and private sectors. It discusses the impact of this decline on trust and ethical standards in society, particularly focusing on politics and business. The author calls for a renewed commitment to integrity, proposing that leaders across all sectors should lead by example and instill values of honesty and ethical behavior.

With a world going haywire and people from all walks of life losing “integrity”, have you ever asked yourself why is integrity so rare these days and what to do to restore it?.

In the first place … What does integrity really mean?

Without looking in a dictionary, but just going on my own experience . . .

Integrity means a person is honest and honorable, keeps his promises, tells the truth, and can be counted on to do the right thing, even when it is hard or uncomfortable. Such a person does not betray friends or let down people…. But it’s about more than just telling the truth.

Integrity is about keeping promises and doing what you tell others you’re going to do, as well as what you tell yourself you’re going to do.

People with integrity show up and follow through. Their word is good.

They are the people who maintain sanity in their brain, heart and body at the most insane times of Life and basically never compromise on their principles and values even in the toughest times. One clearly needs to be strong both emotionally and mentally to maintain his/her integrity. It is quiet hard indeed.

Why is integrity so rare these days?

I personally believe it is because of the lack of trust ever pervasive in today’s world.

Communications and expectations are clearly two vital elements in measuring trust.

To an extraordinary extent, the age in which we live in today is requiring us to redefine trust and the degree to which communication and expectation contribute to it.

Consider simpler times a few years past (say 50). Trust was necessary in many venues as a means of survival on a day to day basis. We relied on others extensively for our well being from our local store to our banker, from the policeman to the politician. And we knew them all better, we could reach out and touch them and we were not viewing them in sound bites and web sites, nor were we being bombarded with multiple forms of input to digest about them.

Mass marketing and communications has created expectations beyond reality in venues from romance web sites to building wealth. We must come down to earth and become much more sophisticated in the manner with which we view all this input and sift it in a meaningful way to have true trust. If we do not, we run a high risk and that fact is inescapable.

Taking it from a different perspective…. Every day, millions of people drink tap water without fearing for their lives. The incidence of people dying from this is virtually zero. If somebody does, it’s a huge deal, making national news.

Every day, millions of people commute to work. The chances of any given person dying during any particular commute the way is so absurdly low that nobody makes any contingency plans for it or even believes it is possible. There are accidents every day, but given the total volume, they are rare.

Your car consists of tens of thousands of finely engineered parts, each one of which has extremely precise tolerances. A defect rate of 1% in these parts would mean your car probably wouldn’t even start. Most cars, if reasonably maintained, will drive for over 100,000 miles.

Your computer has millions of transistors. A single grain of dust landing on the chip during the manufacturing process would mean that it simply wouldn’t start. Most computers work fine out of the box.

In short, modern life is only possible by millions of people making millions of decisions correctly and with integrity, every day. If people failed in their duties even 1% of the time, modern civilization would come to a screeching halt almost immediately.

So why do we perceive integrity to be rare? I guess because we know how much we depend on it, and we make a really big deal out of it when its lacking. We see all the cases where things go wrong, and never think about the vast number of situations where it all goes right. Nobody thanks the electric utility when the lights stay on.

So what is there to do to restore integrity around?

To a very large degree this is a personal responsibility.

Integrity is in a way very costly thing to maintain, requires boldness, needs mental strength, ability to withstand tsunamis in your career and you should keep large lock on your mouth.

It’s like being happy with what you have got and follow certain rules and regulations without any compromise. You should believe in yourself and on your capabilities. You should not have fear or do anything which causes fear.

Your hands should be clean, you should be in a position to throw your accounts on any one for checking and come back and do your work.

Bottom Line: Never try to act loyal and plan to kill someone’s career. Never befriend someone for ulterior motives. Never undermine someone’s development. Go the extra mile when you approve a bill of a needy person. Work an extra hour to bring some profits for the organization, and when something wrong is being done in your presence – try and stop it.

It is clearly important to have leaders that are incorruptible. Nothing destroys the faith of people and nations faster than seeing the leaders we gave this faith to abuse and misuse it. If we cannot trust our governments, businesses, communities or any other organizations, we often turn inwards. As a result, when people are perceived to be less trustworthy and possessing less integrity, they often turn out to be so. In the end paradoxically, we can then only trust that our fellow man cannot be trusted

“Can I trust you 100% of the time?”

If someone says yes, he is most likely lying. Be careful!

If someone is honest enough to say no, then maybe you have some reason to trust him/her.

At the end of the day, only the most honest person can admit that he/she is not perfect and we all have moments of vulnerability.

Share your thoughts.

Disclaimer: This article discusses certain companies and their products or services as potential solutions. These mentions are for illustrative purposes only and should not be interpreted as endorsements or investment recommendations. All investment strategies carry inherent risks, and it is imperative that readers conduct their own independent research and seek advice from qualified investment professionals tailored to their specific financial circumstances before making any investment decisions.

The content provided here does not constitute personalized investment advice. Decisions to invest or engage with any securities or financial products mentioned in this article should only be made after consulting with a qualified financial advisor, considering your investment objectives and risk tolerance. The author assumes no responsibility for any financial losses or other consequences resulting directly or indirectly from the use of the content of this article.

As with any financial decision, thorough investigation and caution are advised before making investment decisions.