Honesty and integrity, what does it mean to you? I hope it means everything, at least in the standpoint of your business. My personal thoughts are that anyone can build a successful business from being dishonest, but to sustain a business you need good business practices along with character. The best way to define honesty and integrity would be moral character. You can build a successful business without character but the character will always shine through. A statement I try to live my life by is “don’t let your talents take you somewhere your character can not hold you.”
How many of us know someone who lacks character, integrity or honesty? I know I do, I think we each have those people in our lives. Now how would you describe your relationship with them? I know for me I keep my relationships with those type of people very surface and shallow, I would consider them more of an associate than a friend. Why do I do this? It all comes down to trust. This might sound extreme, but would you give your bank account information to someone you couldn’t trust? Of course not, or at least I hope not, I know I wouldn’t. So then why would we trust them in other areas? This question may always remain a mystery.
I want my business to be known for great work, but more importantly for honesty and integrity. I don’t want to build a great business but have a poor reputation. I would like to be able to hold my head high when I’m in public and know that I’m respected for the person I am and not just because of a successful business. Unfortunately this is something that’s always missed with a lot of businesses, especially new businesses. Sometimes it’s much easier to be focused on immediate success and doing whatever it takes to achieve it instead of what it takes to sustain it.
My question for you is how do you want to be remembered? I could name numerous names of successful people and I’m sure you remember them for something other than their success. Chances are you will remember them for their personal failure over their professional successes. It takes one action to loose trust, but many to gain it back, therefore make sure you never loose it!
jamesonharding
