We have been in a mini-series talking about the keys to getting promoted in the workplace. Here’re the four that we’ve discussed already.
- Likeability. Likeability is not personality; it’s character. It’s behavior. It’s how you choose to relate to other people.
- Capacity. Capacity is the potential for growth and the desire to keep learning. If you have capacity, then you can increase in competence and you can handle greater responsibility in your work.
- Reliability. It is earning the trust of others by always keeping your promises and fulfilling your responsibilities, even if it requires sacrifice.
- Loyalty, a quality that is in short supply in today’s society. One of the keys to loyalty is not to talk about your boss behind their back.
Today, we’ll discuss the final key: integrity.
Integrity is far more than simply honesty. It is practicing in secret the values and beliefs that you claim to hold in public. Integrity is not what people think you are. Integrity is what you really are. It is what you are when nobody’s looking. It is what you are in the dark when nobody knows, when nobody will see, when nobody can guess or compare. That’s the real you. That’s integrity.
Having integrity doesn’t mean you’re perfect. It means you are exactly who you claim to be. You don’t compartmentalize your life. What you see is what you get. You’re not a phony, you’re not a fake. You act the same way at work as you’re at home or with your friends. You don’t segment your life.
Over the years, we’ve seen a lot of famous high profile politicians and business leaders who said one thing in public and lived another way in private. When they get caught, all of a sudden, there’s a big fall.
Why? Because they lack integrity. They don’t act in private the same way as they talk in public. Their public values and their private morals are two different things.
To ensure you can truly practice the values and beliefs in public the same way as in private, you need to create boundaries in your life to safeguard your integrity. Put parameters in your life so people will have to make things up to accuse you.
When you find somebody willing to go beyond the norm to live a life of integrity, it is so rare today that they get promoted.
Excerpt taken from Daily Hope by Rick Warren.