What happened to integrity in leadership?

In our business we are guided every day by 14 Points of Culture.

What does that mean?

At ActionCOACH, we think it’s vitally important we play at 100% within certain guidelines and “rules of the game” … and by following these points we do just that.

There’s also a lot of evidence to show improved performance can be tied to a positive and highly accountable company culture, and I like to think our success is a further reflection of that.

What are the 14 Points of Culture?

You can see them all right here …

ActionCOACH’s 14 Points of Culture

While each of the 14 Points are important, two in my mind really stand out … and those are Ownership and Integrity.

To reiterate these points …

Ownership means that I am truly responsible for my actions and outcomes and own everything that takes place in my work and my life.

I am accountable for my results and I know that for things to change, first I must change.

Integrity means I always speak the truth. What I promise is what I deliver. I only ever make agreements with myself and others that I am willing and intend to keep.

I communicate potential broken agreements at the first opportunity and I clear up all broken agreements immediately.

Anyone who knows me knows I take these very seriously and they have helped me become a strong leader for my team.

But I also see many in business and in our own culture moving away from those ideals and, in the process, eroding the foundations of the collective culture we share.

It makes me wonder, what do we expect from our leaders and heroes?

Do we expect them to be strong and show integrity that the rest of us should emulate, or do we expect them to act as badly as the worst of us?

In my opinion, too often it’s the latter and because of this the ideals of integrity are diminishing on a daily basis.

Former Illinois governor Rod Blagojevich and future Hall of Fame pitcher Roger Clemens are two examples of leaders in their respective professions in the spotlight who seem to have misunderstood their roles and the power of their positions.

In doing so, they’ve shown absolutely no integrity by refusing to take ownership of their actions.

Blagojevich has been the poster child for political corruption, while Clemens is being indicted for allegedly lying to Congress and refuses to come clean despite facing criminal indictments.

While these two men shouldn’t be role models, they are in the public eye; they are also well-known and indicative of the attitude that many have concerning heroes and leaders.

Blagojevich’s alleged criminal actions were bad, but his lack of integrity and ownership in his failure to accept any responsibility for his predicament, while continuing to do the rounds on a media tour, seems somewhat sociopathic.

When the charges were first brought, Blagojevich said he would do whatever it takes to clear his name.

He also claimed that the charges brought against him were nothing but the product of a witch hunt by a politically motivated prosecutor.

But Blagojevich was taped discussing Obama’s Senate seat, referring to it as “F’ng golden,” and not something he was going to give away for free.

From those statements (along with hours of other recordings), it’s pretty clear that Blagojevich’s intentions weren’t completely honorable and he expected some personal reward from whomever he bestowed the seat on.

It is hard to dispute hard evidence like audio tapes, but every step of the way Blagojevich has tried.

He claims that he never took the stand in his recent trial because the prosecution didn’t prove their case, yet 11 of 12 jurors voted to convict him on all 24 counts he faced.

He was convicted on just one count (lying to the FBI), but the prosecution plans to retry Blagojevich, while the former governor plans to appeal his lone conviction.

Blagojevich’s actions while governor are enough to show he lacks the necessary integrity to be a leader, but his constant use of the media to perpetuate lies and claim the high ground crystallizes his utter lack of integrity and maybe even an underlying narcissism.

But it isn’t just the political world where lack of ownership and integrity is affecting society.

It is on full display in the world of sports, especially in the aftermath of Major League Baseball’s steroid scandal.

“Let me be clear. I have never taken steroids or HGH,” Roger Clemens told a House of Representatives committee investigating performance enhancing drugs in 2008.

Unfortunately for Clemens, there are mounds of evidence to the contrary.

His former personal trainer claims to have seen him use steroids (as have some former teammates), including former good friend and current Yankees pitcher Andy Pettitte, who may be called to testify against Clemens.

Despite all the evidence pointing the other way, Clemens has been sticking to his story since the indictment.

“I never took HGH or Steroids. And I did not lie to Congress,” Clemens said on Twitter recently. “I look forward to challenging the government’s accusations, and hope people will keep an open mind until trial. I appreciate all the support I have been getting. I am happy to finally have my day in court.”

Clemens is taking a major risk by letting his indictments go to trial, rather than taking a plea. But a plea would mean that Clemens is guilty no matter what he says, so he must continue to fabricate a story because the truth will probably not set him free.

Clemens is charged with six felony counts, including one count of obstructing justice, three for making false statements and two for perjury.

The future Hall of Famer and seven-time Cy Young Award winner faces a combined maximum sentence of 30 years in prison and a $1.5 million fine if convicted on all counts, although even if convicted he probably wouldn’t face such a steep punishment.

A more likely outcome if Clemens is convicted should be a sentence within the range of 15-21 months.

So what do the sagas of Blagojevich and Clemens tell us about the culture we live in?

We are suffering from a lack of integrity because the people who are role models and leaders are completely unaccountable and refuse to take responsibility for what they’ve done.

Ownership and Integrity have eroded to the point where people can’t distinguish the real thing from the fake.

We elect governors who openly solicit monetary gain for government positions.

We have sports heroes who not only aren’t role models, but are liars who refuse to tell the truth even when confronted with overwhelming evidence.

Today, the people who some consider heroes and leaders are corrupt Wall Street CEOs who lose billions, yet still retire rich.

Basically, thanks to the lack of integrity we see on a daily basis, we have lost faith in our heroes and faith in our society and in human nature in general.

That’s why I think it’s so important that we all try to live at 100%, not only in our work life, but in every aspect of our lives.

We won’t ever be, after all, perfect.

But having and following and actually living by good values and strong guidelines (like our own 14 Points of Culture) … while actually being accountable to those guidelines … is a great way to start.

Jodie Shaw

1 Comment

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  By Steve Wanmer, September 2, 2010 @ 11:10 am

  Reminds me of John Maxwells book “There is no such Thing as Business Ethics”. Whatever ethics each of us has will determine how we act and respond in every area of our lives. For it to be otherwise would mean we are schizophrenic!

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