Integrity in Leadership

Dianne Nilsen and Gina Hernez-Broome

Is there one characteristic that distinguishes truly exceptional leaders from the rest? We believe there is. Integrity.

A few years back, our colleague David Campbell conducted a study that asked people to rate the most effective and ineffective leaders they had ever known. He provided a list of more than twenty attributes, including dynamic, empowering, productive, ambitious, and credible. A number of these differentiated between the two groups of leaders, but credible was seen as the most significant factor.¹ Credibility (or being credible), which was defined in this study as a person's being believable and worthy of trust, is a major outcome of integrity.

Some determinants of integrity were suggested to us recently when we started collecting stories about leadership from participants in Leadership at the Peak, a CCL program for CEOs, presidents, executive or group vice presidents, and senior officers. We ask participants to write about outstandingly good or bad leadership that they have observed at the top levels of their organizations. Sometimes we leave the topics unassigned, and sometimes we ask about a particular subject such as leading in a global economy, communicating, inspiring, or empowering. No matter what the topic, assigned or not, a large percentage of the stories we have received thus far seem to touch on integrity. Here's an example:

“Our leaders typically encourage us as senior executives to serve the community by giving talks, participating in panels and boards, and taking nonelective positions. Despite their urgings, both verbally and in writing, we have seldom seen them doing such things themselves.

“Our current leader, however, is an exception. Without fanfare or self-serving press releases, on virtually every major trip, he devotes a couple of hours to local schools to encourage kids to stay off drugs and to study, learn, and achieve. Word has spread that he has overcome great handicaps to reach the highest ranks in society, coming from the lowest. Now he gives back to the communities of this country.

“His positive example of consistent service to others means a great deal to our organization. Consequently, scores of our executives are quietly making the same type of contribution for youth and communities all over.

Here's another:

“We are a global company looking for expansions into new areas. Recently, we considered establishing a new production center in a third-world country. Early research indicated that significant amounts of money would have to be paid to government officials to get our project off the ground.

“The leader in charge of the project brought the issue to the executive committee for a full discussion and to gain its support for not making such payments. He knows that such practices are not seen as unethical in some parts of the world, but he thinks that our company needs to be consistent across cultures. This leader, with his team, also started taking regular trips to the country to establish relationships with key government officials. In the process he advised them of the company's business practices and also emphasized the key strengths and benefits that could be brought to the country. He made it clear that the company would walk away rather than compromise its practices.

“The company is now signing a contract with the country to establish a one-billion-dollar investment over the next eight years.”

Not all the stories we receive are positive, however. Consider this example:

“The CEO was emphasizing in his written and verbal communication that the organization needed to reduce costs and carefully monitor investments.

“When it was time for the annual conference for senior management, however, he hired a famous entertainer to come and perform for us. The price was well over a hundred thousand dollars for an hour performance.

“All of us senior managers thought there were better uses for the money—for instance, helping employees who had experienced hardships in the past year. His attempt to ‘reward’ us backfired. Everyone saw it as the CEO's not walking his talk, and this became the focus of the conference rather than his spoken message.

We believe these stories teach us about several important determinants of integrity—for instance, service and consistency. Also, the stories suggest that once a leader is seen as having lost integrity, it is probably gone for good. People may forgive and forget other lapses in a leader's behavior, but lapses in integrity are long remembered. Finally, the stories tell us that when people make judgments about a leader's integrity, they weigh actions more heavily than words.

If you have stories related to integrity or to any other aspect of leadership you consider important, we would like to hear from you. Contact either of the authors at the e-mail addresses given below or at the Center for Creative Leadership, 850 Leader Way, Colorado Springs, CO 80906–1353.