Ethical Inspiration – The value of integrity

Integrity- Noun; Firm adherence to a strict moral or ethical code; the state of being intact; solvency; the quality or condition of being whole or undivided; I complete it.

The date is January 16, 2009. The day after US Airways Flight 1549 pilot Chesley “Sully” Sullenberger of Danville, CA, maneuvered his crowded airliner over New York City and ditched it in the Hudson River, successfully. All 155 passengers and crew are safe and miraculously escaped serious injuries, really just bumps and bruises. The national media is full of first-hand reports and interviews with passengers, now all safe, warm and dry, along with their rescuers and safety experts describing the ordeal. NBC dubbed the accident “Miracle on the Hudson”.

Break now. Think of your values ​​as if you had to list and describe them. What are your core values? If you are like most people and organizations, integrity is high on your list of values. But what does this word mean, ‘integrity’ (perhaps the ultimate virtue)? What does it mean to you? How does your value for integrity manifest to others on a daily basis? How have you developed your integrity? How could I further develop this quality? Why does that matter?

For most of us, integrity means something like “do what you say you will” or “how you act when no one is looking.” These are good integrity tests, but they don’t really explain how integrity develops. The structural integrity of a building is defined as “the unwavering ability to safely withstand required loads.” The structural integrity of a person could be defined as “the unwavering ability to adequately resist challenges to virtue.” How do we develop this firm adherence to a strict moral code, this ‘healthy’ response to difficult circumstances?

Like most things we do well, integrity comes from practice. In fact, the proper way to refer to the quality of integrity as a human value would be “for practice integrity”. A person speaks and acts with integrity outside of practice. Integrity is the result of preparation and choice, when one has lived long enough to have recognized one’s innate ability to act on whim, whim, or selfishness in place of deeply held principles Integrity comes from training and increases with the quality, duration, and adherence to the intent of that training Integrity follows strong neural pathways, developed over time, that stimulate certain attitudes and habits, that produce Apparently instinctive right actions, but these actions are not based on animal instinct, right actions result from human desire and practice.

My favorite definition of values-based leadership is “authentic self-expression that adds value through relationships.” This includes relationships with both people and events. When self-expression begins to consistently add value over time, through every human encounter, through every decision and split-second reaction to events, then you have integrity.

Aspire to Integrity: Practice discerning what is right, saying you will do the right thing, how and why you will do it, and doing it whether or not someone else is paying attention.

You can bet that there are at least 154 people in this world who are grateful for the value that Chesley Sullenberger has added through their brief relationships. What do “Sully” Sullenberger and Flight 1549 have to do with integrity? Sullenberger is reportedly a US Air Force Academy graduate who flew F-4 fighter jets in the 1970s while in the Air Force. He started flying commercial planes in the 1980s. “It’s about making that plane with the exact precision with which it’s made,” says the hero’s wife-husband of hers. In addition to working for US Airways, he runs a security consulting firm focused on the psychology of keeping airline crews running in the face of a crisis. He has been an investigator for the National Transportation Safety Board. I understand he’s also certified to fly gliders, skills that surely helped land an Airbus A320 with both engines on fire in a controlled descent onto a near-frozen river rather than in the middle of a neighborhood in one of the most densely populated cities in the world. world.

Instinct didn’t take over as Sullenberger steered his jet into the icy waters of the Hudson, practice kicked in: the practice of integrity. This is a man who decided earlier in life that safety and human lives were important enough to him that he dedicated himself to preserving those ends. He trained, he studied, he learned day after day, year after year with those ends in mind. What once began as a pilot’s tenuous first flight, over 40 years of practice became an unconscious competency: the right attitudes, habits, decisions, actions and behavior to save lives in a crisis. .

Reflections to inspire personal growth in Integrity (with your learning partner)

How would your life be different if you practiced integrity with greater intention and consistency? What can you do daily to increase your integrity? What is your personal code of ethics; What must you change to demonstrate them more fully? Find an accountable partner or hire a coach to help you practice integrity and take these steps:

• Integrity is the glue that unites your other virtualities. What are your other core values? Why these?
• How do these values, together, define who you are, how you think and act, and how others see you?
• What words and behaviors do other people see from you on a daily basis that demonstrate your values?
• What purpose would you like to lead your life toward that you are willing to practice day after day, year after year, to be prepared for the chance event that may provide the ultimate test of your Integrity?
• What specific attitudes, habits, and behaviors must you consistently practice to become the person of integrity you aspire to be?
• Describe an experience or event where you were at your personal best and demonstrated integrity.
• Describe a current situation in your life where, in your heart, you could apply the same level of integrity that you applied in the previous example.
• Plan to check in with your learning partner in the next month about how each of you is practicing integrity. Hold each other accountable.