A thought by Henry Cloud, from his book, Integrity (p. 6). HarperCollins e-books. Kindle Edition. (Click on the book title to go to Amazon.com to buy the book.)
Henry says, “It has something to do with personhood as well.”
He continues, “Then there is the more difficult question, and the one that gets to the point: ‘How many of you can also relate to there being some way in which you feel like if you were different in some way, that you could go further than you have or reach the full potential that your brains, talents, and competencies would allow?’. . . ‘Making it’ is more than just being competent and able to cut deals. It has a lot to do with who we are. But, exactly what does that mean? What is character? How does it affect performance? How important is it?
“Most of the time, when we think of the word integrity, or character, we think of morals or ethics, not performance. We associate the topic with the catastrophes like Enron, Andersen, Worldcom, or the fall of individual superstars whose character has somehow gotten in the way. And certainly, there are those huge examples, from the top of business and government, all the way to the Church. There have been some huge ethical lapses that caused some major losses of not only individual careers, but entire companies and even confidence in the markets themselves. Not to mention the individuals who have been injured as well. Most people will now say ‘character counts.’ If they don’t, they have been asleep for the last ten years.
“But, when they say that, often what they mean is that character is a ‘safeguard’ against bad things happening. In other words, if people have good character, their ethics and integrity will be such that you can truly trust the numbers, they won’t steal from you, lie to you, cheat you, or be duplicitous. They can be trusted. You can sleep at night without watching your back. And, that kind of character is certainly bedrock, foundational, and without which we have nothing. As we have seen, when that is not there, everything can disappear. Morals and ethics undergird our entire system of business, relationships, government, finance, education, and even our very lives. Talk to any wife or husband who has been cheated on, or any business partner who has been lied to, and you will see what a relationship without trust does to people.”
But he then says, “who a person is will ultimately determine if their brains, talents, competencies, energy, effort, deal-making abilities, and opportunities will succeed.
“It is one’s makeup as a person, in ways much more than ethics alone, that takes people to success or enables them to sustain it if they ever achieve it. While character includes our usual understanding of ethics and integrity, it is much more than that as well. Another way of putting it is that ethical functioning is a part of character, but not all of it. And it certainly is not all of what affects whether someone is successful or becomes a good leader.”
He later says, “The most important tool ultimately is the person and his or her makeup, and yet it seems to get the least amount of attention and work. Mostly, we focus on professional skills and knowledge instead.”
And who we really are and what is our makeup is where we really need to give more attention, isn’t it?
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