Personal Integrity

It has become dramatically clear that the foundation of corporate integrity is personal integrity. As Albert Einstein said: Morality is of the highest importance - but for us, not for God. There is such a need for a complete rebirth of trust in our business leaders. Somewhere along the line leaders lost their humility and in doing so they have lost their compassion and empathy, and their conscience. In the next articles we will introduce a framework for the formulating of your identity, so called your personal balanced scorecard.

By implementing this personal bsc and finding the proper balance between your personal ambition and your behavior you will get inner peace and the ability to be guided by your inner voice. All of which develops personal charisma, trust and personal integrity. People with this perspective on life matter to one another and create a stable basis for their own credibility. When people achieve this inner authority, they also have a positive effect on the feelings of loyalty, motivation, and dedication of those around them. The credibility of people depends on the following:

• Trustworthy people practice what they preach.
• They keep their word.
• Their actions match their words.
• They suit the action to the word.
• They keep their promises.
• They do what they said they would do.

The central questions in this contemplative process are:

• Do I act in accordance with my conscience?
• Is there consistency between what I am thinking and what I am doing?
• How do my ideals, ambitions, intentions, needs, and deepest desires fit my present actions?
• Are my thoughts and my practices the same?
• Do I act in accordance with my personal ambition?
• Does my personal ambition reflect my desire to act ethically?
• Are there contradictions in my personal ambition?
• In what way does my behavior influence my views, and vice versa?

The best way to look at success is to ask: Have I followed my conscience, have I given my best effort, have I done what was right and have I learned from my effort? Your personal ambition and your practices must be the same. When people find harmony between their personal ambition and their personal behavior, they will not come into conflict with their own conscience.

Our conscience is the inner voice that talks to us with firm conviction to help us distinguish between right and wrong, between fact and fiction. It is a voice that whispers to us what we can do best and guides us in our daily activities. It is a voice that we can trust and on which we can build our existence. It is the only reliable compass to follow if there is a conflict between the mind that reasons and the heart that decides. The harmony between personal ambition and personal behavior ensures that your deeds are in balance with your conscience. You will gain better insight in your own behavior, your own strengths and weaknesses and your related personal objectives. Also, it can be noted that the personal ambition not only supports insight, but also reality. Harmony between personal ambition and personal behavior also has to do with attentiveness, namely, to continuously perceive what you do and be aware of the influence of your behavior on human beings, animals, plants and the environment. As this attentiveness develops, your ethical behavior will grow. You will also become a better human being.

Five personal improvement tips

1. Understand yourself.
2. Recognize your responsibility and ethical duty to improve continuously and make personal improvement to a routine.
3. Assess relationships with your family, supervisor, peers, subordinates, customers, and others.
4. Evaluate your need/desire to improve regularly and necessity of your personal growth.
5. Realize behavioral changes and constantly challenge your behavior.

Dr.Ir. Hubert Rampersad is president of TPS International Inc. (Miami Beach / Dubai). This article is based on his international bestsellers “Total Performance Scorecard; Redefining Management to Achieve Performance with Integrity” (Butterworth-Heinemann Business Books) and "Personal Balanced Scorecard; The Way to Individual Happiness, Personal Integrity and Organizational Effectiveness" (Information Age Publishing Inc,USA, 2006) . He can be reached at h.rampersad@tps-international.com and www.Total-Performance-Scorecard.com.