Want to learn more about NSU or are you ready to apply? Becoming a VIP is the first step! Click below and complete the form to create a personalized VIP website. We'll send you updates and provide a checklist with next steps in the admissions process. Already a VIP? Login here.
Whether you’re looking to advance in your field or start a new career a degree from NSU will help you get there. Click below if you would like to receive more information on a specific graduate degree program. If you are ready to start the application process click on Apply Now.
Is it my imagination or do organizations and people seem to be experiencing more value conflicts than in the past? You are correct. It is not my imagination. Currently, the vast array of social, economic and political forces have given us so many choices. The opportunity to make personal statements and take stances can be bewildering. It is easy to fall off the main track with our heads and hearts spinning so much. Do the words Wells Fargo serve as a current example of the point being made here?
Most, if not all people, define integrity as honesty. I've always thought that it was consistency between what you say and how you act. Some definitions include a sense of fairness and/or truthfulness. All of these definitions tend to be aligned. That is the most important point. The different definitions feel comfortable together in the same brain at any given moment.
This does not mean that leaders will act the same as they move decisively through their day. They have to deal with power, control, initiative, strengths, honor, personalities, needs, wants, desires, success, teams, commitment, and honor as well as their team's performance commitments to the organization. I'll stop here because, of course, the list is endless. The overriding challenge here is how to balance all these to maintain a stream of integrity.
Here are some suggestions for maintaining a strong, constant sense of integrity in dealing with everyone and everything:
1) First of all, stay in one lane of traffic. People who zig zag in and out lose a sense of control as they move ahead. They lose being able to recognize their own limits and stray away from integrity and honesty. They need to deal with others in a way that keeps everyone driving in a single lane. Stick to a single set of facts. Stick to a single interpretation of the facts.
2) It is perfectly normal for a leader to rely on some of her best performers for getting things done. It's natural to have a better developed pattern of positive interactions with such people. It can be tempting to embellish stories to make the "inside circle" feel more valued. When that happens, a drop in the integrity meter can occur.
3) All leaders have to put up with constructive dissent from time to time. Normally, they handle it well. However, occasionally the dissent becomes aggravating. A leader may take a follower(s) off in a circle which at some point will lead to a lighter version of reality to quiet things down. These lighter versions often lead to an escape from which gives rise to many versions of the truth. The revisions can't all be soaked in integrity. A leader might want to change how he honors people so that fewer episodes of constructive dissent go awry.
WHAT ELSE SHOULD A LEADER DO TO KEEP THE WALLS OF INTEGRITY AND TRUTH FROM CRASHING DOWN?
Robert C. Preziosi, D.P.A., is Professor of Management in the H. Wayne Huizenga College of Business and Entrepreneurship, Nova Southeastern University, and can be reached at preziosi@nova.edu