Integrity is consistency between values and actions. A business or
business person with integrity does what it says it will do. It’s knowing
when to choose between two courses of action in a certain way–to be
forthcoming with reason. It’s probably the single most important trait a
person can have. Through thought-provoking analysis, they show how a
business person can choose integrity without sacrificing power, prestige or
money. To do this, they interview business leaders such as Jim Burke, former
CEO of Johnson & Johnson (during the Tylenol incident), Don Graham,
chairman of the Washington Post, and Shelly Lazarus, CEO of Ogilvy and
Mather International, among others, how they indentify those with integrity.
Gostick and Telford lay out a blueprint, showing executives how to apply
integrity in their daily performance by creating an environment of integrity
within a company, making the right decision in gray areas and building trust
among co-workers and employees.
The authors identify ten characteristics that people with integrity seem
to have. They then walk readers through a four-step process to help them
determine their own integrity levels.
The Integrity Advantage is an essential morals guide to doing business
today. It stresses the importance of trust and credibility within business
relationships and illustrates how to juggle, power and responsibility along
with wealth and still be a person of character.
Gostick and Telford recommend getting collected opinions from trusted
advisors. They sight the case of the Tylenol poison scare that could have
buried the company if it weren’t for the integrity of its executives.
While The Integrity Advantage is a small book, just a little over 100
pages –it packs a whallop for anyone in business today.
Is integrity becoming a dying trait in today’s
business? With corporate debacles like Enron and Worldcom, it seems so. If
only the good guys would always win like in the old Hollywood
westerns.Adrian Gostick and Dawn Telford show that it doesn’t have to be
so in their book, The Integrity Advantage.