INTEGRITY: A CORE VALUE IN LEADERSHIP
Introduction
Integrity according to Webster's dictionary is defined as, "Uprightness of character, honesty; the condition, quality, or state of being complete or undivided." It is the core of a leader's character and all other values impended into a leader's character can be filtered through integrity.
Maxwell defines leadership as, "the capacity and will to rally men and women to a common purpose and character, which inspires confidence." (Maxwell, 1999, p. 1) To those who believe in creation by the Sovereign God, leadership is as old as the creation of man, and it started when God said, "have dominion over the fish of the sea … and over every living that moves upon the earth." (Gen. 1:28b) fault entered leadership from inception, and since then, there has developed many types of leadership models but none of them without fault.
It is worthwhile to note that any type of leadership might not be faulty by itself, but the problem is the integrity of the leader. Using Webster's definition, a person or a leader of integrity is expected to be in a "state of being complete, undivided"—wholeness. A leader of integrity therefore has a direct correspondence between what he/she actually is in his/her heart and how he/she reveals himself/herself by outward actions when handling daily responsibilities. The composition of his/her heart and his/her deeds are organically and morally whole.
Integrity is the Internal Beauty of a Leader's Heart
The Greek word for a person is prosopon, which is translated in English to mean, "Mask" something that covers the real person (Aldrin, 1977, p. 22). In any leadership level, a leader may appear outwardly good to the followers but he/she is using a mask to cover the real person. The success of any model of leadership is determined by the state of the leader's heart. The internal beauty of a leader's heart could be guessed by the total unity between the internal and external beauty dispositions; as the old saying goes, "True beauty is not skin deep; it goes all the way to the heart." Several disintegrating world leaders today use the external beauty to cover the chaos of their leadership. They are more concerned with the external cosmetics of their leadership than the internal cosmetics. Some of them are portrayed in the media to have led their organizations/countries over twenty-four years on the roll but their integrity has been ruled out. Integrity is not cosmetically controlled but acquired through humility, fear of the Lord and servitude attitude.
Lack of integrity in leadership is a heart problem. Jeremiah says, "The heart is deceitful above all things, And desperately wicked; who can know it?" (Jer. 17:9) Aldrin adds to this heart problem concept saying, "It is the seat of love and hatred, thought and conception, feelings and affection…. It is the center of our moral life, the place of origin of all that is good and evil in thoughts, words and actions." (Aldrin, 1977. pp. 31-32)
Integrity centered heart leaders will exhibit the qualities enumerated in First Timothy 3:2-3: social, moral, mental and domestic qualifications. Paul outlines the essential qualities of a leader in verses 2-3 as, discipline, vision, wisdom, decision, courage, and humility (Oswald, 1977, pp. 22 & 68).
Integrity as a Core Value in Today's Leadership
A leader of integrity should exhibits values, beliefs and practices in the place of work. House (199?) says, "The ability of an individual to influence, motivate, and enable others to contribute toward effectiveness and success is dependent on the example a leader sets to the followers." (p.194) A leader of integrity encourages teamwork for: accountability, honesty, improves organization productivity and enhances employee quality of work life (Hickman, 1998, p. 184). A leader of integrity provides vision, gains credibility, and trust from the followers and influences them not necessarily to work for results, but rather to facilitate the accomplishment of the organizational goals (Farling, Stone & Winston, 1999). Integrity determines a leader's character, and character is a choice. Maxwell describes leadership as character centered:
How a leader deals with circumstances of life tells you many things about his character. Crisis does not necessarily make character, but it certainly reveals it. Adversity is a crossroads that make a person [or tests a person's integrity] choose of the two parts: character or compromise. Every time he chooses character [integrity], he becomes stronger, even if that choice brings negative consequences (Maxwell 1999, pp.3-4). (Be careful not to add your own commentary to a direct quote. You can correct a misspelling or wrong word, but you can't add meaning to something someone else has said. Meaning is determined by the reader.)
The choice a leader makes is determined by the heart condition since the Adamic era. Kanter says, "The practice of leadership is sufficiently similar across historical eras and civilizations that lessons are drawn different from world leaders across centuries." (Hesselben, 1999, p. 86) There are several models of leadership, but what makes the significant difference is the integrity of the leader. Church and secular organizations are seeking leaders of integrity who are organically whole inside and out. Strauch (1996) states, "a recent survey of divorce rates in the United States showed that pastors had the third highest divorce rate, exceeded only by medical doctors and policemen." (p.67)
Conclusion
Character is not an innate gift. It is a choice. Every leader chooses to be a man or a woman of integrity despite the crossroads. Leaders have to choose to be men and women of integrity in today's world leadership.
Reference List
Aldrin, J. (1977). Secrets to the internal beauty. Santa Ana, CA: Vision House
Publishers.
______ (1995). Webster's classic reference library dictionary. Ashland, Ohio: Landoll,
Inc.
Hesseilben, F., Goldsmith, M., & Beckhard, R. (1996). The leader of the future. San
Francisco: Jossey-Bass Publishers.
Hickman, G. A. (Ed.). (1998). Leading organizations. Thousand Oaks: sage Publications.
Johnson, p., Duberly, J. (2000). Understanding management research. Thousand Oaks:
Sage Publications.
LaHaye, T., Hindson, E., Ice, T., & Combs, (Ed.). (2001). Holy Bible: New King James
Version. U.S.A. AMG publications.
Maxwell, C. J. (1999). The 21 indispensable qualities of a leader. Nashville: Thomas
Nelson Publication.
Morgan, G. (1997). Images of organization. Thousand Oaks: Sage Publications.
Oswald, T. S. (1977). Spiritual leadership. Chicago: Moody Press.
Strauch, A. (1995). Biblical eldership: An urgent call to restore biblical church
leadership. Little, Colorado: Lewis Roth Publishers.
Yukl, G. (2001). Leadership in organizations. (5th ed.). Upper Saddle River, N.J.:
Prentice Hall.
Consulted References
Anderson, L. (1998). Dying for change. Minnesota: Bethany House Publishers.
Bass, B.M. (1990). Bass & Stogdill's handbook of leadership: Theory, research, and
managerial applications. (3r ed.). New York: The free Press.
Conger, J. A., & Kanun , R. N. (1988). Charismatic leadership. San Francisco: Jossey-
Bass Publication.
Introduction
Integrity according to Webster's dictionary is defined as, "Uprightness of character, honesty; the condition, quality, or state of being complete or undivided." It is the core of a leader's character and all other values impended into a leader's character can be filtered through integrity.
Maxwell defines leadership as, "the capacity and will to rally men and women to a common purpose and character, which inspires confidence." (Maxwell, 1999, p. 1) To those who believe in creation by the Sovereign God, leadership is as old as the creation of man, and it started when God said, "have dominion over the fish of the sea … and over every living that moves upon the earth." (Gen. 1:28b) fault entered leadership from inception, and since then, there has developed many types of leadership models but none of them without fault.
It is worthwhile to note that any type of leadership might not be faulty by itself, but the problem is the integrity of the leader. Using Webster's definition, a person or a leader of integrity is expected to be in a "state of being complete, undivided"—wholeness. A leader of integrity therefore has a direct correspondence between what he/she actually is in his/her heart and how he/she reveals himself/herself by outward actions when handling daily responsibilities. The composition of his/her heart and his/her deeds are organically and morally whole.
Integrity is the Internal Beauty of a Leader's Heart
The Greek word for a person is prosopon, which is translated in English to mean, "Mask" something that covers the real person (Aldrin, 1977, p. 22). In any leadership level, a leader may appear outwardly good to the followers but he/she is using a mask to cover the real person. The success of any model of leadership is determined by the state of the leader's heart. The internal beauty of a leader's heart could be guessed by the total unity between the internal and external beauty dispositions; as the old saying goes, "True beauty is not skin deep; it goes all the way to the heart." Several disintegrating world leaders today use the external beauty to cover the chaos of their leadership. They are more concerned with the external cosmetics of their leadership than the internal cosmetics. Some of them are portrayed in the media to have led their organizations/countries over twenty-four years on the roll but their integrity has been ruled out. Integrity is not cosmetically controlled but acquired through humility, fear of the Lord and servitude attitude.
Lack of integrity in leadership is a heart problem. Jeremiah says, "The heart is deceitful above all things, And desperately wicked; who can know it?" (Jer. 17:9) Aldrin adds to this heart problem concept saying, "It is the seat of love and hatred, thought and conception, feelings and affection…. It is the center of our moral life, the place of origin of all that is good and evil in thoughts, words and actions." (Aldrin, 1977. pp. 31-32)
Integrity centered heart leaders will exhibit the qualities enumerated in First Timothy 3:2-3: social, moral, mental and domestic qualifications. Paul outlines the essential qualities of a leader in verses 2-3 as, discipline, vision, wisdom, decision, courage, and humility (Oswald, 1977, pp. 22 & 68).
Integrity as a Core Value in Today's Leadership
A leader of integrity should exhibits values, beliefs and practices in the place of work. House (199?) says, "The ability of an individual to influence, motivate, and enable others to contribute toward effectiveness and success is dependent on the example a leader sets to the followers." (p.194) A leader of integrity encourages teamwork for: accountability, honesty, improves organization productivity and enhances employee quality of work life (Hickman, 1998, p. 184). A leader of integrity provides vision, gains credibility, and trust from the followers and influences them not necessarily to work for results, but rather to facilitate the accomplishment of the organizational goals (Farling, Stone & Winston, 1999). Integrity determines a leader's character, and character is a choice. Maxwell describes leadership as character centered:
How a leader deals with circumstances of life tells you many things about his character. Crisis does not necessarily make character, but it certainly reveals it. Adversity is a crossroads that make a person [or tests a person's integrity] choose of the two parts: character or compromise. Every time he chooses character [integrity], he becomes stronger, even if that choice brings negative consequences (Maxwell 1999, pp.3-4). (Be careful not to add your own commentary to a direct quote. You can correct a misspelling or wrong word, but you can't add meaning to something someone else has said. Meaning is determined by the reader.)
The choice a leader makes is determined by the heart condition since the Adamic era. Kanter says, "The practice of leadership is sufficiently similar across historical eras and civilizations that lessons are drawn different from world leaders across centuries." (Hesselben, 1999, p. 86) There are several models of leadership, but what makes the significant difference is the integrity of the leader. Church and secular organizations are seeking leaders of integrity who are organically whole inside and out. Strauch (1996) states, "a recent survey of divorce rates in the United States showed that pastors had the third highest divorce rate, exceeded only by medical doctors and policemen." (p.67)
Conclusion
Character is not an innate gift. It is a choice. Every leader chooses to be a man or a woman of integrity despite the crossroads. Leaders have to choose to be men and women of integrity in today's world leadership.
Reference List
Aldrin, J. (1977). Secrets to the internal beauty. Santa Ana, CA: Vision House
Publishers.
______ (1995). Webster's classic reference library dictionary. Ashland, Ohio: Landoll,
Inc.
Hesseilben, F., Goldsmith, M., & Beckhard, R. (1996). The leader of the future. San
Francisco: Jossey-Bass Publishers.
Hickman, G. A. (Ed.). (1998). Leading organizations. Thousand Oaks: sage Publications.
Johnson, p., Duberly, J. (2000). Understanding management research. Thousand Oaks:
Sage Publications.
LaHaye, T., Hindson, E., Ice, T., & Combs, (Ed.). (2001). Holy Bible: New King James
Version. U.S.A. AMG publications.
Maxwell, C. J. (1999). The 21 indispensable qualities of a leader. Nashville: Thomas
Nelson Publication.
Morgan, G. (1997). Images of organization. Thousand Oaks: Sage Publications.
Oswald, T. S. (1977). Spiritual leadership. Chicago: Moody Press.
Strauch, A. (1995). Biblical eldership: An urgent call to restore biblical church
leadership. Little, Colorado: Lewis Roth Publishers.
Yukl, G. (2001). Leadership in organizations. (5th ed.). Upper Saddle River, N.J.:
Prentice Hall.
Consulted References
Anderson, L. (1998). Dying for change. Minnesota: Bethany House Publishers.
Bass, B.M. (1990). Bass & Stogdill's handbook of leadership: Theory, research, and
managerial applications. (3r ed.). New York: The free Press.
Conger, J. A., & Kanun , R. N. (1988). Charismatic leadership. San Francisco: Jossey-
Bass Publication.
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