<em>There is much to discuss in the relationship between leadership, integrity, ethics and morals.  Many people have opinions on the meaning of the words and they way they're applied.  Jim Furr, of Tulsa Executive Events has written a series of articles titled Pointers in Proverbs making drawing relevant wisdom for living from the biblical text.  He connects leadership, integrity and ethics in an interesting way that I thought would start some discussion.  See what you think.</em>
<h2><strong>Pointers in Proverbs by Jim Furr</strong><em>
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<strong><em>"Good leaders abhor wrongdoing of all kinds;  sound  leadership has a moral foundation."</em></strong> --Pr  16:12

After surveying over 75,000 people around the world and  performing  more than four hundred written case studies, James Kouzes and Barry  Posner  (<span style="text-decoration: underline;">The Leadership Challenge</span>) identified the characteristics most  desired in  a leader. In virtually every survey, integrity was identified more often  than  any other trait.

No surprise here. Peter Drucker writes in <span style="text-decoration: underline;">The Effective  Leader</span>: "By themselves, integrity and character do not accomplish  anything.  But their absence faults everything else."

According to Steven Hayward in <span style="text-decoration: underline;">Churchill on Leadership</span>,  a  Wharton School of Finance study of large corporations over a four-year  period  concluded that “between 15 percent and 25 percent[!!] of the variation  in  profitability was determined by the character of their chief  executives.”<em> “… sound leadership has a moral  foundation.”</em>

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<h3>Integrity</h3>
So what’s integrity? One study framed it in terms of ethics  and  morality. Ethics, they said, refers to our standard of right and wrong;  it’s  what we say we believe is right. Morality, on the other hand, is our  lived  standard of right and wrong; it’s what we actually do. “Integrity” means   “complete,” “integrated.” To the degree, then, that our ethic and  morality are  integrated, we have integrity. To the degree that our ethic and morality  are not  integrated, we lack integrity.

Looking at this another way, if John tells you that he will  lie,  cheat and steal from you, he has a low ethic. If he does business that  way, he  also has a low morality. John is unethical and immoral, but he has  integrity –  twisted as it may be – because his morality is consistent with his  ethic. Of  course, when you and I think of integrity, we’re assuming a high ethic  matched  by an equally high morality.
<h3>Right Things</h3>
Most of us would probably agree that always acting with  integrity can  be a challenge. Norman Schwarzkopf made this observation: “The truth of  the  matter is that you always know the right thing to do. The hard part is  doing  it.”

Several years ago, a friend who owned a certain  professional sports  franchise, although his team had just won the national championship, due  to a  failed TV contract found himself $10 million upside down. Many advised  him to  file for bankruptcy, but my friend’s ethic required that he pay his  debts. It  took him 11 years!

How does one develop this level of integrity? I’m sure it  comes as no  surprise to you that it takes practice and hanging around the right kind  of  people. Stephen Graves and Thomas Addington put it this way in <span style="text-decoration: underline;">The  Fourth  Frontier</span>: "Integrity is a character muscle we either develop or  ignore. And  it's rarely a last minute decision. It requires discipline. It comes  from years  of practice or, at the other extreme, years of neglect…Our integrity is  shaped  not only by our personal decisions, but also by the company we keep…Good   character keeps good company."
<h3>Personal Observation</h3>
One other tip, if I may, that I’ve found helpful in  developing  integrity. The Bible says that God searches the earth in order to  strengthen  those who are totally committed to him (2 Chronicles 16:9). I’ve  discovered that  when my driving and guiding ambition is not simply to build a  reputation, but to  serve God and his people, then God lends his power to my efforts to have integrity, and that seems to make a significant  difference.

<span style="font-size: xx-small;">Photo by <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/craigdamlo/4582417149/">Craig Damlo</a></span>