Act As If You’re Visible

Integrity is important to me. I constantly check myself to ensure congruence between my thoughts and actions … in other words, my being and doing. I ask myself questions like:

“Is what I practice what I preach?”

“Do I evaluate others in a similar way to how I assess myself?”

“Does what I say depict what’s really on my mind?”

“Do I keep the promises I make?”

Lately, I’ve been hearing a larger-than-usual number of stories where people do things they would not otherwise if they thought someone was watching. I laugh thinking back to when I would do something wrong as a child and purposefully did not look up because I thought that if I didn’t see others, then they wouldn’t see me and what I did.

Awhile back, I wrote about speaking as if someone was always listening (see Conversations with Integrity blog). Not unlike at-home listening devices mentioned in that blog, imagine a hovering camera that sees your every move.

If your actions were visible to others, how would they react after seeing them? Might they be impressed and think more highly of you? Would they possibly not care because, well, that’s your business anyway? Or could they become put off and start to distrust you?

Leadership requires integrity. Integrity creates a foundation for trust. There’s no time like the present to ask yourself: Where am I leading with integrity?

This Week’s Challenge: Pick an important relationship you have – it could be with an individual (e.g., romantic partner), a team/group (e.g., for a recreational sport you do), an organization (e.g., your employer), or even a community (e.g., your neighborhood). Then, think of something you’ve done recently that might be misaligned with how you would want to show up if your action was visible. And imagine what might be said about you if your actions were visible from ‘behind closed doors’? Now, jot down a few ideas for how you might shift your behavior to better align who you really are with how you show up in that relationship. Choose one of those ideas and commit to acting differently over the coming week. Integrity is not a switch – it takes practice.