When you take an integrated view of character you end up with Integrity.  And integrity goes beyond the moral and ethical dimension. Living a fully integrated life….a life of integrity…. allows us to hit on all cylinders in business and in life.

I’ve observed some people who are enjoyable to be around and are as upright as they come. Unfortunately, some of these same people have a repeated pattern of failure in their results, both with people and tasks. Who do you know that is like that? Now, they’re “good guys” in the truest sense of the word. The problem is that when it comes to getting stuff done, these “good guys” sometimes make things a lot worse! They’re great to talk to and be around, you just don’t want them on your team. I bet you’ve experienced some of these people too.

So why is it that “good guys” sometimes seem to lose and cause your team to fumble? Why is that some….leaders in particular…. get to a certain level and then flatline or fail?

While there can be many reasons, Dr. Cloud has observed that often they are lacking one or more of the following 6 abilities critical to integrity:

1. The ability to connect authentically.
2. The ability to be oriented toward truth.
3. The ability to work in a way that gets results and finishes well.
4. The ability to embrace, engage, and deal with the negative.
5. The ability to be oriented toward growth (i.e. a “Growth Mindset”).
6. The ability to be transcendent (i.e. see the bigger picture).

As he says, “ethical functioning is a part of character, but not all of it. And is certainly not all of what affects whether someone is successful or becomes a good leader.” If you want healthy “wake” of results, you’ve got to be a person of integrity. This is especially the case for leaders and leaders of leaders.

All of us need to be working on the most important asset we have all the time: ourselves.  While we can’t focus on everything at the same time all the time, we can focus on something all the time at any given time.

And as you work on the 6 areas above, you’ll find out something interesting and profitable as well: they’re all integrated and have a synergistic effect. The dividends you reap as a whole by intentionally working on any given one will be much larger than that yielded from any single one. You can then win in the truest sense of the word.

As you look at your wake of results, which of the 6 critical abilities, if you had more of it, would help you grow in your integrity and get more true wins? What’s the next most courageous step you could take to start that process now?

Please leave a comment, I’d love to know.