Today in the Wall Street Journal and in USA Today you could read about two CEOs talking about integrity. In USA Today it was Boeing CEO, Jim McNerney. In The Journal it was Caterpillar CEO, Jim Owens.

McNerney took over after a bid rigging scandal. To make his point that he was serious about getting back on track he endorsed the General Counsel opening a presentation with a slide with 2 long numbers on it. These were the federal prison ID numbers for two former employees. From day one McNerney talked about ethics and he still does. Many credit the 43% rise in stock price to him and his approach.

Owens has presided over the near doubling in revenues to 41.5 billion dollars. He admits market forces get much of the credit but his number one tip for managing a global giant is clear – “Act with integrity and value your people.”

We toss this word around so carelessly these days. Integrity. For a leader it is the most basic criteria for success. If you are not trustworthy I will not follow you.

An important point. You dont define your integrity and you cant say you have it. I decide if you have it. I make that decision based on your actions not on what you say.

The other day a client remarked how much he liked working with my team. I asked why and his answer was simple, “You do exactly what you say you are going to do and you give us exactly what we need when we need it. You are more focused on us than on yourself. I trust you.” This was music to my ears because it doesnt matter what I think about how I act, it matters what the client thinks.

So, are your actions causing people to say you have integrity, that they trust you? How do you know?

This entry was posted on Tuesday, February 27th, 2007 at 1:33 am and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.