Integrity

My partner told me about a situation she encountered yesterday.  She received the wrong item when making a purchase.  The answer was simple and, since she is the most honest person I've ever met, I knew she knew the answer was simple.  It was a matter of integrity.

"Real integrity is doing the right thing, knowing that nobody's going to know whether you did it or not." ~ Oprah Winfrey

This post is not about the importance of honesty and integrity.  That's too obvious.  This will be about who we choose to surround ourselves with.  The energy and decisions of those around us affect us.  My partner is the most genuine woman I have ever known.  She exudes an innate kindness, heartfelt compassion and moral certainty that draws you in.  I've met her parents...the apple didn't fall far from the tree.

The point is this: whether in our personal lives or business lives, it becomes vital to our own success and happiness to have people around us who naturally do the right thing.  Each of us is an individual and only we can decide to be happy or not, but at a basic level our propensity to make this decision is influenced by our surroundings and those who come into our lives...even for just a moment.

I knew she'd make the right decision.  In fact, it never even crossed my mind that she wouldn't.  This sureness gave me reassurance to act similarly.  Isn't it natural to want to surround ourselves with people whose moral compasses are so steady and definite that they inspire us to be better?  That's an attribute of leadership and in some way, every single day, we act as leaders or followers either modeling or emulating behaviors.

Watch this video as a wonderful reminder of the cycle of modeling and emulating positive behaviors.