Human beings are like seeds: when nurtured their potential can materialise into a beautiful plant. I have progressively become aware of my own seed composition so I can bring what makes me who I am and re-balance places or situations that I am involved with through a unique leadership blend.
What exactly am I responsible for as a human being in my life or in this or that job?
What have I chosen to be honest with and how will I live up to it?
These questions related to personal integrity have always challenged me because a small inner voice was telling me to pay close attention to it and carefully learn to define what it means to me in each of my daily actions and behaviours.
There would be so much to say about all this... I will try to highlight what is important to me.
Integrity goes hand in hand with responsibility, authenticity and humility. These virtues are like sisters in the same family who encourage, nourish and strengthen each other.
For authenticity goes against manipulation, against calculation that would seek to implement a deliberate tactic to get what one wants. Humility allows wisdom to avoid the accumulation of power for the simple fact of having more or gaining more. When acquired in a healthy way, power consists of taking on responsibilities that one is able to fulfill and that require a solid foundation in oneself in order to remain honest in spite of the jolts.
Humility also reminds us that the value of a human being does not depend on his status, his position, or any outwardly fashionable signs. Every human being has the same value, simply that of being human.
Integrity is about accepting your own vulnerabilities, humility about admitting them in the presence of others. So choosing to put forward and bring to life integrity, authenticity and humility means to take full responsibility for one's behaviour and the impact it generates.
My experience has shown me that there are still too many leaders who accept to endorse techniques of manipulation, confusion, maintaining power and individual interests above all in the way they lead a team or an organization. Often, they remain convinced that these are the only recipes for success instead of seeking the courage and wisdom to tap into their deepest values, what is essential to them and express it. I have also observed managers trapped in a belief that they owe their hierarchy complacency and that they are able to demand the same from their teams, and it is not because the level of responsibility increases that such beliefs diminish, quite the contrary. The more responsibilities increase, the more stress increases, so without working on oneself to master stress instead of be controlled by it, one tends to plunge into one's habits, good or bad.
I have even experienced environments where dysfunctional behaviors are so authorized (implicitly or explicitly) that the words authenticity, integrity, humility can hardly be pronounced without sounding wrong. This makes it a fine example of cognitive dissonance that does not fail to generate cynicism and disengagement, as we see in far too many companies or collectives of all kinds.
Oh I have not always succeeded in holding all these virtuous postures, far from it, I have made mistakes and my varied experience has taught me to always bring my gaze back inside to seek my authenticity by respecting the depth of my being, to open my consciousness and understand my reactions. Life is a succession of experiences that lead us to test our own limits, to have to go in search of our innermost intention in order to go beyond what limits us and develop honest behaviour at all times, whatever the circumstances.
And have you noticed that precisely when you emanate who you are authentically and with integrity, that is to say with humility, others notice it? It even happens that it is expressed spontaneously at the beginning or end of a common journey.
Two recent examples come to mind.
At the end of a recent corporate mission, I had to say goodbye when it was time to leave and the recurring feedback from the people I worked with was about the integrity they felt and received through my behaviour and way of working, like a solid pillar on which to build, helping the collective to move forward serenely.
Other example: when I met a person with whom I had been talking in writing for several months until we met "live", the first comment I received was about the integrity that came out of reading my messages. We had never met before, it was not a question of physical presence but of a starting intention in the communication or interaction with the other person.
I welcomed such feedback with gratitude because they sounded fair. By receiving them, I was able to regain awareness of how important these issues are to me and how much attention I pay to them at all times.
I certainly have made mistakes in my work (everyone makes mistakes) but as long as my work ethic emanates to such an extent that it is spontaneously recognised, then I know I am on the right track. My path.
In my daily life, whatever the situation, I like to remember what taking responsibility, acting with authenticity, integrity and humility mean to me in every facet of my life. For in this way I recognize and honor what makes me unique and put it to better use in the service of others.Visual design: Opal
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