Leadership Lesson – November 2022: Leading with Integrity

Leadership Lessons
​​​Words of advice from leaders on the front lines.
This month’s leadership lesson is from Karen Little, AHS targeted response quality improvement and innovation lead.

Leading with Integrity

With everything going on in the world, it has become abundantly clear that integrity is a fundamental leadership quality.

Harvey Mackay once said, “If you have integrity, nothing else matters, and if you don’t have integrity, nothing else matters.”

Some leadership attributes include:

• Authenticity – Have self-awareness of who you are as a person.
• Accountability – Creates trust and allows growth. Remember that trust is earned, not given.
• Consistency – This is one of the strongest traits among the world’s greatest leaders. Why? Because people are watching.
• Being transparent – Being honest allows others to trust and respect you.
• Lead by example – I think about how our parents were our models in the home, and the same is true for our leaders. They should show us the right way to lead.

I may not be leading a team of people, but I am responsible for how I live my life. So, as I look at this list, I ask myself the following:

• Do I live a life of integrity? Am I being my authentic self?
• Do my words, actions and attitude consistently align with who I am?
• Do I take responsibility for mistakes, or do I make excuses?
• Am I consistent regardless of the situation, or do I tend to want to give up by allowing my emotions to lead?
• Am I transparent and willing to be vulnerable and brutally honest, even if it hurts?
• Do I lead by example or say one thing and do another?

The saying, “do as I say, not as I do,” may have worked in the past, but it has no place if you want to lead with integrity.