Integrity has power far beyond Judeo-Christian principles. When I think about integrity my first examples are relating to friendships, but it shows up in all acts, big and small. But it’s also crucial in business because it lowers the opportunity cost of capital.
Contracts, which are legally-enforceable agreements, drive business. The cost of contracts are hours of negotiation, hefty lawyer fees, and usually substantial penalties for breaching it. But what if companies cut out the middleman and made agreements person to person? Of course, men aren’t angels. The movie “The Founder” demonstrates this, as Ray Kroc violates a franchise agreement of the founders of McDonald’s, and then again violates a verbal agreement promising to give the founders a percentage share of future earnings. While this was legal, it exposes Kroc as who he truly was. You can’t fake integrity for long.
If you trust a business to stay within their contract, it saves much time. You don’t have to spend weeks analyzing the price of every transaction or lay awake at night wondering if that company will follow through on their promises. That also means that you don’t have to install cameras throughout your office to ensure your employees are actually working, or have to block web browsers on their computer to keep them off social media. If you didn’t trust them in the first place, you shouldn’t have hired them. On the flip side, employees shouldn’t have to be split between obeying a supervisor telling them to break a company contract and the legality of violating an agreement.
Integrity means sticking to your words, even when it’s hard, and making the same decisions when no one is watching. And it’s a powerful communicator because it speaks to people you don’t even know. No one wants to partner with someone who is dishonest, and who you’re unsure if he if he swiped all the company money during his vacation and plans never to return.