Integrity is What You Do When No One is Watching

This is post #4 in my blog series called “Uncovering Our Blind Spots in Life and Business.” By reflecting on my own experiences, my goal is to help you uncover aspects of your personality, behavior, emotions, and intellect that harbor unconscious biases that obstruct your perspectives or influence how you see yourself and others. You can read past articles here.

I recall working on a government proposal when WordPerfect was the predominant word-processing software. I was just learning it and somehow I lost part of the content that I was working on and could not get it to recover.

I tried everything I knew, yet unsuccessful. So the next day when we had to review the proposal, I lied and said I had no clue what happened to the missing paragraph. Early in my professional career, I would hide or not disclose any mistakes or errors I made because I felt it would negatively reflect how my supervisor viewed me. I always wanted to be viewed in a positive light and wanted a great performance evaluation for my work. So, if I was asked about something incorrect or askew, I would plead the fifth and say I didn’t know what happened or how it happened or someone else must have done the thing. Essentially, I would lie to cover my own butt.

Of course, I would feel guilty for lying but I felt the other recourse would bring on the wrath of my supervisor and I certainly didn’t want that. My fear was if I was not perfect in my job, I would be demoted or, worse, fired. And I had a family to support.

Somehow, I justified my lies for the greater good. I’m sure very few people suffered from this blind spot or at least won’t admit it publicly!

I remember being confronted by an associate on a matter that I was responsible for and during the same season, I was being taught the value of integrity in my life and I chose integrity over continuing to hide and lie. I learned the hard lesson of the value of integrity was too often a missing component in life. The benefit of telling the truth far outweighed telling a lie. I learned the practice of taking ownership of my mistakes and, most often, I was rewarded or at least esteemed for telling the truth.

Most importantly for me, I took on the mantel that true integrity is always doing what is right when no one is watching. Even when no one else may know or uncover my error, it is more important for me to be honest with myself and not try to cover it up.

Imagine a pilot who is landing an airplane in a heavy fog or mist. With low visibility, most people can’t see what is happening in the surrounding area, but the pilot must still be guided by their principles and training. Likewise, I let my personal principles govern me when no one else is watching.

My advice to you: Please learn from my blind spot of lying or being deceitful about your mistakes. You will feel better, and even if you are not rewarded for telling the truth, you can live honestly with yourself and not be ashamed.

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• WES

We don’t see what we don’t see! We don’t know what we don’t know! Therefore, we cannot change the things in our lives that could propel us to the next level!