Covey’s Speed of Trust 6: 1st Core of Credibility--Integrity

This continues our series reviewing Stephen M. R. Covey’s book The Speed of Trust. I encourage you to buy the book.

The first wave of trust is self-trust. Self-trust grows based on the 4 Cores of Credibility integrity, intent, capability, and results. The first two contribute to character. The second two enhance competence. This post examines the first core: integrity.

Honesty Plus Three

Covey writes that integrity must include three qualities more than honesty:

• Congruence means that there is no gap between intent and behavior. The person is whole, seamless, the same—inside and out.”
• Humility refers to Jim Collins research that Level 5 Leaders exhibit strong humility rather than ego
• Courage: Integrity must include the courage to do the right thing—even when its hard. This kind of courage encourages others to have courage.

How to Increase Integrity

Covey suggests “three high-leveraged ‘accelerators’ that make a powerful difference in increasing integrity:”

• “Make and Keep Commitments to Yourself. He shares a few tips
  • Don’t make more commitments than you can keep
  • Treat a commitment  you make to yourself with as much respect as you do the commitments you make to others
  • Don’t make commitments impulsively
  • Understand that when keeping your commitment becomes hard, you have two choices
    • You can change your behavior to match your commitments
    • Or, you can lower your values to match your behavior”
• “Stand for Something" Core values give you something to stand for. He shares a story from the life of Jon Huntsman, Sr.who lost $200 million dollars because he gave his word to sell a part of his business for $54 million. Six months later when the buyer finished the papers, the company was worth $250 million. Huntsman abided by the original agreement.  Huntsman stood for the word he gave to the sale
• “Be open” Covey writes “Openness is vital to integrity. It take both humility and courage—humility to acknowledge that there are principles out there you may not currently to aware of, and courage to follow them once you discover them.”

Monday we examine intent the second core of credibility in the first wave of trust