• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer
  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • LinkedIn
  • Twitter
  • YouTube
Big Ideas for Small Business logo

Barbara Weltman

Big Ideas for Small Business, Inc.

Whitepaper download

Subscribe and download our eBook, "150+ Tax Deductions for Small Business A to Z."

This field is hidden when viewing the form
Get the:

  • Home
  • About Us
  • Big Ideas For Your Business
    • Idea Of The Day ®
    • SMB Legal
    • SMB Taxes
    • SMB Financial
    • Small Business
    • Newsletter Archive
  • Services
  • Books
  • Blog
  • Multimedia
    • Videos
    • Radio Shows/Podcasts
  • Be a Guest Blogger

Developing Leadership Qualities: Integrity and Honesty

April 9, 2019 / By Barbara Weltman

Developing Leadership Qualities: Integrity and HonestyWith the college admissions scandal in the headlines, the issue of honesty and integrity in business couldn’t be more relevant.

How you conduct yourself in your personal life translates into what happens in running your business.

So let’s look at how integrity and honesty are essential leadership qualities and how you can best display them.

Importance of integrity

A former survey found that integrity was cited by employees as the most important attribute in a leader. Employees get inspired by leaders they view as being honest. Conversely, they get turned off, and often leave companies, where they see leaders lacking integrity.

Integrity also translates into rewards with customers. People will do business with you only if they trust you. Customers must be confident that you aren’t trying to pull a fast one and are telling them the truth.

Maintaining integrity

It’s easy to be honest when things are going well. But when you get into inconvenient situations, maintaining integrity becomes hard. And some people have grown accustomed to “fudging” (e.g., exaggerating billable hours or expenses reported on an expense account); they don’t even recognize this as dishonest.

To maintain your own integrity and ensure that integrity pervades your workplace, consider doing the following:

  • Commit to integrity. You can demonstrate this through a mission, vision, or value statement affirming the company’s dedication to ethical behavior. For example, American Express’ list of core values says: “We uphold the highest standards of integrity in all of our actions.” Make employees and customers aware of the company’s position.
  • Lead by example. Owners must show their integrity so that employees will follow suit. Words to axe from your vocabulary are cheating, lying, and admittedly compromising your principles. Words to keep in the forefront are truth, sincerity, transparency, and accountability.
  • Manage ethical problems wisely. Expect that you’ll be faced with ethical problems you’ll be forced to deal with. You want to handle them with integrity. A good resource for this is an article from the Free Management Library.

Final thought

As Mary Kay said: “Integrity is the ingredient that will enable you to forge rapidly ahead on the highway that leads to success. It advertises you as being an individual who will always come through. Whatever you say you will do, do it even if you have to move heaven and earth.”

This is the fourth blog in a 12-part series on Developing Leadership Qualities. Last month’s blog concerned listening and communicating. Next month’s blog on developing leadership qualities addresses decision-making.

Tags developing leadership qualities honesty integrity leadership qualities maintaining integrity

Primary Sidebar

Categories

  • General Business (497)
  • Guest Blog (108)
  • Homepage (18)
  • Small Business (987)
  • SMB Financial (322)
  • SMB Legal (65)
  • SMB Taxes (324)

Barbara’s Recent Posts

  • The Numbers Are Up for Sole Proprietorships May 22, 2025
  • New Business or Project Crowdfunding: What To Know May 20, 2025
  • Old-School Estimating vs. Smart Solutions: What’s Really Holding You Back? May 19, 2025
  • Employees Getting Called to Public Service: What to Know May 15, 2025
  • Not Too Late to Prep for Summer Now May 13, 2025
  • How Will the Next Generation of Learners Affect the Workplace May 12, 2025
  • Moms Know Best: Lessons for Entrepreneurs May 8, 2025
  • Mental Health Challenges in the Workplace May 6, 2025
  • Let’s Celebrate Small Business! May 1, 2025
  • Scaling Your Business: Adding a New State Location April 29, 2025
  • What to Do about Waste Management in Your Warehouse April 28, 2025
  • Restrooms: Not Front Office but Just as Important April 25, 2025
Awarded Top 100 Small Business Blog medal (link will open in a new window or tab)
Marquis Who's Who 2023 Badge
Top Small Business Blogs (Link will open in a new window or tab.)
8 Financial blogs small business Owners Need to Read. Invoice home.  (link will open in a new window or tab)
Best Small Business Blog, Expertido.org
Top 50 Small Business Blogs 2018
Best Small Business Blogs
BizHumm Top 100 Business Blog Award to Barbara Weltman
FitsSmallBusiness.com: Award for Best Small Business Blog 2017 (link will open in a new window or tab)
FitsSmallBusiness.com: Award for Best Small Business Blog 2016 (link will open in a new window or tab)

Footer

Big Ideas for Small Business logo

Small business ideas, business tax news and small business consulting from Barbara Weltman to provide business owners with the information they need to succeed. Visit our small business blog, Idea of The Day®, small business books and articles on small business taxes, small business finance and small business legal advice.

Contact Us

[email protected]

(772) 492-9593

gacor maxwin situs slot thailand terpercaya situs slot gacor situs gacor akun pro thailand slot bandar togel terpercaya

Latest Tweets

bigideas4sb Big Ideas for Small Business® @bigideas4sb ·
May 23

Amazon debuts a warehouse robot with a sense of ‘touch’ https://tcrn.ch/3SqhN40

Reply on Twitter 1926043068001632281 Retweet on Twitter 1926043068001632281 Like on Twitter 1926043068001632281 Twitter 1926043068001632281
bigideas4sb Big Ideas for Small Business® @bigideas4sb ·
May 23

Should Your Business Be on Bluesky? An Industry-by-Industry Breakdown https://bit.ly/3EOVdit

Reply on Twitter 1926007082874007803 Retweet on Twitter 1926007082874007803 1 Like on Twitter 1926007082874007803 Twitter 1926007082874007803
bigideas4sb Big Ideas for Small Business® @bigideas4sb ·
May 23

The Numbers Are Up for Sole Proprietorships - https://bit.ly/3FddTZr #smallbusiness #selfemployed #startups

Reply on Twitter 1925972574267166970 Retweet on Twitter 1925972574267166970 2 Like on Twitter 1925972574267166970 2 Twitter 1925972574267166970
Load More

Copyright © 2008–2025 Big Ideas for Small Business, Inc  |  Designed by Hudson Fusion

  • Privacy Policy
  • Sitemap