#LeadershipTuesdays: A Leader With Integrity

"There are some things that money can’t buy… like manners, morals and integrity."

--Unknown

On Tuesdays, womenatliberty.com presents #LeadershipTuesdays, a platform for a variety of voices and resources to develop, encourage and strengthen women leaders. There are some qualities that are integral to a person who desires to be an impactful leader. One of those characteristics is integrity. People must be able to trust that there is consistency between the words you speak and your actions. This in fact builds trust which is the foundation of any lasting relationship between a leader and those he or she leads.

Secondly, people want their leaders to speak truth. Truth-telling is an external demonstration of an internal moral code. It signals that your words can be trusted.

Lastly, people also want you to care about how your decisions affect them. We saw so many examples of this during the government shutdown. With more than 800,000 federal employees going more than 30 days without a paycheck and some having to still go into work because they were deemed essential, hundreds demonstrated in the U.S. Senate's Hart Office building during the week of January 21st, the 33rd day of the shutdown. For 33 minutes they stood in silence, many held signs and messages written on paper plates saying "federal workers are going hungry."

Image: @KellyO, Twitter, Kelly O'Donnell, NBC News 

The negative impact of the government shutdown extended beyond just the furloughed workers to other contractors and businesses who depend on revenue from the federaI government. Federal contractors were also sent home without pay and will not receive back pay when the government re-opens.

Last week, discontent was exacerbated when it was reported that U.S. Secretary of Commerce, billionaire Wilbur Ross, who leads more than 46K government employees with an estimated 86% furloughed, stated that federal employees should go to the bank and take out a loan to pay their mortgages, rent and food expenses because they were guaranteed to receive back pay. His comments were largely viewed as out of touch.

View video: https://wapo.st/2CSpWr0 washingtonpost.com

There is no getting around it. People want their leaders to tell the truth, act with integrity and understand how their decisions affect people in the organization. For more information on how essential integrity is to a leader, read "Leadership character: The role of integrity" by Colonel  Eric Kail.

Follow #LeadershipTuesdays on Twitter @LeadershipTues to see daily posts with resources that help you develop and strengthen your leadership skills.

Sources:
1. Federal workers protest at Senate office building by Michael Burke, TheHill.com, 1/24/19
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/federal-workers-protest-at-senate-office-building/ar-BBSE9v5
2. For federal contractors, the shutdown isn’t quite over by Ian Kullgreen, Politico.com, 1/28/19
https://www.politico.com/story/2019/01/28/federal-contractors-shutdown-not-over-1125034