Does integrity ever NOT matter when hiring (good) employees?
If we’re honest with ourselves, I think the answer to that question has to be …
Apparently - all the time!
Lila Cherri was on StartupNation Radio this weekend. She is also highlighted in a key move article on StartupNation.com with the article title of “Building a Business With Integrity”. Here’s a quote from that article:
That’s why she tries to discern in the hiring process whether integrity is as important to the candidate as it is to her. “You can tell whether a person is living for themselves or for a purpose,” she says. “So we can usually tell that someone will have an attitude of gratitude and service. And if they don’t fit that bill, they’re not going to last here, because their level of commitment isn’t a match with the organization.”
Here’s what I think.
I think every single entrepreneur and small business owner you ask will say that they agree with Lila. And very few of them actually put it into practice.
Where’s the disconnect here? What happens that makes people (it happens in big business too, it’s just that a single hire is not as critical as in a small business) get all fogged up when making hiring decisions?
We KNOW what the right move is, and we just don’t do it very often.
Lila Cherri is doing it right, but she’s in rare company.
Am I right?
April 24th, 2006 at 7:20 pm
This is such an important issue for me; it’s right up there with impeccable customer service…when I started The Pet Set…I was very concerned about the type of business woman I wanted to be…I wanted clients, vendors and colleagues to know that I do business in a certain way. With integrity. I don’t pull punches, I don’t have a bait and switch mentality. Basically all of the bad habits that I saw in corporate life, I wanted to avoid.
We’re too small to have a significant staff yet, but every person who touches The Pet Set, illustrators, printers…you name it…is brought on board only if they share this strict attitude. And I have to say, we wouldn’t have the products we have manufactured if we’d dealt with people who were not on the same page.
April 25th, 2006 at 11:18 am
Like Kim, to me, integrity is a critical component of any vennture or undertaking I do. I think it has a lot to do with the way I was raised. Honesty IS the best policy. I also think my days in the Boy Scouts helped and obtaining Eagle rank - once an Eagle, always an Eagle.
I believe our government leaders have a lot to do with the trend of dishonesty and lack of integrity. Take lobbyists and civil servants for example.
I have a hard time understanding how government officals, leaders of the greatest nation on earth, can allow lobbyists so much control. Solving the lobbyist problem to me is a no brainer. Just stop allowing gifts, trips, dinners, etc. The average citizen does not have this kind of access to their representatives and it is a slap in the face to every taxpayer when civil servants cater to lobbyists and ignore the people they are elected to serve. Most have no integrity and their actions - with lobbyists and other issues - just continues. They set bad examples and their actions cause regular "Joes" to believe actions like these are OK. I’m not putting all the blame on politicians - but dishonesty and lack of integrity seem to have vanished from the honorable position of civil servant - and it is a shame. It sets a bad example for this nation.
However, saying all this, people of honor and integrity should not change or give up. Stay the course. The losers will get theirs in the end.
R@
April 25th, 2006 at 4:06 pm
Hi Richard,
It’s not just politicians, I bet if you do a little digging in your town, you’ll find that some of your town’s "finest" and "bravest"…have their hands dirty with donations, dinners, trips, you name it.
THAT really bothers me.
April 27th, 2006 at 9:28 pm
Our management team at [link=http://GoTruckStop.com' target='_blank']GoTruckStop.com[/link], is committed to 1 main tenant …
Character, Integrity, and Honesty do Count!!
It is the basis of everything we say, and do. We require it from ourselves, our marketing partners, our distribution partners … and all our other team members.
Without it, well … we just wouldn’t last.