Integrity 101

I alone cannot change the world, but I can cast a stone across the water to create many ripples.

At 73, Dolly Parton remains relevant after five decades of stardom. She remains an enigma in plain sight. She's deeply apolitical, preferring to lead by example. She is a gay icon and supported Black Lives Matter (“Do we think our little white asses are the only ones that matter?” she asked). Her philanthropy has helped teach children to read, and funded Covid-19 vaccines. She rejects a feminist label, yet she is talked about openly as one of the great feminist figures of our time.

Parton models a kind of integrity that makes people want to become involved in what she’s doing. Her reputation is well-earned; no matter how people first encounter Dolly, people like her, they like what she has to say, they like what she stands for, they love her story, and they admire her success. They seem to say, “I know if Dolly is behind it, it’s going to be right and it’s going to be good.”

Parton is a straight talker. That shows a level of integrity and willingness to "not beat around the bush" but just to say, "This is what we need to do." Working people like that inspires people to do things bigger and better. Rather than being managed by a boss, people with integrity inspire others more than they manage them.

Life of Dolly Parton with narration, on-camera interviews, photographs, and stock footage. A&E Networks

INTEGRITY 101

The practice of being honest and showing a consistent and uncompromising adherence to strong moral and ethical principles and values; integrity is doing the right thing when no one is watching.

It’s a common belief that life is best when it’s trouble-free. The opposite is true. The oyster would never produce a pearl with the irritation of grit. The cones of the Lodgepole Pines can’t release their seeds without the intense heat of a fire. Challenges, obstacles, and difficulties create opportunities to forge resilience. Resilience forms an unshakable foundation for our integrity. It’s times of pressure when our true values lead us, and when we know what we stand for.

The benefits of integrity are that we make better decisions and reduce time and energy over self-doubt. When we do the right thing, life becomes simple. Our life, and our actions, are open for everyone to see, and we don't have to worry about hiding anything. Our transparency increases trust of those around us. We’re dependable, and, when we hold ourselves accountable for our actions, we become role models for others.

Transparency and trust lead to influence and eventually success. Integrity is a hallmark of ethical leadership.

How do we gain integrity? Wrong question. How do we gain more awareness of our true values?

PRACTICE

Reflect on your life. Take your whole life path and all your major decisions, particularly when you were under pressure. Understand what values showed up and why. Context is important.
Define these values for yourself, in your own words. Don’t just choose values from a list.
Ask others. Seek feedback from others about how your values manifest to them.
Define your practice(s). Define measurable working practices that allow others to experience you as a truly values-based individual.

Using this process, which isn’t easy, what insights do you learn about yourself?

Narrow your values down to five succinct principles. Here are mine.

COMMIT

[ ] I commit myself to increase my self-awareness about what values lead me in and out of key challenges.

In her words…

"I feel like a tree. You know you first have got to have good roots, and then you've got to have many branches, and then you've got to have leaves. So it's really like my life is really like a tree. I've been blessed to have so many different parts of it." —Knoxville News Sentinel

"I always count my blessings more than I count my money. I don’t work for money, never did.” Sunday Morning interview.

“I still believe that women should get paid equal and should be treated with respect. I’m all about that," Parton said in an ABC interview with Robin Roberts. "I don’t get out and have to preach it or march in the streets, I write about it.”

“If I can hold God's attention, I can hold the world's,” the chart-topping singer-songwriter said in her 2015 film Coat of Many Colors.

In July 2019, Parton tweeted: “If you see someone without a smile today, give 'em yours.”

“I look totally artificial, but I am totally real, as a writer, as a professional, as a human being," she said in a 2019 interview with Elle. "A rhinestone shines just as good as a diamond. Its hard to be a diamond in a rhinestone world.”

“Find out who you are and do it on purpose,” the long-time Hollywood icon wrote in a tweet on April 8, 2015.

“I'm just a working girl. I never think of myself as a star because, as somebody once said, ‘A star is nothing but a big ball of gas’–and I don't want to be that," Parton said in a 2014 interview with Billboard.

Dolly tweeted on April 4, 2013: “The way I see it, if you want the rainbow, you gotta put up with the rain!”

"I make a point to appreciate all the little things in my life. I go out and smell the air after a good, hard rain," Parton wrote in Dream More. "These small actions help remind me that there are so many great, glorious pieces of good in the world."

"I’m not going to limit myself just because people won’t accept the fact that I can do something else," the viral social media trendsetter tweeted on Nov. 3, 2010.

In her book Dream More, Parton wrote, “I never have considered myself a perfectionist, but I do think of myself as a ‘professionalist’…I always strive simply to be my very best."

What we don’t see on the resumes we review or the job descriptions we want is the litany of emotional entanglements we bring to our roles, uninvited, to the team and organizations we work in. Alongside technical skills, people who can master a range of subjective skills are better able to influence, deal with ambiguity, bounce back from setbacks, think creatively, and manage themselves in the presence of setbacks. In short, those who learn lead.

Observing subjective qualities in others past and present gives us a mental picture for the behaviors we want to practice. Each figure illustrates a quality researched from The Look to Craftsmen Project. When practiced as part of our day-to-day, these qualities will help us develop our mastery in our lives and work.