Talk the Walk: Communicating Integrity

TALK THE WALK: COMMUNICATING INTEGRITY

By: Malou Ramos

Before, when I was asked what is integrity, I answered it the way I define it myself- being honest and truthful.

But now, if I would be asked again the same question, after I attended a forum, I would answer it the way I see its importance - the key to be excellent in whatever you do by upholding the right virtues and acting in accordance with the professional ethics.

Last Wednesday, 4July, I, with Ms. Frida Tobias and Mrs. Nel Gomez, attended a forum entitled, “Talk the walk- communicating integrity”.  Maria Ressa, a renowned journalist and the guest speaker of the event, stressed out the importance of continue communicating integrity in the organization and how to draw the line and not crossing it.

Admit it, once in your life, you dreamt of reaching the top. You pushed yourself into school because you believed it could be your starting point. You work harder because you want to provide your family a good life. In the corporate world, we want to become one of the leading companies in the country, if not in the world, providing excellent services and changing other people’s lives.  But we all know, there is no easy way to get there. Basically, we are living in one world with two options– you always have to choose between a yes or a no, a stop or go, be good or bad. It is needless to say that doing good things will lead you to a better tomorrow with a better life and the choice is always yours.

How do we deal with choices? We have to believe that evil exists. But it is your choice to become one. Getting evil comes in two forms- you intentionally want to become evil or you do evil because of authority (someone with authority told you to do so). Evil is like knowing better but doing worse.  Again, it is your choice. Our choice.

Now why choose evil? Simply because, you want to benefit from it; you do evil because you wanted to get ahead of others. Or you choose evil to view yourself as an honest, honorable person. Bad people won’t say they are bad. Evil people will not admit they are evil.

But how do people cheat? It is surprising to learn that when we wear fake-branded designs, we do cheat. When we are mentally tired and we do something bad to make things easier, we cheat. Cheating is contagious. If a cheater is part of your group, perhaps in time, you could also become one.

How do you set yourself in the right direction? Draw a line and do not cross them. That line separates good from bad. Do things right just up to the line because reaching beyond the line would mean you are becoming evil. Though you think what you’ve done is just a small bad thing, you have to realize that little by little, it could change you. Remember how little things can make a big difference. How you behave is completely under your control.  In the corporate jungle where you work, you have to always act in the best interest of the whole organization and not for your own interest. Fight those who bring you down and find those who will lift you up.

Knowing what is integrity now, how do we communicate it? Start with yourself and everything else will follow. Ask yourself, are you practicing integrity? If not, should you start doing so? If we will not initiate to do things now, who else will? You do not just walk the talk, you also have to talk the walk.