The Challenge of Integrity

In China, the word for integrity is 诚信 (cheng-xin / honest-trustworthy) and has become a well-used media word in the context of the prosecution of corruption in both public and private sectors. Headline news today (8 Jan) was that all SOE (state-owned enterprises) execs were going through the "graft scanner", the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection (the CCDI). The former chairman of Sinopec (the Chinese oil company) has recently been sentenced to death for having taken almost 200 million yuan (€20m) in bribes. Many others face slightly less severe forms of discipline. Leadership integrity is under the Chinese media spotlight now following a major crackdown on corruption in the public sector.

诚信 has a very rich history of meaning in the Chinese classical tradition. Integrity has three elements: honesty, credibility (or trustworthiness) and moral principles. According to classical Chinese tradition, the integrity developed (or not) in a person’s ‘inner world’, will be reflected in their outward behaviour and this is especially shown in the way in which a person relates to his parents and elders. I recently came across some wise words by Werner Erhard and Michael Jensen in the context of a Harvard presentation on Integrity in business. Here's the challenge:

"What would your life be like, and what would your performance be, if it were true that:
You have done what you said you would do and you did it on time
You have done what you know to do, you did it the way it was meant to be done, and you did it on time
You have done what others would expect you to do , even if you never said you would do it, and you did it on time, or you have informed them that you will not meet their expectations and you have informed others of your expectations for them and have made explicit requests to those others.
And whenever you realised that you were not going to do any of the foregoing, or not going to do it on time:
You have said so to everyone who might be impacted, and you did so as soon as you realized that you wouldn't be doing it, or wouldn't be doing it on time, and
If you were going to do it in the future you have said by when you would do it, and
You have dealt with the consequences of your not doing it on time, or not doing it at all, for all those who are impacted by your not doing it on time, or not doing it at all
In a sentence, you have done what you said you would do, or you have said you are not doing it; you have nothing hidden, you are truthful, forthright, straight and honest.
And you have cleaned up any mess you have caused for those depending on your word.

Werner Erhard, Michael C. Jensen and Steve Zaffron, 2007, “Integrity: a positive model that incorporates the normative phenomena of morality, ethics and legality”, Harvard NOM Research Paper no. 07-01, Oct 29 2007.
Slides available at: http://papers.ssrn.com/abstract=932255