The next time you take stock in your career, the next time you think about what it will take to get that promotion or not next job, start with integrity.
Without personal integrity, it ain’t happening.
Some people hold the perspective that everyone you deal with professionally is a client to your personal brand. How well you serve your colleagues, your bosses, your subordinates, your team members. When there is no question from anyone who knows you that your every action flows from a set of high standards, when you have integrity, then you are lowering a barrier. You’re making it easier for the people who will make decisions regarding your career.
One of the easiest ways to lose integrity is by not being sensitive with information.
You can be the most competent person in the company at whatever you do. You can show you company that you’d be excellent at a job with more responsibilities and more accountibility. But if you can’t be trusted to keep information contained to the right audience, none of this matters. Once you make this mistake, even once, then you have a long road ahead to prove your integrity and win back trust:
- You have to acknowledge to your leaders that you made an error in judgment.
- You have to wait until your leadership decides to allow you to have sensitive information again.
- You have to demonstrate, probably for a long time, that you can use that information in appropriate ways.
Talking “out of school” is a bell that’s bery hard to unring. It’s also easy and fun to do. Who doesn’t want to create the secret information club. “Guess who is moving to another team?” “Guess who’s on the short list to get fired?”
You will hit your personal career ceiling hard without perserving your integrity with sensitive information.
Sensitivity to information isn’t the only measure of personal integrity. Have any other advice to share about maintaining integrity in the office, and in life? Please share your comments with us.
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