Integrity: The Courage to Meet the Demands of Reality

If people are really narcissistic or have a need to be seen as more than they really are, or to be admired as having it all together, then they cannot be followed and trusted by others.

Just as we leave the effects of our work behind in results, we leave the effects of our interactions with people in their hearts, minds, and souls.

Character = the ability to meet the demands of reality.

Who a person is will ultimately determine if their brains, talents, competencies, energy, effort, deal-making abilities, and opportunities will succeed.

When a person travels through a few years with an organization, or with a partnership, or any other kind of working association, he leaves a 'wake' behind in these two areas, task and relationship: what did he accomplish and how did he deal with people?

That is why success and fruitfulness depend as much upon focusing on the “who” you are as much as the “what” of the work you do. Invest in your character, and it will give you the returns that you are looking for by only investing in the work itself. You can’t do the latter without the former.

At some level, we all know that “making it” involves more than talent or ability. It has something to do with personhood as well. Then

who a person is will ultimately determine if their brains, talents, competencies, energy, effort, deal-making abilities, and opportunities will succeed. It

The most important tool ultimately is the person and his or her makeup, and yet it seems to get the least amount of attention and work.

The greatest people are the ones who have not sought greatness, but served greatly the causes, values, and missions that were much bigger than them.

A law in physics, called the second law of thermodynamics, says that entropy, or chaos (the opposite of growth…a winding-down process), increases over time. You can readily see this in life, and we have already talked about it. Anything left to its own is naturally dying, getting more disorganized, rusting, etc. Even the universe itself is subject to that process.

some things are not going to move, and we are the smaller ship that must adjust our course and steer in a different direction if we are going to make it.

the difference between winners and losers is not that winners never lose. The difference is that winners lose well, and losers lose poorly.

When a person travels through a few years with an organization, or with a partnership, or any other kind of working association, he leaves a “wake” behind in these two areas, task and relationship: What did he accomplish and how did he deal with people? And we can tell a lot about that person from the nature of the wake.