Are You Known for Your Integrity?

By Deb Boelkes

If I were to ask your peers, your boss, your staff, and your colleagues in the community to describe your most outstanding qualities, how many would define you as a person of high integrity?

The Merriam-Webster dictionary defines integrity as “Conduct that conforms to an accepted standard of right and wrong; devotion to telling the truth; faithfulness to high moral standards.” Some define integrity as “Doing what is right; never wanting to let anyone down; following through on commitments.” I believe integrity is one of the most important pillars of Virtuous Leadership.

In my last blog post, I asked the question, “Who’s responsible for developing virtuous leaders?”.  At the end of that post, I committed to highlight important characteristics of virtuous leaders in a series of subsequent posts. Because I believe integrity is so important, we’re covering it first, right here. In my opinion, it’s impossible to have a WOW Factor Workplace or a best place to work culture if you don’t have integrity.

If you watch the TV news on any given day, you’ll find plenty of examples of corruption, slander, deceit, and loose moral values. In fact, that’s almost all you’ll see on the news. When was the last time you saw such a shining example of integrity that you pointed it out to your kids, saying something like “Now, that’s a role model example of integrity. We should all try to behave like that”?     

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Who’s Responsible for Developing Virtuous Leaders?

By Deb Boelkes

You’ve probably heard the old joke, “How can you tell when a politician is lying?” and you probably know the answer: “When their lips are moving.” This witticism might be amusing if we weren’t finding our daily news sources so full of slander, dishonesty, and deceit.   

What ever happened to virtuous leaders, like the 56 men who in 1776 willingly pledged, For the support of this declaration, with firm reliance on the protection of the divine providence, we mutually pledge to each other, our lives, our fortunes, and our sacred honor, when they signed the Declaration of Independence?  They knew the penalty could be death by hanging for treason against the British crown. Yet, these virtuous leaders stood valiantly against tyranny, regardless of the personal cost.

Can you name anyone in modern times who exemplifies virtuous leadership? Can you name one politician you believe is a virtuous leader?  Have you ever reported to a leader you would describe as virtuous? Do you strive to be a virtuous leader?  

Chances are your answer to most of these questions is NO. Yet, if I asked you to identify a leader you believe is a bully, or a tyrant, or a hypocrite, you could likely name several examples. Why is that?

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Why are You in Such a Hurry?

By Deb Boelkes

If you are at all like me, you may at times find yourself feeling as though you have far more to get done than hours in the day to do whatever you put on your overly full agenda.

I will admit that I am addicted to an over-active lifestyle. In CliftonStrengths’ terminology, I’m an Achiever. Always have been, probably always will be.  As they define Achiever, “Your relentless need for achievement might not be logical. It might not even be focused. But it will always be with you. It is the jolt you can always count on to get you started on new tasks, new challenges.”

Regardless of how they define it, I’m well-aware of the reasons for my over-active, over-achieving lifestyle: I love what I do. I quickly get the things I don’t like to do off my plate so I can do even more of what I love. I am fascinated by—and usually driven to go above and beyond in—whatever it is I choose to keep on my plate. It’s like a game I truly love to play.  

The downside of this character trait is...

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Only the Present Matters

By Deb Boelkes

We’ve all heard the idiom, “There is no time like the present,” which essentially means that if something is worth doing, then do it now. Get on with it!

There is another quote I especially like by the famous cartoonist, Bil Keane, creator of the newspaper comic series The Family Circus: “Yesterday is history, tomorrow is a mystery, but today is a gift—that’s why it’s called The Present.” 

When you think about it, all we really have is the here and now—this moment in time. While you may have tremendous wealth, countless valued possessions, and hundreds of friends and loved ones, people and things are not yours to keep. They could all be gone in a heartbeat. With the blink of an eye, some freak act of nature—like a tornado, or a flood, or a sinkhole, or a reckless driver—could instantly destroy life as you know it. So, cherish this moment and deliberately give it your best intention because only the present matters.  It’s all there is.   

How are your spending this day, anyway? Are you appreciating this moment as the precious gift it is, or are you just trying to wade through yet another uninspiring hour, crawling and scratching your way to the end of the day, without realizing any pride of accomplishment—the kind that makes you feel happy and fulfilled with each tick of the clock?

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Time to Reset Your Compass to Paradise

By Deb Boelkes

If you’ve read any of my books or spent even just a little time reading my blog posts, you know I am a big believer in the philosophy that life is too short not to love what you do every day. But how many people do you know who feel stuck in a dead-end job, or in a toxic situation, claiming they have no way out?

Well, in my humble opinion, that’s no way to live. There is always a better way to spend your days if you set your mind to it. If you find yourself in a no-win situation, perhaps it’s time to reset your compass to paradise.

It's amazing how many people I meet who, when asked what they do for a living or how they feel about where they work, tell me it’s just ho-hum.  They are hoping something better will come along. But biding one’s time, waiting and hoping, can be a drudgingly slow, less-than-fulfilling process.

If you want something better, then seek it out. While you may not find paradise right away, you stand a much better chance of getting there if you at least set your compass in that direction and stay open to outcomes while searching for that paradise.     

I wrote my first book, The WOW Factor Workplace: How to Create  Best Place to Work Culture, all because of people who told me they had never experienced a great place to work.

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What Are Your Priorities, Really?

By Deb Boelkes

Anyone leading an organization knows that prioritizing the achievement of corporate and departmental objectives is usually an important factor in one’s performance rating as a manager. Likewise, no matter what kind of work you do, your quarterly or annual performance rating can be a big factor in determining your merit pay.

Workers tend to prioritize those activities that generate the greatest return on their efforts. That’s why organizations have incentive plans and performance reviews. It’s the age-old carrot and stick technique.  People’s priorities and work results typically reflect how much they value the incentives dangled in front of them.

In my book, The WOW Factor Workplace: How to Create a Best Place to Work Culture, Todd Wilcox, founder and Chairman of Patriot Defense Group, who formerly served in the CIA, had this to say about performance appraisals:

“In the CIA...

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Is Everything You are Seeing for Real?

By Deb Boelkes

In my first book, The WOW Factor Workplace: How to Create a Best Place to Work Culture, I told the story of how my co-collaborator Mark Goulston, M.D. and I met—all due to my reading his best-selling book, Just Listen: Discover the Secret to Getting Through to Absolutely Anyone. 

In Just Listen, Dr. Mark defined “The Persuasion Cycle”—the process by which a successful communicator can get someone’s buy-in to do something they wouldn’t otherwise likely do and make them glad they did it. Heartfelt Leaders are typically quite adept at leveraging the Persuasion Cycle—in a good way—to build empathy and trust and enable team members to achieve their dreams.

That said, I’ve learned first-hand that sociopaths can also be quite adept at using The Persuasion Cycle in not-such-good ways. As Dr. Mark explains, sociopaths “only care about you doing what they want.”

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Do You Always Let Your Conscience be Your Guide?

By Deb Boelkes

It’s amazing what kind of silly little things can bring long unthought-of memories to the forefront of your mind.

Just this week, as I was changing the sheets on our guestroom bed, I happened to notice the little stack of books that I leave on the nightstand—to keep our guests amused—was a little off kilter.

As I straightened up the stack, something caused me to flip through the pages of the smallest book, George Washington’s Rules of Civility & Decent Behaviour in Company and Conversation, which the father of our country wrote at the tender age of 14. Young George’s rules “were intended to polish manners, keep alive the best affections of the heart, impress the obligation of moral virtues, teach how to treat others in social relations, and above all, inculcate the practice of a perfect self-control.”

Can you imagine a 14-year-old today writing a list of Civility Rules? Perhaps if we taught our children to appreciate the virtues of civility these days, the world might be a better place.

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