What would people say about you if they were asked?

By Ken Ingram
“The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in a moment of comfort and convenience, but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy."Martin Luther King Jr

Like most of us, our parents gave us a base set of values and principals for us to grow and development as individuals. One of the key principals was integrity and it formed a significant part of their verbal and non verbally communication and was more often than not, generally in alignment with what they did and who they were. I said generally because sometime we act before considering our integrity and a compromise takes place.

Many family businesses across Canada were started out of very modest facilities and have grown to multimillion-dollar companies based on the integrity of the founder. One of the common issues is that the high level of integrity of the founder is not always practiced by all family members and employees. This is why much like our parents as the business owner you need to practice setting the tone and standard for others to follow. I have mentioned in past articles that people do business with people they like trust and respect, why? maybe because your business has one more important quality, Integrity.

In today competitive environment, your reputation is everything, but of course, you already know that. Customers buy into your brand because of your beliefs and how you have communicated those beliefs. My father always shopped at Eatons when I was growing up because of their Integrity and belief that you should be 100% satisfied. Everything the customers purchased came with a money back guarantee. Why because they stood behind every product they sold no questions asked. What would your business look like if every family member and employee shared your core values and if not what are your strategies to bring this back into balance. The creation of a code of ethics for your business along with clearly identified consequences may be a solution.

In the end just about everyone has an opinion or has written something about Integrity but what is most important is how you define it for your business.

Growing your business - intelligently! - http://www.tac-coaching.com/