Integrity: The Bridge Between Intention and Impact
Are you doing what you know to do?
It sounds simple, doesn’t it?
And yet, if you’re really honest with yourself, are you actually doing what you know to do to achieve your goals, live your values, and honour your commitments?
Are you doing it when you know to do it, or are you stuck in denial, only to reflect on it later, telling yourself what you should or could or would have done?
Now, let’s take that same lens and apply it to your team.
What happens when someone in your team doesn’t do what they know to do, or have said they would do?
Do they own it by telling the truth, taking responsibility and taking actions to get back on track? Or do they deny it, make excuses, cut-off listening and brush it off as “no big deal”?
When this happens within your team, it’s easy to take it personally - to feel frustrated or disappointed that someone hasn’t followed through.
But what’s really happening is far more common, and far more costly, than one missed task.
When we don’t do what we say we’ll do, and then avoid acknowledging it, we unconsciously erode the very foundation that makes a team work: trust.
Without trust, performance collapses.
It starts small.
A missed message.
A delayed response.
A commitment not followed through on.
At first, no one says much. It feels minor, its a simple mistake, life gets busy. But underneath, the system starts to wobble. Someone else has to pick up the slack. Deadlines tighten. Clarity fades. Frustration grows.
That’s how integrity leaks out of a team - quietly, almost invisibly.
When we fail to honour our word, even in the smallest ways, we disrupt flow. And when we don’t take responsibility for the gap, the denial becomes more damaging than the mistake itself.
Integrity, as Michael Jensen so powerfully described, isn’t about being moral or perfect, it’s about workability. It’s the foundation on which trust, performance and culture are built.
When integrity breaks down, so does workability. And when workability breaks down, performance follows.
So if it feels like something isn’t working (in a relationship, a team, or a project) there’s a very good chance, integrity is missing (somewhere in the system or with those operating the system).
Restoring Integrity: The Power of Owning the Gap
“Integrity isn’t about perfection, it’s about alignment”
Integrity isn’t a moral label, it’s a structural one.
Like the foundation of a building, when integrity cracks, everything built upon it becomes unstable. The good news? Unlike a cracked foundation, integrity can be restored in an instant - the moment someone chooses authenticity over avoidance.
Most of us will break our word at some point. Life happens. Deadlines move. Priorities shift. But what separates an empowered leader from an exhausted one is the willingness to own it.
That’s the distinction between keeping your word and honouring your word.
You won’t always be able to keep your word, especially if you’re playing a big enough game. But you can always honour it by:
Acknowledging as soon as you realise you won’t deliver.
Communicating transparently to everyone affected.
Making a new commitment or cleaning up the impact.
Honouring your word is how trust gets built and rebuilt. It’s also how leaders model accountability, maturity, and respect - not just for others, but for themselves.
Because the truth is, integrity doesn’t just keep organisations working, it keeps people working. It restores energy, clarity, and confidence. It builds the kind of culture where people stop waiting to be rescued, and start taking responsibility.
The Climb That Never Ends
Integrity, as Michael Jensen described, is a mountain with no top.
You never “arrive.” You climb. You slip. You recalibrate. And you climb again.
The practice of integrity isn’t about being flawless, it’s about being free and empowered.
When you live and lead from that place, something powerful happens: your word begins to carry weight, your presence builds trust, and your team learns that accountability isn’t punishment, it’s empowerment.
So if things around you aren’t working, if performance is slipping, relationships are tense, or communication has broken down, consider starting with this simple question:
Where is integrity missing, and what would it look like to restore it?
Because without integrity, nothing works.
With integrity, anything is possible!
IGNITE YOUR PASSION
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Credt: this article has been written in the context of my personal experience with over 20 years of lived-experience applying the principles of integrity as created by Werner Erhard and documented in the article ‘Without Integrity Nothing Works’ by Michael Jensen.
Dr. Michael C. Jensen is the Jesse Isidor Straus Professor of Business Administration, Emeritus at Harvard Business School. He has played an important role in the academic discussion of the capital asset pricing model, stock options policy, and corporate governance. See Dr. Jensen’s full biography
Werner H. Erhard is recognized worldwide as a business, management, and humanitarian leader. He has consulted for numerous corporations and charitable and governmental agencies. See Werner Erhard’s full biography
You can view a PDF version of the full research paper here, from the Social Science Research Network.
