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behaves. Trust is destroyed by manipulating people, distorting facts, or
spinning the truth. Without integrity, trust is never achieved.

Integrity certainly includes honesty, but it goes beyond that. Honesty is

about telling the truth. Integrity is about keeping our promises and
fulfilling expectations. It takes having the courage of our convictions to do
the right thing, no matter what the consequences will be or how
inconvenient and unpopular the results.

To be persuasive we must be believable; to be believable we must be credible;
to be credible, we must be truthful. Edward R. Murrow, Journalist and

News Commentator.

Unfortunately, we live in a world where far too often “the end justifies the
means.” Economic development professionals and local government
officials have been known to overpromise and under-deliver just to land a

prospect. Applicants for jobs might exaggerate their accomplishments or
even lie about them. Mistakes made by the organization may be covered
up because of fear it will lose community or stakeholder support. The list
is endless, and in each case the person being dishonest is likely to have told
himself/herself that there was a perfectly valid reason why the end result
justified the lack of integrity. Building a reputation of integrity takes years,

but it only takes a minute to lose that reputation.

The reputation of a thousand years may be determined by the conduct of one
hour. Japanese Proverb.

Another important way of demonstrating integrity is to be loyal to those
who are not present. In doing so, we build the trust of those who are
present. Building this loyalty includes giving credit to others and
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speaking about people as if they were present, and not badmouthing others
behind their backs or disclosing the private information of others.

If you want to retain those who are present, be loyal to those who are absent.

The key to the many is the one. Stephen R. Covey.

79 Stephen R. Covey. The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People. New York: Simon & Schuster, 1989.
p. 196.

David Kolzow 67