Written By Max Hoffenheins
The presence of integrity in business has a significant impact on success.
Yes, your business goal is to maximize profits, but how exactly you do this is crucial for long-term success.
A billionaire, Jon Huntsman, Sr, once wrote:
“There are no moral shortcuts in the game of business or life. There are, basically, three kinds of people, the unsuccessful, the temporarily successful, and those who become and remain successful. The difference is character.”
The road to acting with honesty and strong moral principles is understanding your values and staying loyal to them. Are you delivering the best possible product and at the best value? Are you truthful and honest in all situations?
You want to ask yourself these questions and not flinch as you answer each one!
Even when the truth is ugly and hurts badly, integrity means you tell it anyways. Are you genuinely accountable for your actions? Do you vouch 100% for your products and services? Are you willing to admit mistakes when made and correct errors?
When you act with integrity, you are the same person in different scenarios, whether you’re talking to your customers, prospects, investors, or employees.
Acting with integrity can indeed be challenging and even result in short-term fallouts.
However, it has some essential benefits which we’ll be looking at now.
1. It Builds a Solid Reputation
Your reputation is your identity in the business world. Your business partners, customers, employees, and every other person you come in contact with needs to trust you.
After reeling in customers, they need to know that they will always get the best value from you.
Likewise, suppliers need to trust you to always pay for delivered goods. Investors are willing to partner with businesses that are well-known for their honesty.
Trust is KEY to the success of any business. And how do you get this trust? By acting with integrity. This way, you’re to reap more benefits from the healthy relationships you’ve built with your business associates.
2. It Attracts Favorible Publicity
When people trust in your brand, the truth of the matter is that the positive word of mouth will spread like wildfire, faster than any advertising campaign.
In the same vein, acting without integrity will ruin your reputation.
Customers are more willing to recommend a business that stands true to its promises than one that lied to get their money.
3. Satisfied Employees
Do you want healthier, happier, and more productive employees? Then one sure-fire way to achieve this is by acting with integrity.
Most people will be happier doing an excellent job for someone with integrity than a business who asks them to compromise on their values.
This research at Adelphi University discovered that employers who saw their founders and managers as people with high integrity had higher job satisfaction and engagement.
4.Higher long-term reward vs. cost
Initially, acting with integrity in every situation might seem like a costly investment.
It can be challenging to let customers know that you’ve made a mistake with a particular product, and you won’t be releasing it to the market just yet.
How about accepting constructive feedback even if it means spending a lot of time on corrections? Hell, you’d probably even think twice about refunding an unsatisfied client because it means you’ll be losing out on profit.
I’ve seen that several business owners are more than willing to go against their moral ethics when faced with an opportunity of securing immediate gain.
I’ll tell you what this can ONLY result in short-term wins and never long-term success.
Focus on establishing relationships with associates based on mutual respect and honesty. Don’t earn a few bucks today only to end up losing out on thousands or even millions tomorrow.
In the end, you’ll discover that it’s just not worth it.
5. Better Decision Making
Lying is stressful and takes up a lot of energy that could otherwise be channeled into doing something productive for your business.
Let’s picture a scenario where you receive an email from a former employee of your competitor claiming to have insider intel that could ruin that brand’s public image. Would you get your hands dirty by paying for that information?
If you’ve got moral ethics, accepting such an offer wouldn’t be an option for you. However, someone without integrity will be torn between the moral repercussions and the potential benefits.
Whenever you need to make a challenging business decision, follow your moral compass.
If you found this article interesting and know a business owner who will benefit from this information, please feel free to share.