What does “integrity” mean to you? For many people, qualities of steadfastness and trustworthiness come right to mind. Heroes, like the family physician who spends his summers with Doctors Without Borders. Teachers, who spend their own money to buy school supplies for their classes, or selfless volunteers who use their Saturdays to feed the homeless.
These are people we look up to in some way, people we can count on. Solid friends, devoted spouses, and upstanding community members.
Do You Have Integrity?
Here are 15 important traits of people with strong integrity in their day to day lives. Of course, these aren’t the only traits of people with true integrity, but if you’re looking to be someone who folks think of as having lots of integrity, it’s a great list to ponder.
1. Trustworthy
A person with integrity can be trusted to be where they say they will be, and do what they say they’ll do.
2. Accountable
They report back if they can’t do what they said they would do.
3. Reliable
They show up to work on time, and they’re the friend you want an airport pickup from.
4. Sharing the Spotlight
They know that no man is an island, and share recognition where it warrants sharing.
5. Humble
It’s hard to have high levels of integrity and be really full of yourself. No one likes a braggart and no one trusts them either.
6. Working to Find a Solution
Even people with the best moral compass and a stringent code of ethics will find themselves in an argument or disagreement at one point or another. It’s human nature. People with integrity stick with it until an issue has been resolved. If it’s a problem for you, it’s a problem for them too.
7. Genuine
Finding a genuine person might be a little like trying to find a needle in a haystack. Being genuine means being sincere in everything you do. When they smile at you, you know it’s real. You can just feel it.
8. Generous
You can tell a lot about a person based on how they talk to the server at a restaurant. Genuine people don’t treat the waitstaff as second-class citizens.
But you can also tell a lot about someone based on how they tip, donate to a cause in need, or discuss money among friends and family. A person of integrity knows abundance, and are quick to share theirs. They know there’s more where that came from.
9. Lending a Helping Hand
Someone who doesn’t mind giving their time, perhaps even more than their money, obviously cares deeply for other people. They know what it’s like to be in need of help, and are first in line when others need something they can give.
10. Kindness
People with integrity know that being kind to others is priority number one. These people treat those who can do nothing for them the same as they treat everyone else.
11. Raising Others Up
Sometimes you come across people who love to tear others down. Everyone needs someone who supports them, but those with integrity go the extra mile. Genuine individuals want you to succeed so they will hold you to your goals and help you achieve them. They know how good it feels to be supported and recognized, and love doing this for others.
12. Valuing Other’s Time
The last thing you need is someone who doesn’t value your time. People with integrity will always have time for you or will fit you in their schedule when they can. If they’re going to be late, they let you know right away. If they’ve booked an hour of your time, they don’t take two.
13. Intuitive
Do you have that friend who seems to be able to read your feelings no matter how well you try and cover them up? It’s because they’re intuitive, and it’s a valuable trait to have. Being intuitive doesn’t have to be “woo-woo”. Intuitive people are plugged in to the world around them. They see, feel and hear clues all around, and derive emotional intelligence from those auxiliary inputs.
People with integrity use their intuition wisely, strengthening relationships and helping to mediate uncomfortable situations.
14. Believing People
Not only can genuine and reliable people be trusted, but they also trust and rely on other people. For people with integrity, you’re in their good graces unless you give them a good reason not to be. There is no reason not to give people the benefit of the doubt, and no one knows that better than someone with integrity. Trustworthy people tend to be trusting.
15. Seeing The Best in Others
Along with taking people at their word, there is something to be said for the way people with integrity view others. We truly are more alike than we are different. By zeroing in on the good stuff we all possess, we can help each other get even better. People with a strong sense of integrity really get this.
“Do I Have Integrity?”
Surely there are hundreds of other big and small ways we can demonstrate integrity in our lives. But moment to moment each day, by simply checking in with a list like this, we can steer ourselves in the right direction. The world needs more people who can honestly ask themselves questions like “Am I acting with integrity right now?”, “Could I have been more generous there?”, “Was that something a trustworthy person would do?” Integrity can be as simple as the willingness to both ask and answer questions like these. It takes guts, but the payoffs are grand. Brené Brown may have said it best when she stated integrity is “choosing courage over comfort; it’s choosing what’s right over what’s fun, fast, or easy; and it’s practicing your values, not just professing them.” (4)
