ESSENCE: Integrity is far more than honesty or incorruptibility—it means complete and undivided.  Leading faithfully through business a better way requires a faithful leader to live a congruous life of “faithful integrity” in which all they do at work is informed, guided and part of their faith.  At the core of faithful integrity is an alignment of organizational purpose, values and culture arising from a commitment to Biblical beliefs, principles and priorities that leads a person or organization, instinctively, to do the right things, in the right ways and for the right reasons. Whether an organization’s culture ultimately encourages and leads its people to do the right things, in the right ways and for the right reasons, goes back to its purpose, as translated through its values.  Faithful integrity is not possible without an organizational purpose that aligns with Biblical beliefs, principles and priorities. When the beliefs, principles and priorities that guide the faithful leader’s life also guide the culture of the organization they lead, the leader’s work will truly have become integrated with their faith and they will be living a work-life of faithful integrity.

“Leading Faithfully” Basics is about going back and re-examining the basics of leading faithfully through business a better way–business in alignment with Biblical beliefs, principles and priorities.

If you have a personal Biblical faith and are committed to leading faithfully in accordance with God’s Kingdom rather than in accordance with the kingdom of the world, then the goal is aligning the behavior of the organization you lead with the beliefs, principles and priorities of your Biblical faith.  We call that alignment Integriosity^®

Integriosity: How Faithful Leaders Lead Faithfully

We made up the word “Integriosity” to capture the goal of living out faithful integrity, including having a WHY centered on loving and serving others with generosity.  It combines “Integrity” and “Generosity”.

Integrity is far more than honesty or incorruptibility—it means complete and undivided.  Leading faithfully through business a better way requires a faithful leader to live a congruous life of “faithful integrity” in which all they do at work is informed, guided and part of their faith. It means building an organizational culture of faithful integrity that reflects Biblical beliefs, principles and priorities and in which actions align with the organization’s WHY—it is “integrity with a purpose”.

Core to faithful integrity are the two great commandments (love God and love your neighbor) and God’s model of love as giving and serving generously.

Integriosity arises from a commitment to Biblical beliefs, principles and priorities that leads a person or organization, instinctively, to do the right things, for the right reasons and in the right ways.  It is not striving out of fear, to be accepted, or to receive blessings. It is the alignment of belief and action through transformation.

In the words of Oswald Chambers, “The secret of a Christian’s life is that the supernatural becomes natural in him as a result of the grace of God”.

The Goal of Faithful Integrity Is Alignment

Alignment is the goal, because alignment brings the fruit.  Alignment is the goal for a faithful leader committed to leading faithfully through business a better way.  When the beliefs, principles and priorities that guide the faithful leader’s life also guide the culture of the organization they lead, the leader’s work will truly have become integrated with their faith and they will be living a work-life of faithful integrity.

There are four steps in the Integriosity process (the topic of our next Leading Faithfully Basics post): RENEW, RE-IMAGINE, RE-ALIGN and RESTORE.  We call RESTORE a “step” in the Integriosity process, but it is really the product of the first three steps–it is the fruit.

The RENEW and RE-IMAGINE steps prepare a faithful leader to be able to RE-ALIGN the purpose, values and culture of the organization.

At the core of faithful integrity is an alignment of purpose, values and culture arising from a commitment to Biblical beliefs, principles and priorities that leads a person or organization, instinctively, to do the right things, in the right ways and for the right reasons.  In the words of C.S. Lewis:

It is not your business to succeed, but to do right; when you have done so, the rest lies with God.

Alignment Starts with a Faithful Purpose

Purpose and values define the culture of an organization; the culture shapes the behavior of the people in the organization; and the behavior of the people drives the results of the organization. Whether an organization’s culture ultimately encourages and leads its people to do the right things, in the right ways and for the right reasons, goes back to its purpose, as translated through its values.

When Frank Harrison, CEO of Coca-Cola Bottling Co. Consolidated (the largest independent Coke bottler in the United States) says “our purpose is our culture and our culture is our purpose“, he is expressing something very important–the vision of the organization has become so ingrained in the hearts and minds of Coca-Cola Consolidated’s employees that it informs and guides their actions every day and in all they do.

Purpose is the cornerstone and values are the foundation that must define and drive culture, and culture needs to reflect and reinforce purpose and values.  If the culture of the organization is not reinforcing its desired purpose and stated values, it is likely eroding them.

Faithful integrity is not possible without a purpose that aligns with Biblical beliefs, principles and priorities. A WHY devoid of a moral compass (e.g., profit maximization) does not support enduring values or a righteous culture. In the wise words of Larry Crabb:

Biblical principles are reduced to basic principles of the world when they’re followed in order to gain the “better life” we demand.

If, for example, profit maximization is really the WHY behind a culture (even an intentional and healthy culture), then stated values can change (and culture can change) to adapt to the current or perceived demands of employees, vendors or customers–values become a tool to achieve profit rather than “the right thing to do” and “who we are”.

The alignment of Integriosity begins with alignment of the purpose of the organization with its Biblical purpose.  Once purpose is aligned, the next step is to align the values of the organization with Biblical principles and with the organization’s purpose.  Once alignment of purpose and values is in place, the final (and most difficult) step toward alignment is cultivating and curating an organizational culture that reflects and reinforces that purpose and values.

The goal of alignment is that, over time, people will begin to do the right thing (WHAT), in the right way (HOW), for the right reasons (WHY), without thinking, because that will have become the DNA of the organization and it aligns with a desire hard-wired into each person–to glorify God.

PERSONAL NOTE (from PM):  The importance and rarity of an organization emphasizing “for the right reasons” was highlighted for me at a breakfast several years ago.  I was meeting with a friend who was committed to doing his job faithfully.  He also worked for a corporation led by a faith-driven leader.  My friend shared that the business was unlike any he had worked for in the past because the CEO emphasized not only “do the right thing” but also “in the right way” (and he had worked for businesses in which “in the right way” was not a priority).  After I shared my belief about the importance of a trifecta–adding “for the right reasons”–I could see a lightbulb go off in his head.  Exploring WHY had never occurred to him, but it became obvious.  He had always assumed that “Profit as Purpose” was always the WHY for business.

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Photo Credit: Original photo by Photo by contemplativechristian on Creative Commons (photo cropped and edited)