This past week, the CEO of Yahoo was forced to resign his post after his 4 month tenure after it was learned that he had falsified information on his resume. Scott Thompson had provided inaccurate details regarding his college education and left the company with no alternative but to resign. The simple addition of those facts have turned a company, industry, and family upside down.

Your actions have lasting impact, even if they seem innocent at the outset. Sports and corporate performance have the greatest long-term impact when they are done with integrity. What is integrity? From The MindSide perspective, I see integrity as standing behind what you say, what you do, and how that affects those around you. To boil it down further, integrity is the motivational basis, the moral compass, of what you do, say, and impact. If you have integrity, you are aware of the impact that your actions have on one another.

Every day, you are challenged with situations where you may be the only one that truly knows your impact. No one may know if you add something to the bottom line of an expense report, fudge a paper, or cut the corner during a workout. Living and performing with integrity is done when you are appreciative of the responsibility of your actions and how they impact others.

Dr. Henry Cloud wrote a great book, Integrity, and asked “what is in your wake?” That defines integrity. When you leave a situation, event, training, meeting, or interaction, did you leave it better than you found it? For the next week, ask yourself if your footprints are leaving an impression of a positive legacy or one of destruction? Only you know the answer.

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