One of the seven core pillars of leadership is honesty. Most of us learned at an early age that honesty is a very important part of life. How we build relationships with family, friends, acquaintances and the world in general relies on the principal of honesty. It is noteworthy that when most people think about honesty, they naturally characterize honesty as not lying, speaking the truth and not saying things about people that aren’t true. Although these are essential components of the concept of honesty, many times the lesson and the learning end here.
The full extent of honesty in our lives goes far beyond just the notion of lying. The concepts of cheating or breaking the rules to gain an advantage, deceiving or hiding the truth, stealing, whether physical property, money or ideas are equally important and, in some cases more essential to the honesty equation.
Though the concept of honesty between individuals is critical to functional relationships, it can be argued that on the scale of importance, the most essential element in honesty’s representation is, the ability to be honest with one’s self. Being honest with yourself can be extremely difficult. Self-honesty requires that you truly know why you are acting in a particular way and that what your thoughts and feelings exemplify is the “real” you. Being honest with yourself means you refuse to try and convince yourself that what you know to be wrong, is neutral to right, or that there is a comfortable middle ground between right and wrong. This is your conscience, the “voice within”, the “inner light”. That feeling in your heart when no one is around that tells you whether something you did is right or wrong.
Honesty is a complex, multifaceted concept that is critical to a strong and effective leader. Being a leader that clearly demonstrates an understanding of honesty develops that critical ingredient in those they are leading, trust. When we make a commitment, we build hope. When we keep it, we build trust.