Integrity as It Relates to Leadership

Assigned Paper / OCT 2015 IDT

Integrity as it Relates to Leadership

Officer Candidate Allen, Clayton

District of Columbia Army National Guard

Integrity as it relates to leadership can be broken up into two parts: the definition of integrity and the qualities of a leader. In this paper I will define what a leader is and how integrity plays a role in shaping that leader. Integrity is having a moral and ethical sense of oneself to be honest not only to himself but to others as well. This is a character trait that a good leader must have in order to be viewed in the eyes of their supervisors, peers and subordinates as an honest and upright person. A leader is someone who does not compromise their principles, values and integrity but hole strong to these beliefs and tries to model these characteristics for others to see and emulate.

Integrity plays a major role in shaping who and what a leader is. I would want my supervisors, peers and subordinates to view me as an honest person who always tries to do the right thing no matter what. In the Officer Candidate School Guide is the OCS honor code which states “An officer candidate one not lie, cheat, steal, or tolerate those who do” (C-3). This is an integrity check for an officer candidate and let him or her know that their integrity cannot be compromised by lying, cheating, stealing or standing by watching others commit these acts. There is a sense of duty or responsibility to have integrity as a key component in the makeup of a good leader. According to The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, “The word integrity evolved from the Latin adjective integer, meaning whole or complete. In this context, integrity is the inner sense of wholeness deriving from qualities such as honesty and consistency of character. As such, one may judge that others have integrity to the extent that they act according to the values, beliefs and principles they claim to hold”. Integrity is doing the...