Are You True to Yourself?

To be a leader you need followers, and to have followers you must have their confidence. Thus the highest quality for a leader is undeniably integrity. Integrity builds trust.

Leaders must live by a higher standard than their followers. They must take responsibility...accept the position of being accountable to their followers. Respectable leaders make choices that are best for others when another choice would benefit them. They are quick to recognize others for their efforts and contributions to the success of the team or organization. The measure of a leader's real character is what he would do if he would never be found out.

If you are sincere it's visible in everything you do. Likewise, if you are insincere, people will eventually see it. You can't cover it up. John C Maxwell said, "No one can fool all of the people all of the time. Each of us, eventually, is recognized for exactly what we are – not what we appear to be."

Ann Landers said, "People of integrity expect to be believed. They also know time will prove them right and are willing to wait." Integrity is the result of self-discipline, respectability, and the decision to act honesty in all situations.

To keep your integrity intact, use the following poem ("Am I True to Myself?" by Edgar Guest) as a "mirror test" to evaluate how you are doing.

"I have to live with myself, and so
I want to be fit for myself to know,
I want to be able, as days go by,
Always to look myself straight in the eye;
I don't want to stand, with the setting sun,
And I hate myself for things I have done.
I don't want to keep on a closet shelf
A lot of secrets about myself,
And fool myself, as I come and go,
Into thinking that nobody else will know
The kind of man I really am;
I don't want to dress up myself in sham.
I want to go out with my head erect,
I want to deserve all men's respect;
But here in the struggle for fame and pelf
I want to be able to like myself.
I don't want to look at myself and know
That I'm bluster and bluff and empty show.
I can never hide myself from me;
I see what others may never see;
I know what others may never know,
I never can fool myself, and so,
Whatever happens, I want to be
Self-respecting and conscience free."

Are you true to yourself?

Are you true to your mentor?

Are you true to your followers?

Be the Leader You Were Created to Be!

Lidie Gray
A Mentor With a Servant's Heart