{"id":6985,"date":"2020-10-19T19:06:38","date_gmt":"2020-10-20T00:06:38","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.scottcochrane.com\/?p=6985"},"modified":"2020-10-19T19:06:38","modified_gmt":"2020-10-20T00:06:38","slug":"when-half-cookie-integrity-results-in-a-leadership-disaster","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/scottcochrane.com\/index.php\/2020\/10\/19\/when-half-cookie-integrity-results-in-a-leadership-disaster\/","title":{"rendered":"When &#8220;Half Cookie&#8221; Integrity Results In a Leadership Disaster"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"has-text-color has-large-font-size has-vivid-cyan-blue-color\"><strong>To protect your integrity as a leader, don\u2019t focus only on the big, obvious temptations. Watch out for the subtle deceptions.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Think of it this way. Have you ever made a personal\ncommitment to lose weight, or to simply eat healthier, only to come across a\nsteaming, fresh-out-of-the-oven plate of chocolate chip cookies?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>You knew in an instant that to take a cookie would break\nyour personal commitment. So what did you do? <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>You broke a cookie in half, and ate just half a cookie.\n(Admit it\u2026We\u2019ve all done it.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>This allowed you to convince yourself that you had\nmaintained your personal commitment to eat healthy. \u201cAfter all,\u201d the reasoning\ngoes, \u201cIt\u2019s only <em>half a cookie.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Matters of leadership integrity work the same way.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li><strong>We commit that we would never tell a brazen lie. But we might bend the truth a little to avoid looking bad. We\u2019ve just eaten half a cookie.<\/strong><\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li><strong>We commit that we would never steal money from the company. But we might show up to work late or leave early. We\u2019ve just eaten half a cookie.<\/strong><\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li><strong>We commit that we would never talk disrespectfully to someone. But we might criticize them behind their backs. We\u2019ve just eaten half a cookie.<\/strong><\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li><strong>We commit that we would never take credit for someone else\u2019s work. But we might not correct someone if they mistakenly congratulate us for work that wasn\u2019t entirely ours. We\u2019ve just eaten half a cookie.<\/strong><\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>The point is that the challenge to maintain your integrity\nis not primarily a matter of avoiding obvious missteps. The chink in one\u2019s\narmor is usually found in a slightly more innocuous step. It\u2019s in the\nhardly-noticed expense report exaggeration or in the stories we tell that make\nus look slightly better than we really are.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>How do we avoid these missteps? In this space, I won\u2019t bore\nyou with \u201c5 Easy Steps to Preserving Your Integrity\u201d. I won\u2019t tell you to find\nan accountability partner or to maintain an \u2018Integrity journal\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>I will simply remind you that your integrity is the most\nprized possession you own as a leader, and that preserving it is your highest\ncalling.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>So do the right thing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>And avoid the cookies.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>To protect your integrity as a leader, don\u2019t focus only on the big, obvious temptations. Watch out for the subtle deceptions. Think of it this way. Have you ever made a personal commitment to lose weight, or to simply eat healthier, only to come across a steaming, fresh-out-of-the-oven plate of chocolate chip cookies? You knew&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":6986,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_bbp_topic_count":0,"_bbp_reply_count":0,"_bbp_total_topic_count":0,"_bbp_total_reply_count":0,"_bbp_voice_count":0,"_bbp_anonymous_reply_count":0,"_bbp_topic_count_hidden":0,"_bbp_reply_count_hidden":0,"_bbp_forum_subforum_count":0,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1015,1021,440,478,1016,7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6985","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-character","category-courage","category-failing","category-featured","category-integrity","category-leadership"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/scottcochrane.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6985","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/scottcochrane.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/scottcochrane.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/scottcochrane.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/scottcochrane.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6985"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/scottcochrane.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6985\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6987,"href":"https:\/\/scottcochrane.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6985\/revisions\/6987"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/scottcochrane.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/6986"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/scottcochrane.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6985"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/scottcochrane.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6985"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/scottcochrane.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6985"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}