Customer Reviews

The Integrity Dividend: Leading by the Power of Your Word

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Quite often I'll read a book that I think is very well done, with truths that resonate with me. But less often do I find that book at a time when it fits so well with current events. One such book is The Integrity Dividend: Leading by the Power of Your Word by Tony Simons. As we watch corporations and financial systems crumble under the weight of unethical and dishonest actions, Simons presents a truth that is too often neglected in the workplace. But even more, everything that you read here also applies to your personal life. I know I find myself falling woefully short in this area, and am convicted to change.

Contents:
Part 1 - What Is The Integrity Dividend?: The Dollar Value of Your Impeccable Word; Executive Sightings of the Integrity Dividend; Behavioral Integrity Drivers and Payoffs - Why Small Mistakes Can Have Big Costs
Part 2 - Managing Your Own Behavioral Integrity - Building Trust and Credibility: Promise Less, But Do It More Often; The Language of Living by Your Word - Confronting and Committing; Behavioral Integrity as a Personal Discipline
Part 3 - Behavioral Integrity and the Ripple Effect - Building and Sustaining a Leadership Culture of Integrity: Easing the Middle Manager's Dilemma; Creating a Culture of Accountability; Management Fashions and the Flavor-of-the-Month Club
Part 4 - Broader Applications and Summary: The Integrity Dividend and Outside Stakeholders; Capturing the Integrity Dividend
Notes; Acknowledgments and Dedication; About the Author; Index

In order to lead effectively, you have to have credibility. And in order to have credibility, you have to deliver on what you promise or say you will do, as well as behaving consistently with those words and promises. It's this premise on which The Integrity Dividend is based. Leaders in business (and really in all types of organizations) can only be effective if the people following them know that there is no gap between what you say and what you do. This type of leadership has many benefits, not the least of which is financial. Staff who know they can rely on their leadership to do as they say will be more loyal and effective in what they do. This translates to higher performance within the business, as well as more satisfied customers. The "corporation" also must have integrity, such as following through on promises they make to the public (like no-questions-asked guarantees). If the public finds that your actions are not consistent with the promises or image, then they will quickly find another company that is. Likewise, if you and the company are seen to have complete behavioral integrity between what you do and say, their loyalty will know few bounds.

Rather than keep everything on what could be a purely academic or theoretical level, Simons relates all his work back to actual real-life situations. This makes it very easy to follow his train of thought, and adds a level of credibility to his ideas. He's also not afraid to say that some areas have no good answers. For instance, a middle manager can often be stuck between a decision from on high that violates his personal views and positions. But ultimately, the choice quite often comes down to follow the decision because everyone needs to be on the same page, or leave your position because you're crossing a line that you will not violate. Unfortunately, there aren't always easy answers to problems, and Simons acknowledges that.

For me personally, I have been struggling with the "sure, I can do that" promise. Instead of saying no or setting realistic expectations, I say that I intend to do "x" in the near future. Then when I can't deliver because of over-commitment, I feel bad and the customer suffers. I have a lot of work to do on improving my behavioral integrity, and I appreciate the work that Tony Simons has done in The Integrity Dividend to help me in that area.

Usually issues like integrity, honesty and ethical conduct are considered things that derive from personal standards and values. Almost every MBA program or advanced degree in business has the obligatory nod in this direction through the inclusion of some form of class on ethics. Through that medium is conveyed the obligatory case studies of Enron and other spectacular failures that testify to the high price paid when corporate greed and expediency rise above basic rules of ethical conduct.

Tony Simons approaches things from a more grass roots and practical direction however. Rather than the abstract appeal to doing right for its own sake that is usually the domain of religion and other moral institutionalize value systems, Simons very simply ties these issues to day to day management and the bottom line.

With very little fanfare and in an organized and scientific manner Simons prefaces the anecdotal presentations that are standard fare for a book of this nature with a study that demonstrates that within the Hotel Service industry there is a direct correlation between the perceived integrity of management and the profitability of a local hotel or chain. In other words, the "street knowledge" that good guys don't get ahead and it's the people willing to cut corners to get the job done who win out in the end, generally is not true and Simon's study statistically demonstrates that issues such as employee morale, vendor trust and customer satisfaction derive in part from a corporate environment that is based in part upon how well these different parties perceive the personal integrity and word of leadership.

From this foundation then, Simons proceeds to share the softer elements turned up in his study in a manner reminiscent of the folksy, chatty type of literature that is standard fare in this genre. What is different however and important to highlight is that Simons has in fact already done the heavy lifting in chapter 1 to show that this is more than mere lip service. A reasonable foundation has been laid that demonstrates that personal integrity, as perceived by these different stakeholders in the Hotel Service industry, ties directly to profitability in a manner that allows of measure of what typically are seen as "soft costs" but in reality are shown to be cumulative and to tie into issues that in fact are hard wired into the process, such as employee retention, vendor willingness to work with extraordinary circumstances right down to customer satisfaction and repeat business even where these background factors aren't usually measured and directly correlated.

Of course, it can be argued that this study is industry specific and these factors perhaps amplified in such an obviously service based industry such as the Hotel and Restaurant focus from which Simons is coming. Simons does an excellent job however of reasonably expanding the base of his study to provide insights and strong cause and effect evidence that extend to where any level of management or leadership in any industry will find value in reading this well written book.

This book is more valuable to the reader than the typical case studies of large scale failures at the high corporate level because it demonstrates in an understandable way how these issues impact your personal effectiveness and your company's bottom line to where a reader will walk away not only motivated but also equipped as to how to bring about change in their personal lives and careers.

5 enthusiastic stars

Bart Breen

This is the most important leadership book I've kept within arm's reach in a long time. Integrity has been around for a while and it's often been included as part of a great leadership toolkit, but Tony Simons has brought it to the forefront, dedicating an entire body of work to it, making the development and application of integrity accessible to all of us in an easy-to-read book packed with practicality, proof and purpose.

This book brings together compelling and pragmatic evidence, anecdotes and advice in one place. The exercises at the end of each chapter are simple yet well thought-out, giving leaders and their teams something tangible to work with right away.

Tony Simons has taken the discipline of integrity, often considered an "add on" after the more basic business needs are met, and showed us that it is in fact the primary need to establish effective leadership and sound, sustainable results.

I have already recommended this book to a number of clients and associates. As a leadership coach and consultant, I continually come across situations in organizations where leaders and their teams struggle with the destructive effects of being out of integrity; this book is exactly what the doctor ordered. Instead of spending months, if not years, trying to uncover the importance and impact of integrity in the workplace, this book does much of the heavy-lifting, providing both the proof and the pudding.

I strongly recommend The Integrity Dividend to anyone who is responsible for leading others in any capacity. It will equip you with the permission, evidence and road-map to lead --and live--with greater integrity.

The Integrity Dividend is about leading with integrity and how doing so has been proven to have a direct effect on profitability.

But, it goes much further than just describing a tie between the power of keeping one's word as a manager (either as an individual or part of the management team) and the bottom line. It also goes into the difficulties of maintaining integrity -- how easy it is to mislead people and the struggle to regain integrity once it's been lost. The author talks about how to prevent such pitfalls, how being direct and honest effects the overall atmosphere of an organization and how to untangle messes that have already occurred. He discusses both middle and upper management, how middle managers can get stuck looking bad if upper management sends down a directive that creates a moral dilemma and how to potentially handle such directives. And, he goes into the benefits of performance appraisals when they're handled with humor and honesty, how things can go wrong and how to avoid misleading employees if appraisals aren't handled well. He even talks about the fact that "American managers may be particularly susceptible to giving lopsidedly positive feedback."

Excellent subject, beautifully presented. I'm a big fan of honesty and integrity in business and I think it's often the lack of integrity in management that creates a hostile work environment, so I love the topic. This particular book has a little bit of a textbook flavor. It took me a while to adjust to the style and some of the terminology that I haven't dealt with in recent years; but it's written with intelligence and clarity. The author throws in a tremendous amount of appropriate examples and stories to help the reader translate principles into reality. Also, each chapter is nicely summarized and closes with questions to consider and principles to act upon, in order to help leaders put the advice in this book into practice.

There's a lot to like about this book. The author is very blunt about the fact that managers and employees are human, and there are inherent flaws in communication between humans. Instead of just tossing out a bunch of key words and catch phrases, he talks about how to be a person employees trust -- how to build credibility -- but he also talks about what can go wrong, how easy it is to confuse employees or lose their trust. You know the dreaded "mission statement" people are often supposed to know by heart but which often is frankly meaningless? He talks about how important it is to make it clear what your goals and values are but keep them simple and memorable: "Promise less, but do it more often." He talks about repetition and how repeating a company's values helps to unify employees and solidify their purpose.

It can be a tiny bit dry, at times, but there are so many examples interspersed throughout the book that it never put me to sleep.

An excellent resource for managers at all levels.

"The Integrity Dividend" by Tony Simons is about the exponential benefits of leadership founded on integrity. It certainly struck a chord with me when I read it. By systematically reviewing concepts of common decency and professionalism in leadership, Tony Simons brilliantly confirms what is so blatantly obvious about behavioural integrity that it is too often sadly overlooked with a detrimental effect that will percolate down through an entire organization. Essentially, if the people in your organization matter to you or if you care about your bottom line, there are some valuable lessons in this gem that will help you to become a leader of sound integrity. Hope you'll enjoy it.

So, it CAN be done! So often, prescriptive books for managers offer little in the way of sound theory or a basis in sound science. Similarly, books with a research base seldom translate into advice that managers can use. "The Integrity Dividend" offers that delicate balance on a topic that is intuitively and empirically critical to organizational success. Simply stated, it's the sizzle and the steak.
Simons takes the necessary time to introduce the topic of Behavioral Integrity, relating it to other concepts that all managers and executives acknowledge as important. He then goes beyond the typical management author to offer evidence for the unique contribution made by Behavioral Integrity, and then explores the causes and consequences of being perceived as not "walking your talk". Interestingly, this perception can be assigned to individuals (i.e., one's boss) as well as groups (i.e., "this organization's management" or politicians).
So often, people do not realize how often their actions do not align with their words, and Simons' presents a compelling argument for understanding that tendency. The consequences not only affect attitudes of subordinates, but also have a very real impact on performance and other "hard" outcomes like turnover and absenteeism (and I would suspect theft and social loafing).
Other insights offered by Simons, such as improving one's perceived Behavioral Integrity by focusing on personal discipline, the impact of management "fads" on BI, and the notion of "trickle-down" behavioral integrity (where subordinates tend to mimic their supervisor's level of BI) are particularly interesting. The topics in this book begin an important dialogue that will likely lead to applying BI in unique environments (i.e., military), and in other areas (i.e., what about downward-directed perceptions of subordinate BI?).
I'm sold on the topic, I'm impressed by the research supporting it, and I value the prescriptive recommendations. Well done.

Good old fashioned ethics seem to be in short supply today. This book makes the case that doing the right thing for your customers and employees is good for business. Although focused on the hospitality industry, the message and the examples are interesting and pertinent for all types of businesses. An enjoyable read that provides lots to think on.

The book presents material that is original and creative in a well organized fashion. It is unique in that it encompasses theory backed up by practice. The book is well written and easily understandable. It is a must read for anyone interested in leading a dynamic organization.

This is a must read for those who believe that doing the right thing will eventually prove successful both financially and ethically. Beyond the pure logic of the author's prose are case studies that make practical sense and bolster what good scholarship has already proven.

This is a book that has the power to drive a cultural ethos, if not a change.