EXCELLENCE is a beginning point
INTEGRITY is at the core of our decision making and actions
EMPOWERMENT with accountability makes better decisions
COLLABORATION leverages the best in everyone
BALANCE gives us fuel to do our best
STEWARDSHIP ensures a future
CARING for each other is what holds us together

 

 

I was first exposed to the art of Lucas Samaras in the late 1980’s. Several years later I stepped into one of his pieces of art called the Mirrored Room #2, which was on display in Washington DC. Only two people are allowed in the room at a time. Every surface of the room is covered in mirrors. The floor, the ceiling, and all the walls are covered. The room acts like an infinity room. Mirror reflecting off of mirror, off of mirror, off of mirror, and so on, and so on. It reminded me of going to the barber shop for a haircut. The shop had chairs on each side of the room with a mirror that went from corner to corner of each side of the room. My favorite part of the trip was to see the reflections reflect the reflections. The image in these reflections was the same image repeated over and over again. When you moved, they moved in concert. Each image was the same; they simply danced with each other side by side and across the room. This was the same effect inside Mirrored Room #2.

Picture in your mind a box. The box is big enough for you to stand comfortably inside. Unlike the mirrored room by Samaras, each side of the box has a window that you can look out of and interact with what is outside. Each window represents a different part of your life. Outside one window is your home. Outside the next is your place of work. Outside the next is a boardroom for project meetings. Outside the fourth side are places where you like to shop, visit, or relax. You view everything from inside the box. How do you relate, react, and interact with each window? Are your thoughts and actions the same? If someone on the outside moves from window to window, would they see and experience the same “you,” or would they experience a different “you” at each window? What if outside of one window it was dark or at night? What about in the daylight? Are you the same version of “you” all the time, like in a mirrored box, or do you become a mirror of your surroundings, a reflection of the outside?

In the dictionary, integrity utilizes these three words to help define it: incorruptibility, soundness, and completeness. Incorruptibility signifies a firm adherence to values. This adherence does not change based on circumstances. The right thing is done for the right reason at the right time because the values of the individual pour forth: integrity. Injustice for one is injustice for all. The answer does not change depending on who is in the room, nor the view outside the window. Soundness signifies that the condition, the choices, and the presentation stem from an unimpaired condition. If there is soundness of mind and body and a deep moral code, there is integrity. Completeness signifies that there is no division of the character or the person: a wholeness.

Integrity is at the core of our decision making and actions.

A person of integrity will do what needs to be done even if, or even when, it is not a benefit to them as an individual. A person of integrity does what is right because it is the right thing to do, and they will do it at the right time. A person of integrity is a person of their word. When they say it will be done, you can consider it done. Their “yes” means “yes” and their “no” means “no.” A person of integrity is meticulously honest with information to others and to themselves. They hold themselves accountable to the truth. The truth is not relative to a window;  it never waivers and is always true. This means that they do not change like shifting sands based upon the audience that is around them. They are the same in every window or aspect of their lives. They are continually rooted and established in the truth.