Integrity
One of the truest tests of integrity is its blunt refusal to be compromised.
—Chinua Achebe
The headlines said that 48 people had been charged with stealing $244 million from a federal program. These were funds that were designated to feed needy children during the pandemic. It was mind boggling to me that individuals would literally take food out of the mouths of children in a scheme to lavish themselves with luxury cars, jewelry, real estate, and international travel. The non-profit “Feeding Our Future” went from a $3.4 million organization in 2019 to nearly $200 million in 2021 by allegedly exploiting the Federal Child Nutrition Program. US Attorney Andrew Luger said the scheme was staggering in proportion and the largest covid-19 fraud to date.
Feeding Our Future’s website is full of images of healthy food with children and adults enjoying meals. The organization purports to support childcare centers, adult daycare centers, afterschool programs, and emergency shelters. Somewhere along the line, greed and self-interest trumped any notion of the mission to provide food to those in need.
Within hours of reading about this travesty, I was brought back to a welcomed sense of human goodness and strength of character while hearing a story about the late, great Sidney Poitier.
Working with director Reginald Hudlin, Oprah has produced a documentary about the iconic screen actor. Sidney airs tonight on Apple TV+. Speaking of her deep love for Mr. Poitier, Oprah shared a story of him as a young actor making $75 a week, with one child and a baby on the way. Poitier was offered a film role at $750 a week. He refused the offer. Why? The issue for Poitier was that in the storyline, his daughter is killed and thrown on the lawn, but Poitier’s character is not given any recourse to respond to this horrific act. Given the dramatic increase in salary, it could have been easy, as an up-and-coming actor with a young family, to justify accepting the offer.
I had chosen to use my work as a reflection of my values.
—Sidney Poitier
Understanding and holding true to one’s values is at the core of having integrity. Leaders with integrity consistently demonstrate good moral character, value honesty and decency, and can be depended upon to be consistent in this behavior. Integrity is a foundation of being that remains steadfast regardless of circumstance or consequence. Each moment we make a decision to live into and through our values, we further cement the depth and power of our integrity.
Greg and I often like to listen to the peerless vocal group Take Six, marveling at their sumptuous harmonies. It brings to mind that the essence of integrity is to be in harmony with what you think, say, and do, and, as such, to be a source of principled leadership for those around you.
