Page 186 - Appreciative Leadership

The Path of Integrity 159

belittles them, or even harms them. They hear it in your words and
the tone of your voice—when you make promises you cannot deliver
upon. They feel it—when you are short on emotional intelligence,

avoid conflict, blame others, or express anger inappropriately. When

you are off the path of integrity, people move away from your ideas,
your way of working and you. They seek out others whom they can

respect. When you are off the path of integrity, you become a role
model for what not to do. People learn and perform in spite of you.
Integrity refers to a myriad of relational practices. When the
people we interviewed talked about the presence or absence of
integrity, they described it with words such as honesty, transpar-
ency, moral and ethical conduct, speaking truth to power, mak-
ing and keeping commitments, open communication, congruity
of words and deeds, reconciliation, forgiveness, and authenticity.
All these notions point to the idea that integrity means wholeness.
Appreciative Leadership stays on the path of integrity by making
choices that serve the whole. Any time your thoughts, words, and
deeds bring greater wholeness to people and groups, you are on the
path of integrity. For example, when you help people discover their
strengths and fulfill their dreams, you are supporting their whole-

ness. When you include people in conversations and collaborations
that bridge social divides, you are enhancing organization and com-
munity wholeness. When you take care of yourself and work to your
strengths, you are nurturing your own wholeness. And when you
design sustainability into the processes, products, and services of
your organization, you are contributing to the integral well-being of
the whole planet.
In the early 1990s we were invited to facilitate the design and
establishment of a global interfaith organization. It was a formidable
task involving hundreds of religious and spiritual leaders and scholars
from around the world—most of whom did not know each other. As
we discussed how we would know we had succeeded, our colleague
Dr. David Cooperrider suggested that we focus on the quality of con-
versations and their impact on relationships.