Integrity First: Allow honesty to thrive Published April 2, 2004 DAVIS-MONTHAN AIR FORCE BASE, Ariz. (ACCNS) -- A young staff sergeant, fresh from Airman Leadership School, is eager to show his new charges what a great leader he can be. Trying to be a good guy and a popular boss, he tells his troops that its okay to skip a couple of particularly difficult tasks and that he will cover for them. A junior officer is worried his unit doesnt look very good in comparison with others. To boost morale, he decides to creatively interpret some numbers and only report those that are favorable to his troops. These young leaders have just stepped out onto a slippery slope from which recovery is very difficult. French poet and critic, Nicolas Boileau-Despraux stated, Honor is like an island, rugged and without a beach; once we have left it, we can never return. Our fictional sergeant is stepping off the island and worse, he thinks he is doing the right thing by becoming a popular, laissez-faire leader. While he is eroding standards by allowing potentially critical tasks to be skipped, he is also rapidly losing his integrity. Integrity can be an ephemeral thing. Those who have it wear it like a suit of armor; it protects them from all manner of assault. Those who lose it, allow it to insidiously melt away, leaving them naked and vulnerable. Subordinates, who the officer believes he is helping, are losing faith and respect for him. Several months down the road he will be a marginalized and ineffective leader and will wonder when it all went wrong. These two leaders dont realize that when their subordinates see their leaders are willing to lie, the troops gauge their character. Regardless if anyone agrees with the actions or appreciates getting out of an unpleasant duty, the units will realize that they can never fully trust anything the boss tells them again. If they are willing to lie to their equals and superiors, why wouldnt they lie to their subordinates? Because of this, the troops must measure and guess at the leaders motivations rather than being able to take what is said at face value. Most people who get into serious trouble cant tell when they decided to go bad. One small white lie, leads to another to cover the story, which leads to doing something in a grey area to keep up appearances and so on. John Dryden, an English poet and dramatist, says it best, Ill habits gather by unseen degrees. As brooks make rivers, rivers run to seas. Even our best and brightest must guard against heading down this primrose path. A former Army general once tried to color his comments by saying, Thats not a lie, its a terminological inexactitude. Good for a laugh maybe, but that comment definitely wore away at his credibility and he was soon resigning his post. Once integrity is lost, everything else goes as well. A person without integrity cannot command loyalty. Subordinates and superiors will work to disengage an unreliable person from the team and even friends will walk away from an individual deemed untrustworthy. Mission accomplishment is jeopardized with a suspect player on the team. It is easy to succeed in the Air Force and our community. Honest, up front individuals are in high demand and extremely valuable. As an Air Force leader, if your troops and your superiors believe in your integrity, you can command loyalty, pride and ultimately, results. One of our Core Values, Integrity First, is simple and a catchy slogan, but it only comes alive in daily use by each one of us as Airmen. Make sure you allow it to thrive in everything you do and those around you will do the same.