"Integrity, vision, and communication! Integrity, vision, and communication!"

Over the past year I have interviewed twenty-nine top executives at various organizations. The first question I asked was, "In your opinion, what are the three most important keys to being a successful leader?" The response was so similar and so consistent that I called it, The CEO's Mantra: integrity, vision and communication.

Here is a sampling of what I heard:

"You have to be trustworthy, treat other people with respect, and set an example of diligence and hard work. You must behave honestly in every case; integrity is most important. When hiring an employee, the first thing we look for is integrity and character. I want our legacy to be that A.G. Edwards is a firm that investors trust. First and foremost, we must prove we are trustworthy." These are the thoughts of Ben Edwards, Chairman, CEO and President of A.G. Edwards & Sons, Inc.

"Character is so tremendously important. Without it, you can't deal effectively with other people. With it, you can have a lot of fun. When you act with character, you don't have to try to remember everything you said because you know you told the truth." Jim Ericson, CEO, Northwestern Mutual Life Insurance relayed these thoughts to me.

With this mindset at the helm of these organizations, it is no wonder that each of them is number one in their industry in terms of customer and employee loyalty.

The challenge for individuals wanting to be long-term top performers is to find a way to continually strengthen their character. Some people will say, "You either have character or you don't have it by the time you enter the workforce. It is based on the way you were raised." While our role models early in life are tremendously important, I also believe that character can be strengthened on an on-going basis.

The Character Building Process

1. Define Your Boundaries And Operate Within Them
2. Use A Decision Filter

DEFINE YOUR BOUNDARIES AND OPERATE WITHIN THEM

This approach is for the situations you continually face. Simply put, it means to decide what you believe is the right thing to do for a specific area of your life and then do it. Here is a simple example. Say that you have defined one of your physical boundaries as not eating between meals. You are at an afternoon business seminar or meeting. At 3 O'clock the facilitator calls for a fifteen-minute break, and the meeting planner rolls in a tray of thick, delicious chocolate chip cookies. If you eat one of the cookies and operate outside of your own consciously selected boundary, then you weaken your character. If you consciously decide not to eat the cookie, then you operate within your boundary and strengthen your character.

A character-defining moment is created when you step back and consciously decide if you are doing what you believe is the right thing to do. Therefore, the first step is to take out a sheet of paper and write down what your boundaries are in each area of your life. These are your personal standards of excellence that you believe are the right things to do. After you identify them, write below each boundary the benefits of operating within it.

Carry this list with you everywhere you go. In the beginning, read over your boundaries and their benefits two to three times a day and make whatever changes you believe are necessary. The key is that these are your standards of excellence and not what your parents, peers or boss have told you to follow.

In my opinion, the number one characteristic of long-term top performers is character. Therefore, I encourage you to consistently create character-defining moments. Each of these strengthens or weakens the all-important tissue of integrity. As this internal tissue becomes stronger and stronger, you will be able to take on greater and greater challenges. You can create character-defining moments several times throughout the course of a day by pulling back before moving into action and asking yourself, "Does this fit within my boundaries?" If it doesn't, then you strengthen your character by not doing it.

Here's another quick example. Say that you have decided not to talk badly about anyone who is not present in a given conversation. A peer begins bad-mouthing someone else. What do you do? If you say nothing, then you strengthen your character. If you say, "That person is not here to tell us their side of the story, so I'm not going to say anything about them," then perhaps you have strengthened your character even further.

As your character becomes stronger, your self-confidence, self-respect and self-esteem all grow stronger as well. As a result, you become a more effective individual. Of course, the flip side is true as well. When you define your boundaries and then consistently disregard them, your character weakens. Consequently, your self-confidence, self-respect and self-esteem all begin to deteriorate. As a result, you become a less effective individual.

USE A DECISION FILTER

However, you won't be able to anticipate every situation before it happens. Therefore, you won't have a consciously defined boundary for every future event. There will be scenarios that are neither black nor white, but are gray. How can you use these situations to develop your character? I suggest that you apply a "decision filter" before moving into action. This enhances your ability to do what you believe is the right thing to do. Here are questions you could ask yourself before making a decision:

1. if I do it, what will I gain?
2. If I don't do it, what will I gain?
3. If I do it, what value will I bring to other people?
4. If I don't do it, what value will I bring to other people?
5. If I do it, will I strengthen my character?
6. If I don't do it, will I strengthen my character?
7. Now, do I do it or not?

Once you make up your mind whether or not to do it, then by following your own decision you will strengthen your character. If you ignore what you think is the right thing to do, then you weaken your character.

Rather than having a fixed character level when we enter the workforce, we have the opportunity everyday to strengthen or weaken our integrity. The stronger our character, the greater will be our ability to make a lasting difference as a top performer.

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