Integrity

I've seen a lot of successful business owners and I've also seen a lot of owners that failed. When I analyze the difference between the two, there are many qualities that stick out. One important one is integrity. My business has won numerous awards for the quality of our sales. I believe it's one of the most important values to have when running a company.  If someone shows me that they don't share these values,  I cannot be business partners with them. Someone who does not have integrity can bring down your business. It's important to make sure you work with people you can trust!

Here's "integrity" according to Wikipedia. One of the most important parts is "consistency of character". 

Integrity is a concept of consistency of actions, values, methods, measures, principles, expectations, and outcomes. Inethics, integrity is regarded as the honesty and truthfulness or accuracy of one's actions. Integrity can be regarded as the opposite of hypocrisy,^[1] in that integrity regards internal consistency as a virtue, and suggests that parties holding apparently conflicting values should account for the discrepancy or alter their beliefs.

The word "integrity" stems from the Latin adjective integer (whole, complete).^[2] In this context, integrity is the inner sense of "wholeness" deriving from qualities such as honesty and consistency of character. As such, one may judge that others "have integrity" to the extent that they act according to the values, beliefs and principles they claim to hold.

I announced to my office that I'd start having weekly business meetings with my "core leaders". I explained how I think that guidance is important in this business, and when I give my top reps the tools they need to grow, they always do. Spending time outside of work is important too. Relationships are big in this business, which is why the meetings would most likely be after work, at a bar or restaurant.

When I was finished explaining, I could tell that some reps were a little confused on what a "core leader" is. This is how I broke it down for them...

An average leader

• Does just enough to get by
• Makes excuses
• Only looks at the $$
• Is selfish- only focuses on themselves
• Just shows up (physically, not mentally)
• All talk

These people join the business and become stagnant. I'm there to motivate them, but at the same time, it's really up to them. It's up to you how hard you want to work, and how fast you want to be promoted to management. A lot of these average leaders say they want to be an entrepreneur, but don't do anything about it. On the other hand, 

A core leader

• Exceeds expectations
• Holds themselves accountable
• Looks at the opportunity
• Looks out for everyone
• Takes part- there 100%!! All the time
• Follow through

The idea is not to only focus on a few reps. The idea is to get all the reps to become a core leader. As a business owner, it's the most logical decision to invest time and money into the people getting the job done.