I am currently reading
Dr. Henry Cloud's book, Integrity, the courage to meet the demands of reality.
I thought I would review each chapter. I liked the title and approach of this
book. It reminds me of Charles Simpsons message on Internal Integrity and External
Integration. Follow along or by the book.
Dr. Henry Cloud’s Book – Integrity, the courage to meet the demands of reality.
Chapter 1
Dr. Cloud starts off in
his book by sharing his journey into why he was writing this book. He wants to
make it clear that when talking about integrity, people typically move into a
conversation about moral issues such as honesty or ethics. But when he is
talking about integrity he is going beyond just morals or ethics into
character. He wants to make it clear that having integrity or character is not
developed so that you “don’t get into trouble” but that, “who a person is” will
ultimately determine if their brains, talents, competencies, energy, effort,
deal-making abilities and opportunities will succeed. It is character and
integrity that make you productive and successful.
DC states that to be successful you need three ingredients:
1.
You have to have some
set of competencies in your field
2.
You have to have the
ability to build alliances with others that is mutually beneficial.
3.
The have to have the
character so that they do not screw up.
DC’s focus is on Character.
He asks the question:
“How many of you have
had a situation in your work experience where someone was very bright,
talented, competent, and good working deals, but there was something about who
he or she was as a person that somehow got in the way of all of that ability?”
“How many of you can also relate to there being some way in which you feel like if you were different in some way, that you could go further than you have or reach the full potential that your brains, talents, and competencies would allow?”
DC is trying to
differentiate between a person with good character, morals, ethics, honesty,
trustworthiness (he doesn’t minimize this) and what he calls their “personhood”
- Who they are as a whole person. I think this is an important distinction. It
is the difference between a character that keeps you out of trouble versus one
that when others are working with you and for you, you are able to be productive
and meet your goals.
Here is the center of what DC is trying to convey. People who are blind to the shortcomings of their “personhood” will not see the need to develop their skills and abilities. Thus they will not be able to do the following:
1.
Gain the complete trust
of the people they were leading, and capture their full hearts and following.
2.
See all of the realities
that are right in front of them. They had blind spots regarding themselves,
others, or even the markets, customers, projects opportunities, or other
external realities that kept them from reaching their goals.
3.
Work in a way that
actually produced the outcomes that they should have produced, given their
abilities and resources.
4.
Deal with problem
people, negative situations, obstacles, failures, setbacks, and losses.
5.
Create growth in their
organization, their people, themselves, their profits, or their industry.
6.
Transcend their own
interests and give themselves to larger purposes, thus becoming part of a
larger mission.
From this DC states that the issues he outlines above have nothing to do with a person’s IQ, talents, brains, education…. Instead they have to do with aspects of a person’s character that is given too little attention and never seen as important enough to develop.
DC states, “The most important tool ultimately is the person and his or her makeup, and yet it seems to get the least amount of attention and work.”
DC is making the argument that it is a person’s character or personal make-up that has more to do with someone’s ultimate ability than we have been recognized.
He believes when we focus on the person as a whole the following three pitfalls can be avoided:
1.
Hitting a performance
ceiling that is much lower than one’s aptitude.
2.
Hitting an obstacle or
situation that derails you
3.
Reaching great success
only to self-destruct and lose it all.
