The Cranky Middle Manager Show #167 The Integrity Dividend- Tony Simons
Today Wayne Turmel talks about a middle manager’s integrity and how critical it is to business success. Tony Simons will talk about his book, “The Integrity Dividend- Leading by the Power of Your Word”. We also talk about ritual disemboweling as taking it to extremes.
Show Notes
0:00 Welcome wherever you are in the world to the wonderful world of being overhead expenses. Today we talk about integrity and (although it’s a corny word) honor. Managers live and die by their word. There was a time that was literally true so we dedicate this show to Watanabe Kazan. Sepuku might be extreme but nothing says, ” I really mean it” than being willing to die rather than be embarrassed.
A couple of quick announcements:
- There will be a Cranky Middle Manager Meetup at Shoeless Joe’s Sports Bar in Rosemont (near Chicago’s O’Hare Airport) on Monday, December 15th at 7:30 PM. Drop on by and say hello to other listeners and past guests from the Chicago area. I’ll also have copies of 125 Quotes for Whacking Weasels if you’re interested…
- The pilot for our new training program: Management 2.0- Becoming the leader you want to follow will be held Monday and Tuesday, December 15 and 16th. If you’d like to participate in the pilot and help us perfect it, you can attend for less than half price ($450 for 2 full days). Get more information here and register online. We need a few more people…..thanks to Dennis and Adam for being first in line.
3:25 Today’s quote is from the Roman poet Ovid: when integrity costs us something to keep THEN it’s valuable….remember that when you’re walking through the office with all your stuff in a cardboard box.
5:30 Welcome Tony Simons, author of The Integrity Dividend, Leading by the Power of Your Word. Turns out there are bottom-line results you can quantify.
8:34 Integrity is important but what does it mean? Are you consistent and aligned with accepted moral values? Are you seamless? Do people know who’s coming through the door on any given day?
12:00 How is the integrity culture in your organization? How can you rebuild it once it’s gone? It’s slow to build and quick to drop. What about middle managers when you’re representing yourself AND the organization over whom they don’t have direct control?
19:00 How does a manager walk the line between themselves and the organization? You have to ask the hard questions of YOUR manager. Don’t be afraid to surface concerns at the very beginning.
25:00 We get ourselves in trouble by making promises that aren’t ours to make. What are you actually able to say with confidence? A great story about overpromising we can all relate to.
Resources
Integrity Dividend
November 16th, 2008 at 8:15 am
Wayne:
As a long time listener, I just want to thank you for one more great show that I plan to share with a number of my colleagues. Integrity is such an important part of life success, even it if sometimes appears – in the short run – like it can interfere with business success.
Keep up the inspiring and entertaining work.