You talk the talk – but are you walking the walk?

If you don’t have integrity, you have nothing. You can’t buy it. You can have all the money in the world, but if you are not a moral and ethical person, you really have nothing – Henry Kravis

In light of the recent unveiling of a former colleague’s less-than-moral behavior, I first felt disappointment, then anger, and finally a tinge of sadness. But after these initial reactionary emotions subsided, I had time to think things through a bit more proactively and decided to point the examining lens inward on myself.

Am I really the person I want and present myself to be all of the time? Am I merely paying lip-service to supporting some of the causes I proclaim to care most about? How can I take actionable steps to bridge these gaps, however small or large? What can I do to actually make a positive difference? Instead of merely condemning others’ shortcomings, the massively difficult habit of (honest) introspection stands to offer the most return value for our efforts.

We all have room for improvement – the hard part is identifying what those things are, specifically. Pointing the mirror at oneself is a great starting point.