领导者必须正直

Integrity in leadership

The proof of the sincerity and seriousness of a management is uncompromising emphasis on integrity of character. This，above all，has to be symbolized in management's“people”decisions. For it is character through which leadership is exercised; it is character that sets the example and is imitated. Character is not something one can fool people about. The people with whom a person works，and especially subordinates，know in a few weeks whether he or she has integrity or not.

They may forgive a person for a great deal: incompetence，ignorance，insecurity，or bad manners，but they will not forgive a lack of integrity in that person. Nor will they forgive higher management for choosing him.

This is particularly true of the people at the head of an enterprise，for the spirit of an organization is created from the top. If an organization is great in spirit，it is because the spirit of its top people is great. If it delays，it does so because the top rots;as the proverb has it，“Trees die from the top. ”No one should ever be appointed to a senior position unless top management is willing to have his or her character serve as the model for subordinates.

Action point: Evaluate the character of the CEO and top management when considering a job offer. Align yourself with people who have integrity.

领导者必须正直

当考察管理者是否诚信时，人们必定会注重他的人品是否正直。这一点必定会在管理者的人事任用上体现出来。因为领导者正是通过其正直的人品来实现其领导的，领导者也正是通过其正直的人品才树立了人们效仿的模样。在人品这一点上，人们无法弄虚作假。一个领导者的同事，尤其是他的下属们，只要和领导者共事几周，就会知道他是否正直。他们可以宽恕无能、疏忽、缺乏安全感甚至是粗鲁无礼，但是他们却无法宽恕别人的不正直，他们也无法宽恕领导者选用不够正直的人。

这一点对企业最高领导层的重要性是毋庸置疑的，因为一个组织的精神是自上而下树立起来的。如果一个组织富有崇高精神，那是因为它的领导者精神崇高。如果一个组织腐败，其根源在它的最高领导者。正所谓“上梁不正下梁歪”，如果一个员工的人品不能成为其下属效仿的榜样，最高领导者就绝不应该将他提拔到重要的工作岗位上。

行动指南:当得到工作机会时，要仔细考虑公司的首席执行官和其他高层管理者人品修养，确保自己和正直的人一起共事。