Make Doing the Right Thing Your Personal Brand

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The true test of character is doing the right thing even when no one sees.

Eight days a week you will encounter temptation to break your personal code of conduct of doing the right thing. One college conducted a sting to test cheating. Of the 600 students who took the test one-third cheated. When a student was interviewed about it, he said, “What’s the big deal, everybody does it all the time.”

To do what’s right, you merely make one of two choices: be honest or be dishonest. That’s it. It’s not complicated.
And you don’t:

  • intentionally mislead
  • straddle the line
  • disseminate false information
  • break promises
  • go back on your word
  • waltz around
  • exaggerate
  • or participate in other chicanery

Also, these words do not come out of your mouth or get put into an e-mail:
“Everyone else does it.”
“It’s a victimless crime.”
“I can hide it.”
“It doesn’t matter how it gets done, I just have to get it done.”
“Well, maybe just this one time….”
“No one will ever know.”
“I’ll just shred (or burn) that document.”
“What’s in it for me?”
“How much can we get away with?”
“I’d say anything goes.”
“I will deny we had this discussion.”
“We didn’t have this conversation.”
“This is a non meeting.”
“Is this legal?”

Nothing baffles people full of trick and duplicity than simple straightforward integrity.

Picture of Debra Benton

Debra Benton

D.A. (Debra) Benton has been helping great individuals and organizations get even better for over 20 years. Just as exceptional athletes rely on excellent coaching to hone their skills, Debra's clients rely on her advice to advance their careers. She focuses on what is truly important to convert what you and your organization want to be from a vision into a reality. TopCEOCoaches.com ranks her in the World's Top 10 CEO Coaches noting she is the top female. And as conference keynote speaker she is routinely rated in the top 2%. Her client list reads like a “Who's Who” of executives in companies ranging from Microsoft, McDonald's, Kraft, American Express, Merrill Lynch, United Airlines, and PricewaterhouseCoopers to the Washington Beltway and U.S.Border Patrol. *She is the author of ten award-winning and best-selling business books including The Virtual Executive and CEO Material. She has written for the Harvard Business Review, Wall Street Journal, Bloomberg Businessweek, and Fast Company. She has been featured in USA Today, Fortune, The New York Times, and Time; she has appeared on Today Show, Good Morning America, CNN, and CBS with Diane Sawyer. To learn more Debra advising leaders, coaching, facilitating a workshop, or speaking: www.debrabenton.com

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