Honesty and Integrity: Do You Have It?

“Integrity is telling myself the truth. And honesty is telling the truth to other people.”

Spencer Johnson

Are you an Honest Abe?

Scenario:

You are at work designing and developing a website for a client. It is getting close to the deadline. You have lacked behind on the project. You have had a rough week.  Your old dog Buster died. Your girlfriend broke up with you. Your computer has crashed. It took you several hours to get your computer back up. It is 5:00 p.m. You have 16  hours until the deadline to present the website to your client. You are planning on working late at the office trying to piece together the final touches of the presentation, when your best friend calls. He has tickets to the Thunders playoff game and asks you to go with him. They are really good seats, $175 tickets.  He got them last minute from his boss because his boss cannot make it to the game. The game is tonight at 6:30 p.m.  What do you do?

Do you say no to the tickets?

Let’s just say you could not say no and decide to go to the game with your best friend.  You have had a rough week and feel as though you deserve to go to the Thunders game. The tickets are free, best seats in the house, and how can you say no to a great game with your best friend? Plus, you can always go to the office early. You only have a “few” final touches to make on the website.  So you go to the game and have a great time and do not get home until midnight.

The Next Morning

You awake to a loud trash truck driving by your house. You look at your clock. It’s 8:30 a.m.!!! You set your alarm to p.m. instead of a.m. The presentation is at nine o’clock! It will take you thirty minutes just to make it to work! Oh, no, what will you tell your boss? There is no way you can have the final touches done in time for the presentation now! Oh, but wait…your computer did crash yesterday….you could tell your boss that your computer crashed and that is why you do not have the presentation completed. It is partly true. So that is what you do. You call up your boss and tell him that you were working on the presentation and your computer crashed. Your boss is very understanding and ends up calling up the client explaining the situation. The client is also understanding and is fine to reschedule the presentation and meeting. However, the “little mishap of the computer crashing” has caused much inconvenience to the client, your boss, and the company you work for. The client  traveled from New York to meet with your design team for the presentation.  The company you work for reimburses the client for the air travel and hotel accommodations.  The presentation is pushed back a month because of conflicting schedules. Your decision has caused a ripple of inconveniences costing money and time.

But for you, everything has worked out fine. Now you have plenty of time to work on the presentation. Your boss is not angry. Your client is on good terms.

Dishonesty is a Trap

You only thought everything worked out in your favor. Your boss calls you into his office a week later wanting to talk to you. He is not very happy. Come to find out, your client had an uncle that was friends with your best friend’s dad on facebook and sporadically came across a picture of you and your best friend at the Thunders playoff game. Not only did he come across the picture, but he saw a comment you made on your best friend’s facebook page that said, “Close one! My boss bought it that my computer crashed! I get another month to work on the presentation now! Only if he knew that I was at the Thunders game!”  Busted! Now the truth comes out.

Both your boss and your client are extremely angry and feel betrayed. Your client has lost faith in the company you work for and threatens to go elsewhere. Your boss fires you.  What started as a “white lie” has not only cost your boss, client, and company, money and time, but it has cost you your reputation. Your reputation is scarred.

It’s Always Better to Be Honest

In this situation, if you would have told your boss that you ended up going to the Thunders game because you had a rough week, intended on going to the office early to finish the website, and ended up oversleeping because your alarm did not go off, he might have understood….or, your boss may have been angry. He may have told you that it was irresponsible to go to the Thunders game instead of working on the presentation. However, the consquences would not have been as steep as the consequences resulting from your lie.

I wrote this scenario, because I think we can all relate to it somehow. We are all faced with decisions to make and we do not always make the best decisions. I think we have all been tempted to lie at some point in our lives.  Telling the truth is always better than telling a lie, even if the truth is not very pretty. People do not like to work with dishonest people or dishonest companies. Honesty and Integrity are very important qualities. Those qualities will make you stand out as a person and a web designer. Having honesty and integrity enables others to trust you and want to work with you. Be mindful of the decisions that you make and what consequences follow. Lying and taking a chance of not getting caught is not worth it. It is better to tell the truth. It will keep your integrity and reputation intact.

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