I went to the Digital Entrepreneurs Manila Meetup last night in Manila with a successful entrepreneur named Jorge Azurin and PR and community manager of Instagram Philippines, Petim Maminta both were excellent speakers and experts in their fields.
Jorge has years of experience with 12 startups under his belt and yet he is still going through a founder divorce from his latest startup. He put it down to the integrity of the founders he chose. Jorge had one slide stating the “power of persuasion”, which is more a one way process or monologue. I actually believe in the “power of convergence”, more a two way process or conversation.
So in that context I think it comes down to our own integrity, as, in the end we are responsible for choosing who we work with, just like we are responsible for who we choose to marry. As my dear old mums says “you make your bed, you lie in it”
So how do we measure and improve integrity and especially our own integrity? Good question grass hopper.
Firstly being able to see and step up to this first point, that ultimately, I alone am responsible for integrity, that the buck stops with me and understand the importance of this nuanced view.
Once this can be agreed to or added to then we, (my brotherd and I) have 7 simple steps that we believe can measure and also strengthen our own integrity. We use the acronym DECARRT.
- Daring – Be willing to step up when the need arises and maybe even when there is not a need, and stand up for stepping up.
- Enjoyable – Making sure how we step up is enjoyable for all, a roller coaster ride should still be fun.
- Considered – Being cautions when we step up, using disclaimers, like ” I think”, appreciation, acknowledging and apology like “I beg to differ”.
- Accountable – When we step up successfully we get the accolade but when not successful we can acknowledge it.
- Reasonable – We step up using evidence based reasoning rather than mere emotive views.
- Responsible – Being more formal and prepared in our approach to stepping up, like complaining responsibly & going direct to the source.
- Transparent – We are all part of the experiment of stepping up and what we say and do is always open to scrutiny, no matter who it is.