The Integrity Advantage: How Taking the High Road Creates a Competitive Advantage in Business
- Book Review,
by Dana Telford
Book Description
With The Integrity Advantage, Adrian Gostick and Dana Telford establish a burning platform-that personal integrity is a proven competitive advantage in business. Prominent business leaders from some of North America's most respected companies-including Don Graham of the Washington Post, former Johnson & Johnson CEO James Burke, and Hank Paulson, Jr. of Goldman Sachs-discuss the role integrity has played in their successes, and offer examples of the importance of integrity in business today. Not merely a collection of essays, the authors also share an effective system of decision-making designed to help anyone implement integrity into every action. The importance of trust and credibility within business relationships is examined and discussed, as Telford and Gostick illustrate how to juggle wealth, power, and responsibility-and be a person of character. Given the recent uncertainty fostered by questionable corporate tactics, however, now is the time to examine what role integrity actually plays in business today, and whether employees are naturally compelled to practice these values-particularly when the leaders they follow lack integrity in their own professional behavior. Dana Telford holds an MBA from Harvard University and has advised business leaders in the consumer banking, healthcare, publishing, retail, manufacturing, and real estate industries. He has developed and implemented strategies for client companies based all over the world. He lives in Morgan, Utah. Adrian Gostick is director of marketing and corporate communications with the O.C. Tanner Recognition Company. His previous books include Managing with Carrots and The 24-Carrot Manager, co-authored with Chester Elton. He lives in Salt Lake City.
Book Info
Pocket-size text identifies ten characteristics that are consistently displayed by people with integrity. Outlines a four-step process to help readers determine their integrity level and enhance one's reputation for ethical behavior. DLC: Business ethics.
From the Inside Flap
Through candid interviews with some of North America's most succesful CEOs and business leaders, authors Adrian Gostick and Dana Telford show that personal integrity is truly a competitive advantage. Without skirting issues, they challenge long-held assumptions of business--illustrating that many of us are on the proverbial edge of the cliff without even knowing it. Through though-provoking, entertaining analysis, Gostick and Telford demonstrate how a business-person can choose integrity without sacrificing power, prestige or money. They ask leaders such as Hank Paulson, Jr., CEO of Goldman Sachs; Don Graham, chairman of the Washington Post; Shelly Lazarus, CEO of Ogilvy & Mather International; Jim Burke, chairman of Partnership for a Drug-Free America and former CEO of Johnson & Johnson; Millard Fuller, president and founder of Habitat for Humanity; and Wayne Sales, CEO of Canadian Tire how they look for, measure and identify integrity in others. While describing ten characteristics that are consistently displayed by people with integrity, Gostick and Telford get right to the heart of putting it into action--helping the reader develop a system of decision-making so he or she can enhance his or her reputation of integrity. In practical application, they demonstrate how to apply a standard of integrity in daily performance: -Finding the right way in gray areas -Creating an environment of integrity within your work team or company -Building trust among those for whom you are responsible Whether you are already a person of integrity or whether you want to enhance your ethical reputation, you will never forget the principles you learn in The Integrity Advantage.
From the Back Cover
Where are you right now? The Integrity Advantage give you tools to take stock and to solidify or revamp the integrity in your business life. "They'll tell you (with a wink) that these days, nice guys finish last. If that's what you've been hearing, may we respectfully suggest you're running with the wrong crowd. And we've got some folks we'd like you to meet," say Adrian Gostick, a respected business writer, and Dana Telford, a Harvard researcher. Based on a year's worth of research--interviewing CEOs and top business leaders from across North America--The Integrity Advantage identifies ten characteristics that are consistently displayed by people with integrity. The authors then take you through a four-step process to determine your integrity level and help you enhance your reputation for ethical behavior.
About the Author
Adrian Gostick, co-author of the national bestseller "The Integrity Advantage," has been called "a must read for modern-day managers" by Larry King of CNN. This award-winning business author and counselor to Fortune 500 companies has written for USA Today Magazine, Investor's Business Daily and other national publications. He has a master's degree in strategic communication and leadership from Seton Hall University where he is a guest lecturer on ethics. Dana Telford is a researcher and guest lecturer at Harvard University and a management consultant. He has presented his work and advised clients in North and South America, the Middle East, and Europe. Dana has appeared on ABC television and on numerous syndicated radio and TV programs. He earned an MBA from Harvard Business School.
Excerpted from The Integrity Advantage: How Taking the High Road Creates a Competitive Advantage in Business by Adrian Gostick, Dana Telford. Copyright © 2003. Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.
Remember when the good guys always won? The Lone Ranger never failed to catch the bandits, John Wayne's troop took the hill and Wonder Woman's gold lasso couldn't miss? Some people would have you believe those days are gone. They'll tell you (with a wink) that these days, nice guys finish last. If that's what you've been hearing, may we respectfully suggest you're running with the wrong crowd. And we've got some folks we'd like you to meet. They include some of the most respected business leaders from across North America. People like Jim Burke, former CEO of Johnson & Johnson; Shelly Lazarus, chairman and CEO of Ogilvy Mather Worldwide; and Henry M. "Hank" Paulson Jr., chairman and CEO of Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. They'll tell you--like they told us time and time again during the past year--that integrity is alive and well in the most successful people and long-lasting corporations. In fact, they claim it's darn near impossible for a person to have enduring success in business without a reputation of trustworthiness and integrity. In the following chapters we'll pass on to you the incredible wisdom these leaders have taught us during our interviews. We'll share their great advice on what integrity is, why it's important, how a person with integrity acts, and, most importantly, what it takes to become that type of person. So let's begin.
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