13 Characteristics of People Who Have True Integrity
Most lists of this kind are written backwards. They name behaviors and ask the reader to imitate them. The man who imitates them produces a costume. The man who has integrity produces these behaviors as the natural output of an interior that is already integrated.
The 13 below are not a checklist to be performed. They are observable markers — the externally visible outputs of the structural integrity the parent article describes. A man whose belief, desire, will, and action have been welded into a single load-bearing frame produces these behaviors because of what he is, not because he has memorized them. When the markers are absent in a man who claims integrity, the claim is what is wrong, not the markers.
Read the 13 as a diagnostic. Each one is a place to look — at the man in front of you, at the men you are choosing to keep in your circle, and, when the mirror is brave enough, at the man you are.
1
They value other people’s time
2
They give credit where it is due.
3
They are authentic.
9
10
13
8
4
6
11
12
7
5
They are always honest.
They never take advantage of others.
They do not argue over disagreements.
They give most people of the benefit of the doubt.
They know when something is bothering them.
They believe in others.
They apologize first.
They are humble.
They do good when they can.
They are always kind to those who need it.