Return on Integrity

I'm hoping to compile anecdotes from business leaders out there who believe that personal integrity is key to success and it pays to be honest. I thought of using ROI (return on investment), but substituting 'I' with Integrity, as another way to state my objective. That is, if you believe as I do, that one can derive positive returns on his investment on living a life of integrity, then I ask that you help me be role-models for our future generation of business leaders.

The other reason why I'm writing this is to thank my parents for being wonderful role-models of integrity. Like all parents, they've had their share of wrong decisions, but they've made every effort to do the right thing even if it meant having less food on the table. In the end, they were blessed with five kids whom they've been able to put through college.

I've mentioned integrity several times, so just to make sure that we're talking about the same thing, I'd like to reference wikipedia with it's definition of integrity:

INTEGRITY, n. 1. quality of being honest and up-right in character : commercial ~ , 2. condition of being complete.

Integrity comprises the personal inner sense of "wholeness" deriving from honesty and consistent uprightness of character. The etymology of the word relates it to the Latin adjective integer (whole, complete). Evaluators, of course, usually assess integrity from some point of view, such as that of a given ethical tradition or in the context of an ethical relationship.

While this blog focuses on business, but by definition, integrity applies to ones personal life as well.

A quick blurb about me
I've been working since I was 12 delivering newspapers in Palo Alto (California), spent almost 2 decades working at a large software company, and now president of a startup company (in Asia). I've discovered 'easy' ways to make money and I've seen people of low-integrity move up the corporate ladder ahead of me. I was also fortunate enough to be fired from work in my teenage years for doing something dishonest. I've been married for 13 years and have been blessed with a wonderful boy. Just like my parents, I'd like to teach our son that it pays to be honest and there are lots of people in this world like his mom and dad.

I've got several stories to share, such as my first lesson in dishonesty - being fired at a place where my dad also worked, my corporate battles and trade-off with carreer mobility, and how twice I got my cellphone back after falling out of my pocket while watching a movie.

But, I'd like to stop now and find out if there's anyone out there who shares my views. I'm looking forward to hearing from anyone.