{"id":6796,"date":"2019-11-23T15:42:55","date_gmt":"2019-11-23T15:42:55","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/arielsheen.com\/?p=6796"},"modified":"2019-11-23T15:44:12","modified_gmt":"2019-11-23T15:44:12","slug":"review-of-integrity-the-courage-to-meet-the-demands-of-reality-by-dr-henry-cloud","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/arielsheen.com\/index.php\/2019\/11\/23\/review-of-integrity-the-courage-to-meet-the-demands-of-reality-by-dr-henry-cloud\/","title":{"rendered":"Review of Integrity: The Courage to Meet the Demands of Reality by Dr. Henry Cloud"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/p>\n

According to Dr. Henry Cloud – an international lecturer, clinical psychologist , leadership coach and corporate consultant – integrity is an active process of decision-making when faced with various professional and personal challenges. In his best-selling book Integrity: The Courage to Meet the Demands of Reality<\/a>, one of several best-sellers that have received wide acclaim within the leadership development community, he explores the six definitive qualities of character that consists of integrity, explains why they are so important in an age when amoral attitudes are often viewed as a short-cut to success, and how to develop those characteristics. The book it both a stand-alone guide to helping develop the qualities needed for success in business, and is also part of a series on servant leadership \u2013 a branch of business literature based in Biblical, Christian values. In this field of thought \u2013 one that has found endorsements by some of the largest and most successful American companies \u2013 success is determined not only<\/em>by the bottom life, but also by one\u2019s capacity to attain business goals through compassionate, authentic and morally upright behavior. Integrity in Dr. Cloud\u2019s view is not, a la Gordon Gecko, the ruthless pursuit of personal enrichment whatever the cost may be to others but is instead the daily work of management and owners collaborating with workers, suppliers, customers, regulators, and everyone else that interacts with a business enterprise in such a way that there exists a strong foundation of trust and respect between those relationships.<\/p>\n

While Charles Koch is nowhere cited within this book, how Dr. Cloud explains about how one\u2019s character is the truest foundation of success it made me think of Charles Koch\u2019s quote, I\u2019m paraphrasing, that given the choice between hiring someone with talent and virtue that the person with virtue should be the one that is chosen. Integrity as explicated by Dr. Cloud is in many ways based on an Aristotelian and\/Christian conceptualization of character. The opening chapter of the book, in fact, starts by defining character and relating it to integrity while the second explains how it is thatcharacter<\/em>, or virtue, that is the foundation of personal and professional success \u2013 however that is defines \u2013 more so than mere talent. Talent, for Dr. Cloud, is something that is a component of character, along with their competencies, their level of energy, their deal-making abilities, and their capacity to exert their intelligence towards various efforts. Ethical functioning if a component of character, in other words, but not all of it.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

The importance of this character in this sense is described via an, in my opinion, very compelling analogy \u2013 that of the wake<\/strong>. Each interaction that we have with someone leaves a two-fold impression. One on the person impacted and the other based on how that impact is recognized and interpreted \u2013 aka the Task and the Relationship. Results matter, and the whether or not Tasks are successful performed according to the agreed upon requirements are the foundations of the Relationship. The utter simplicity of this conceptualization and the ease with which it can be visualized via the wake of a boat is, in my opinion, what makes this so powerful.<\/p>\n

From this opening, Dr. Cloud then starts to expand on the specific character traits related to this dynamic that one can develop in order to demonstrate and expand one\u2019s integrity chapter by chapter. The six character trait that Dr. Cloud states is necessary to embody and build integrity are as follows:<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. The ability to connect authentically<\/li>\n
  2. The ability to be oriented to Truth<\/li>\n
  3. The ability to work in a way that gets results and finishes well<\/li>\n
  4. The ability to embrace, engage and deal with the negative<\/li>\n
  5. The ability to be oriented toward growth<\/li>\n
  6. The ability to be transcendent<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    These qualities are the foundations of integrity and personal and professional success as, in order:<\/p>\n

      \n
    1. This leads to the creation of mutual trust<\/li>\n
    2. This leads to the assurance that one is operation in reality<\/li>\n
    3. This leads to the attainment of whatever the success indicators are \u2013 be it goals, profits or the completion of a mission<\/li>\n
    4. This leads to the resolution, cessation or transformation of problems<\/li>\n
    5. This leads to the continuation of an business enterprise, as well as its potential to grow and increase across various metrics<\/li>\n
    6. This leads to an enlargement of the individuals involved in an ethical\/moral\/spiritual manner<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

      Each of the chapters provides a series of examples takes from business history, Dr. Cloud\u2019s experiences as a business consultant or hypotheticals which are all insightful. Though a book within the field of Christian\/Service Leadership business literature, and thus aligned with scriptural values, the manner in which he illustrates the benefits of applying such principles in business is not by saying \u201cthis matches what Jesus said, ergo it\u2019s good\u201d but by showing how that by embodying virtuous qualities of character that success is reached. More that an a mere guide for work-place relations, Dr. Cloud is keen to illustrate how if one has issues in one\u2019s personal lives wherein a lack of integrity is causing problems that this will seep over into one\u2019s professional life as well. \u201cIt behooves all of us to be working on whatever unresolved pain we are walking around with,\u201d Dr. Cloud states following an explanation on the importance of managing one\u2019s emotions \u201clest some issue in \u201creality\u201d tap into it and overcome our ability to make good decisions.\u201d<\/p>\n

      Emotional self-management here means the ability to lose well \u2013 with grace. Being able to cut your losses and move on, the ability to process and integrate loss such that strength, hope, patience and optimism can be developed from the experience so that success can be obtained in the future. Life is full of problem, without it there would be no potential for profit, so the proverbial elephant in the room must not be avoided but used a means towards orienting one\u2019s intellect. As my father would put it \u2013 you need to have the capacity to Face, Trace, Embrace, and Replace the mindsets that lead to loss in order to integrate your character to go forward with a success-oriented mindset. Blaming others, even if the \u201coutside\u201d may have had a role in it, is another form of hampering self-improvement. It is the hallmark of narcissism and an indolent \u2013 meaning pain-avoiding \u2013 mentality. Being able to confront problems \u2013 which is what structures teams, projects, relationships and, well, life \u2013 creates structure by developing limits for what will be tolerated.<\/p>\n

      \"\"<\/p>\n

      The ability to thrive, to flourish in an ever-changing environment and to overcome the self-pitying pull of negativism in the wake of failure, to resist the internal voice of \u201cI\u2019m not good enough\u201d that allows for character growth and the integration of new capacities and skills. It\u2019s what separates those with a growth-mindset from those with a fixed-mindset. It\u2019s what separate those that are able to take risks based on a desire for growth versus those that foolishly leap into an enterprise like a gambler. It\u2019s what separates those that realize they could benefit from personal coaching, therapy, training experiences, accountability relationship, groups for spiritual development, continuing education, etc. and those that have closed themselves off from having someone in their life whose views they must wrestle with or submit to. It is the difference between authenticity and integrity and narcissism. By being smaller, in other words, you can become to bigger \u2013 for it is by working to rid one\u2019s self of ego-centricity and allowing universal values such as love, compassion, honesty, faithfulness and responsibility to be one\u2019s gravitational center \u2013 personal and professional success are obtained.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

      According to Dr. Henry Cloud – an international lecturer, clinical psychologist , leadership coach and corporate consultant – integrity is an active process of decision-making when faced with various professional and personal challenges. In his best-selling book Integrity: The Courage to Meet the Demands of Reality, one of several best-sellers that have received wide acclaim … Continue reading “Review of Integrity: The Courage to Meet the Demands of Reality by Dr. Henry Cloud”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[5,27,114],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6796","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-book-review","category-leadership","category-project-management"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"acf":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p8e7kf-1LC","jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/arielsheen.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6796","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/arielsheen.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/arielsheen.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arielsheen.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arielsheen.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6796"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/arielsheen.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6796\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6801,"href":"https:\/\/arielsheen.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6796\/revisions\/6801"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/arielsheen.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6796"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arielsheen.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6796"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arielsheen.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6796"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}