Book Review
The first thing I do when I get a book is flip open to the inside flap of the dust cover and read the summary. I like to get a fifteen second feel for the book before I dive right in.
The first line on the dust jacket read: “Corporate and government scandals continue to deepen our mistrust of leaders.” Tony Simons, author of the The Integrity Dividend and an associate professor of management and organizational behavior at the School of Hotel Administration at Cornell University, hit the nail on the head with that line. While the book was probably influenced by the Enron and similar scandals, corporate greed in financial companies and weak governmental oversight (or straight up looking the other way) the last five or ten years has combined to create an economic maelstrom the likes of which haven’t been seen in decades. Add it all together and you get an environment where employees may be distrustful of their management. Are the leaders of my firm focusing on the quick buck to keep shareholders happy or are they interested in building a long term future? Richard Fuld, ex-CEO of Lehman Brothers, earned half a billion dollars in cash between 2000 and 2008. Lehman is now bankrupt, leaving many employees with empty retirement accounts.
The main point of this book, if I’m allowed to oversimplify, is that companies must build their integrity, protect it at every turn, and, in summary, “do what you say they will do” for their people. The integrity dividend refers to how keeping your word as a leader can positively impact the bottom line. Leaders who are trusted, often get the most performance out of their employees.
I worked at a very large defense contractor for the first three years of my nascent career. Every single year (2003-2006) I enjoyed a 4% raise and was told that “raises wouldn’t be good this year,” by my manager. I know I wasn’t a rock star (I wasn’t a bum either, I won my fair share of monetary performance-based awards), I didn’t put in 60-80 hours a week, I wasn’t on high profile projects, and I didn’t expect rock star raises. I was satisfied with my 4% raise but hearing “raises wouldn’t be good this year” bothered me.
When you couple that with my belief that my manager was wholly unqualified to either manage or lead (and put in charge because of nepotism), you can see how I was distrustful of management. I worked my 40 hours, took advantage of education reimbursement, and left at the first opportunity. I wasn’t alone. The company used 20% attrition rate for our age group (within 5 years of graduation) but based on memory, about 33% of people hired in the three years I was employed there had left.
The Integrity Dividend, in part, talks to that point. Since I, and many others, didn’t trust management (the CEO got like a 20% raise each year), I didn’t kill myself for them. For a company to say, in a time of war when defense spending is going through the roof, that raises won’t be good seems disingenuous. The next company I worked at, a consulting firm, was much different. While I didn’t report, in the management chain, to the people I worked for, I trusted them. They didn’t BS me and tell me some line out of a management book. I had a couple 50 hour and 60 hours weeks there, near delivery times, and I had no problem working them. I trusted that management would take care of me because they were transparent and followed their word.
That’s the integrity dividend Simons talks about. If you’re in a leadership or management position, check out this book. I’m sure you can respect the fact that trust, not money, is the most valuable currency available in an organization.
http://www.iconocast.com/00023/Z5/News6.htm
Cover Story for Ithaca Business Journal
Feb 20, 2009
Walking the Path of Integrity
Review by Ann Bernstein
The Integrity Dividend
By Tony Simons
Jossey-Bass © 2008, 244 pages, $27.95
(ISBN 978-0-470-18856-7)
When Stan Myers (now SEMI president/CEO) was CEO of Mitsubishi Silicon America, he decided to move the R&D department from San Francisco to Salem, OR. As many employees didn’t wish to relocate, he offered a retention bonus to those staying the full eight months until the move and helping to recruit and train their replacements. Those leaving prior to the move got only their severance package. One employee, Alan, got another job early and left, but never received his severance of several thousand dollars. Almost a year later, Myers found out about the oversight. Rather than letting it go, he personally delivered the check to Alan at his new job. Fifteen years later, Myers received an engraved iPod Nano from Alan, now involved in an electronics startup, as a thank-you.
Alan remembered Myers’ gesture long after the fact because Myers went out of the way to keep his commitment to a former employee.
Theory Into Practice
What Myers did, as well as its long-term result, is the core basis of Tony Simon’s new book The Integrity Dividend: Leading by the Power of Your Word. Leaders are challenged to seamlessly maintain their values and keep their promises.
The days of “Do as I say, not as I do” are over. Simons’ basic four-step formula outlines how managers who keep their word generate deeper employee commitment,which in turn causes lower turnover and superior customer service. This ultimately leads to higher profitability. To underscore his point, Simons held focus groups, looked at operational and financial sheets, and interviewed a total of several thousand employees and executives in all types of industries, from hotel chains to investment firms to airline catering companies.
Internalize, Then Externalize
A critical element of behavioral integrity, Simons notes, is to create trust and credibility among employees. “A perception of integrity, like trust, is typically slow to build and quick to fall,” Simons says. To create the needed trust factor involves work. Employees constantly evaluate their bosses’ integrity on many levels. Some of the key factors are following through on all promises, exhibiting true caring about employees and acknowledging uncertainty. Simons also mentions the idea of reducing one’s values to an essential
minimum, then sticking to them on a constant basis.
Personalize It
Another element Simons talks about is making behavioral integrity a personal discipline. Managers must teach themselves how and what tasks to delegate and how to handle disagreement; commit to honor all commitments; and learn how to admit mistakes and apologize when necessary.He admits up front that some or all of these may be awkward and uncomfortable at first, but they must be accomplished in order to maintain integrity.
Challenging but Not Impossible
Upon first getting into The Integrity Dividend, some readers may feel it’s the kind of book that dresses up basic common sense as a business thesis. But once past the first chapter, Simons makes it clear that there is more substance. Sure, encouraging employees’ trust is something we’ve all heard about before, but it’s done in a way here that explains, in easy-to-digest examples, that integrity goes beyond a simple reputation; it must penetrate all aspects of a company in order for it to have the desired effect on employees.
By taking the time to foster employees’ faith, a better and more profitable organization is almost guaranteed.
www.barrysilverstein.com/articles/speedreviews0109.pdf
Inside Books
January 2009
The Integrity Dividend:
Leading by the Power of Your Word
By Tony Simons
(Jossey-Bass, 256 pp., $27.95)
While many books have been written on effective leadership and integrity in the workplace, few have been able to measure the impact that such management has yielded on the bottom line—until now.
A recent study of the consequences and dollar significance of behavioral integrity in the hotel industry reports that employees’ sense of their supervisor’s strong behavioral integrity might be a more important performance driver than employee satisfaction, sense of trust, commitment, or feelings of fairness.
Author Tony Simons explains how behavioral integrity—or the ability to keep one’s promises and show the values one possesses, while being perceived by others as doing so—“is a cornerstone on which trust and leadership must be built.”
Simon[sic] describes how leaders can manage their behavioral integrity by promising less and talking fewer values. Leaders should also openly acknowledge their limits and uncertainty, embrace conflict, and communicate their promises clearly. Finally, leaders can empower others toward performance excellence by publicly defining behavioral integrity, linking behavioral values metrics to financial metrics, and encouraging accountability.
Each chapter concludes with a summary of main concepts, as well as ideas to consider and apply. The book also contains a self-assessment and a survey for others to complete regarding the reader’s promise-keeping abilities.
Ann Pace
http://www.astd.org/TD/Archives/2009/Jan/0901_Books.htm
Integrity Pays Off
December 31, 2008
Integrity Pays Off 
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Leaders Who Keep Their Word Enhance The Bottom Line
It seems like common sense that the integrity of leaders is key to their success and the financial success of their companies.
But no one has ever proved that this is true. In his new book, The Integrity Dividend (Jossey-Bass, October 2008), Tony Simons, reveals the results of an in-depth study he did with thousands of employees at a U. S. hotel chain.
Simons has found that employees who believe that their managers can be counted on to keep their word, show deeper commitment to the business, leading to lower employee turnover and superior customer service which in turn results in higher profitability. “Leaders’ consistency between word and action supports employee trust and gives them clear direction,” he explains. “It promotes engagement of employees hearts in their work, which leads to a host of discretionary contributions, from enhanced initiative to problem solving to customer service. It trickles down through the organization to create a leadership culture of integrity . . . Behavioral integrity also increases the strength and efficiency of relationships with customers, suppliers, and unions.” All of these improvements can be expected to show up on the bottom line as “the integrity dividend.”
Yet, keeping one’s word and practicing one’s stated values on a daily basis is extremely difficult to do. For most managers, real life interferes and managers unwittingly undermine their own credibility. In the book, Simons explains the factors that drive and impede integrity, including mission statements (as often a minus as a plus), company cultures, leadership hierarchies, communication habits, and personal discipline.
Simons points out that not only must leaders be credible, but they must also be seen as such. Employees bring their own “baggage” of expectations and past hurts to the task of interpreting their boss’ actions. Unfortunately, when employees misunderstand their boss’ request, they typically blame . . . the boss. Therefore communication has to be ultra clear. “When you take the subjectivity of perception into account, the leader’s already challenging task of maintaining credibility is made all the more difficult,” says Simons. The book includes many exercises that managers can use to analyze their own levels of integrity; recognize how they are perceived by those around them; and enhance the power of their word.
“Preserving credibility and maintaining people’s sense that you live by your word means avoiding casual overpromises and respecting the weight of your words. It means openly acknowledging your uncertainty, the limits to your ability, and other awkward truths . . . Communicating this way is not automatic for most people. It has to be learned and practiced,” writes Simons.
Some people say that talk is cheap. But when it comes to leadership, talk can be very expensive. When leaders or managers speak and then do not “walk their talk,” it costs them credibility. And credibility makes or breaks companies.
Contributed by: Information Strategies, Inc.
http://www.snohomishtimes.com/snohomishNEWS.cfm?inc=story&newsID=230
The Integrity Dividend: a Book Review
Posted on
Careerbright Blog
December 8, 2008
How many times have you bought a product on someone’s recommendation? Or just because you knew that the designer was well known and respected in his/her field? If you have two job offers offering you the same money and responsibilities but one company is an industry leader whereas the other is just starting off; what are the odds that you would be going for the one which is more respected or known?
And to say it in few words, WE BUY FROM THOSE WE TRUST. To build trust you must be dependable, you must display authenticity be true to your words; and the book review that follows discusses some of these every issues how to practice integrity with customers, suppliers and organized labor and other leadership trust building skills a leader needs at the corporate workplace.
THE INTEGRITY DIVIDEND by Tony Simons is one such book that you would love to add to your leadership collection. Tony is an expert on trust in the workplace and in his book, Simons reveals the results of an in-depth study he did with thousands of employees at a U.S. hotel chain, proving that the integrity of leaders is key to their success and the financial success of their companies.
Simons has found that employees who believe that their managers can be counted on to keep their word, show deeper commitment to the business, leading to lower employee turnover and superior customer service – which in turn results in higher profitability.
Jim Kouzes in his wonderful foreword nails the truth behind a great and respected leader, he says: when you are credible you do what you say you will do. DWYSYWD. It’s the most important leadership lesson you will ever learn.
The book brings together lessons that we all need to take back home on leadership on combining personal integrity, discipline and accountability that ultimately defines how dependable and respected leader you are or can be.
Simons says; The integrity dividend is power. When you and others know that you live by your word, you become able to shape the world around you in surprising ways. People cooperate better, even if they do no know you well.
What I loved about the book was the summary at the end of each chapter; Simons puts together the main points one must consider or question which forces one to think and self-assess and then brings forwards some points to act on to reinforce your practice into well defined actions.
So why must you read this book?
If you are a CEO, manager, leader, entrepreneur, or aspiring to be one of these one day then this book would be a good read to strengthen the basic principles of working ethically and through simple examples throughout the book you will see how you can solve the day to day problems at the workplace. Simons rightfully says “Building habits of integrity is a challenge. I invite you to take it on, because it pays a dividend.”
http://careerbright.blogspot.com/
Integrity Imperative
Oct 9, 2008
You can’t train for integrity…or can you? A characteristic you thought was ingrained, or hopeless to cultivate, might just be able to be learned.
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By Tony Simons and Heather Allen
Integrity is an element of character, isn’t it? It is something a person has, or they do not. They learned it from their parents, or they didn’t. Right? That is not what we find. We train for integrity, and we make an impact.
We train managers in how to maximize their credibility, and thereby their effectiveness, by visibly living by their word. By keeping promises. By living out the values they speak of. By increasing their personal integrity.
Many trainers get frustrated in their efforts to shift ethical behavior. We define integrity a little differently than the dictionary does. Webster’s online dictionary defines integrity as “An unreduced or unbroken completeness or totality [or] moral soundness.” We strip out the moral aspect of integrity, to look only at the “wholeness” or alignment of words and actions. We focus on seamlessness, as in “the integrity of a boat Read more »
A Virtues Moment: INTEGRITY
“Integrity is standing up for what we believe is right. We keep faith with our ideals and live by our deepest values. We keep our agreements reliably. Our actions match our words. We strive to balance impeccable integrity and unfailing tenderness for others and ourselves. We cherish the challenge of doing the right thing in all circumstances. We give excellence to everything we undertake. We live by our personal covenant.”
-excerpted with permission from Virtues Reflection Cards by Linda Kavelin Popov. http://virtuestraining.com/24_products
“Doing what you say you will do makes your business more money. That’s a central thesis of the new book “The Integrity Dividend: Leading by the Power of Your Word” (Jossey-Bass, 2008), by Tony Simons, a faculty member in Cornell’s School of Hotel Administration.
Study Finds “Integrity Dividend” in Hotel Industry
By Cornell School of Hotel Administration
Thursday, 9th October 2008
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A detailed study of labor-management interactions in a United States hotel chain has demonstrated the value of telling the truth.
The results of the study are found in a new book, The Integrity Dividend: Leading by the Power of Your Word, by Tony Simons. Simons is an associate professor at the Cornell University School of Hotel Administration, and is a research fellow with the Center for Hospitality Research. The book is available from all popular book sellers, or through the author at www.integritydividend.com .
To test his theory that employees’ assessment of whether their managers live by their word had an effect on a hotel’s bottom line, he surveyed the attitudes of employees at 76 hotels, all franchises of one chain. Read more »
Study: Managers’ integrity integral to employee satisfaction
By DINA BERTA
(Nov. 17, 2008) How hospitality employees perceive a manager’s integrity can affect the bottom line, says Tony Simons, an associate professor at Cornell University’s School of Hotel Administration in Ithaca, N.Y. Simons and his colleagues studied 1,944 employees in 449 different departments, including food and beverage, in 107 hotels. The survey measured employees’ satisfaction with their supervisors’ behavior. Hotels whose employees believed their managers had integrity produced higher revenues than those where employees were dissatisfied with their bosses’ behavior. He also discovered that black employees were more sensitive to a manager’s inconsistent behavior.
How do you define integrity?
It’s about behavior and consequences.… When your boss says something is going to happen, how sure are you it’s going to happen? To what extent does he demonstrate the priorities he talks about?
Did the response of black employees surprise you?
When I talked to a few people who study diversity issues in companies, they were not surprised because they found black people think more about integrity. There are more conversations in the black community about hypocrisy, which is the opposite of integrity. What surprised me was black employees were harsher in rating black managers than white managers, harsher even than white employees rating black managers on issues of integrity.
Why would that be the case?
It makes sense if black employees have a hope and expectancy that a black manager will become a champion for minority causes. If the black manager does not, they feel disappointed.
What can a manager do to protect how his integrity is perceived?
Communicate clearly. Be more cautious about promises you make. Say no more often. Soberly think if you can 100-percent guarantee a promise. Acknowledge your limits of power. Consider in advance the other commitments you have. Pay a lot of attention to clarity.
