Character Lesson Week 20: INTEGRITY
When it comes to understanding the foundations of integrity, an example can be found in the
motion picture, Jerry McGuire. In this movie, Jerry McGuire is a Sports Agent. He loses his high
end job as an agent to elite athletes, due to a "Mission Statement" or memo. In the movie, he
writes the mission statement as a prequel to change. Jerry felt it was wrong to talk his clients
into doing something that was life-threatening in order for him and his company to make money.
He finally developed a conscience, and this new found consciousness would no longer allow it.
After the neatly banded Mission Statement was sent to all employees of his firm, he was fired by
a friend.
In order to prove himself, he opens up his own agency based on personal attention and
personal service. His company's niche, in the world of promoting elite athletes, is his own
personal integrity, and family oriented values. At one point in the movie, Jerry is trying to sign a
new an upcoming superstar from Texas. He flies to Texas and speaks to the boy's father. From
their conversation, there is a sense that this father is a good guy; a man of his word with strong
morals. Jerry asks him to sign a contract with him, and the father, in a matter-fact tone, tells
Jerry he isn't much on signing contracts, but that his word is "stronger than oak."
In this statement, the father declares to Jerry that he has a strong, fierce moral fiber and his
word, or essentially that his personal integrity, is as strong as an oak tree. The statement leads
Jerry into believing this man's integrity is stronger than greed, indecision, carelessness and
personal interpretations. In the end, Jerry is standing alone, no superstar athlete to boost his
profits, and a company in ruins. However, he does still have his own moral fiber intact. As in real
life, everyday people encounter dilemmas that may or may not "affect or attack" their
conscience.
I don't know if integrity can be observed or taught through discipline. Each brings out the
question, "What is the moral compass of said adviser imposing the lesson?" To this, I'll leave my
stead and say that I'll save that for a later date. Personal integrity is the bread & butter of who
and what you are. If you question your own moral compass. ask yourself all or one of these
questions:

If you are handed too much change during a cash transaction, do you give it back?

If you have already made a promise to one, but get a better offer elsewhere, do you break
your promise?

Do you take credit for other peoples’ work?
If you've answered "Yes" to two of the three questions or "NO" to the first question, you just
might be a person with little integrity, and thus not trustworthy.
Source:
What is Personal Integrity – My opinion.(n.d.). Retrieved
from http://rkhenry.hubpages.com/hub/What-is-Personal-Integrity