Integrity has emerged as the leading core value of business leaders in a series of interviews held over the last four months. The weekly series, known as the Leaders' Digest, featured 15 CEOs and Corporate Leaders on Springboard, Your Virtual University.
The virtue of integrity, which encourages honesty and commitment to principles, was mentioned as one of the top three values of seven of the 15 executives interviewed on the four-month series. A further four cited integrity as a significant ingredient in their day-to-day activities.
Their choice of integrity as one of the topmost values was partly informed by childhood experiences and situations they had to deal with growing up. Others considered integrity as an essential tool for building and maintaining the trust of colleagues and subordinates.
The series, which aired on Joy FM every Sunday, started on September 7 and ended on December 21. Fifteen leaders across various sectors of the society were interviewed on the show, which aimed at creating a platform for distinguished business leaders to share their success stories and personal values with the listening public.
Springboard, which is hosted by Reverend Albert Ocran of Legacy & Legacy, a management consultancy firm in Accra, gave each guest the opportunity to share with listeners the secrets of their success and distinction in life, their core values and the lessons learnt from their respective areas of operation.
The leaders interviewed were mostly Ghanaians with Ms Ipeleng Selele, a South African brand strategist and Chief Executive Officer of Khumo Group being the only international guest.
Good name better than riches
At a wrap-up session on December 21, Professor Esi Ansah of Ashesi University and ace investigative journalist, Manasseh Azure Awuni of the Multimedia Group, said they were not surprised that integrity topped the list of values that notable business leaders in the country hold dear, explaining that it was the bedrock on which true success thrives.
Prof. Ansah, who doubles as the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Axis Capital, a human resource development institution based in Accra, observed that integrity was like the fuel that encourages great leaders to go through their challenges.
"It is the fuel that keeps you going. Integrity will give you the guts to take tough decisions, survive and maintain credibility. When people look at you and they see consistency in what you do, say or profess, it gives you a good name and that good name is better than anything else," she said.
As a human resource development consultant, Prof. Ansah further observed that in order for people to succeed in business, integrity, which is tough to attain and measure, must be the most critical attribute.
"Once you have it, it lays the foundation. Business is built by trusting and believing that the other person will deliver whenever, however and whatever and so the trust then forms the basis," she said.
She added that it was often hard for people to follow leaders who lacked integrity hence the need for those who lead to cultivate and preserve honesty.
Mr Awuni, who withstood various pressures to successfully carry out investigations and report on the operations of the Savanna Accelerated Development Authority (SADA) and the Korle-Bu Teaching Hospital, among others, also observed that integrity should be at the heart of everything for everybody, including journalists, who are duty-bound to expose the ills in society.
"As a journalist, if I lose my integrity, then I do not have a job," he said, admitting that integrity had become difficult for people to attain.
Closely related to that, he said, was society's decision to consciously and unconsciously glorify people whose source of success was very questionable. "Excuse my language but we sit down and glorify hardened criminals in this country and so everyone else wants to be like them," he said in reply to what might have accounted for the loss of integrity in the country.
"Even in the churches, where one sits depends on how much he/she is able to give. In funerals and other occasions, some people are celebrated because of their riches, yet morally they are bankrupt," he said, noting that such people rather needed to be alienated to serve as lessons for those hoping to get rich through dubious means.
Glimpses of hope
The emergence of integrity as one of the topmost core values of the people interviewed on the show also corroborated the findings of various researches on integrity and its relevance in the corporate world and society in general.
One such research on what employers looked out for from would-be employees, which featured renowned world entrepreneurs such as Warren Buffet and Jack Nuschke, found that instead of focusing on technical and educational competences, most outstanding employers often looked out for integrity when recruiting people to fill vacancies.
Another research on "The Irony of Integrity" conducted by Centre of Creative Leadership in December 2012, established that: "When examined separately, the more integrity, bravery, perspective and social intelligence leaders have, the higher their performance ratings."
Commenting on the findings, Prof. Ansah, whose organisation recruits people for interested institutions, observed with concern a growing trend where people tried to hide their identities by embellishing and bending the truth. She said many young people were yearning to become successful overnight without taking their time to study how success is genuinely attained.
These notwithstanding, Prof. Ansah and Mr Awuni agreed that all hope was not lost as some people continued to hold in high esteem honesty and commitment to the principles of truth. "We have people who still do their work well and I always think they will stand out with time. The truth will not be hidden forever," Mr Awuni said.
Adversity and mentoring
While integrity is key to the success of every individual, guests of the show also reiterated the need for people to be resilient in the midst of challenges as well as availing themselves to be mentored by those who have excelled in society and business in particular.
When he took his turn, Mr William Ato Essien, an entrepreneur who founded the First Capital Plus Bank, observed that instead of requesting the experience and knowledge of successful executives, most people often run after money from them; something he described as unfortunate.
Beyond having external mentors, a number of guests including Frank Oppong-Yeboah of StarLife Assurance, Lucy Quist of Airtel, Kelly Gadzekpo of Enterprise and Ellen Hagan of L'aine revealed the mentoring influence of parents and siblings whose influence and the attributes thus imbibed had become part of their lives right from childhood.
This, to Prof. Ansah and Mr Awuni, was not surprising, given that people normally spend more years with their families than other people. "It is really key and very central in every person's growth. In all of these, it is more about what parents do and how they model it than what they say," she said.
While Prof. Ansah said she picked up critical thinking from her dad, Mr Awuni said he imbibed integrity and honesty from his father, who he said kept him away from corrupt practices.
The host, Rev Ocran, urged parents to be conscious of what they teach their children, noting that parents are the primary mentors of their children.
Trial and error in career path
Another issue that featured strongly through the 15 interviews was career growth and development.
It emerged that while most leaders interviewed had grown up hoping to become one thing or another based on what was fashionable, circumstances had led them into other fields, where they have since gone on to become successful and outstanding. The same applied to people who started in one field of education only to end up in another.
One such person is the CEO of Standard Chartered Bank, Mr Kweku Bedu-Addo, who was a science student but ended up as a banker. Barclays Managing Director, Mrs Patience Akyianu, summed it up when she lamented the absence of career guidance even in the very best schools.
Commenting on the disconnect, Prof. Ansah said this development notwithstanding, people must value the opportunity of exploration, which she said allowed people to switch to areas they feel passionate about.
"There are times when you take up a field only to get in and realise it does not work for you. You know, life is flexible and you need to be flexible so you can explore with it," she said, adding that people should not be restricted to one area but be willing and flexible to explore.
Mr Awuni, who deserted his childhood ambition of becoming a banker, also called for internal retrospection, explaining that every individual is the only person who knows him/herself better than any other person.
"Some are so stiff in their career and what they do in life but I think we need to be flexible enough to be able to switch from one career to another if need be," he said.
GRAPHIC BUSINESS