"He has unusual integrity for a politician."

I was in a small city for the first time recently, listening to but not watching the local TV news and commentary. I had tuned my mind to alert me if something important was said while I did something else. Then I heard, "he has unusual integrity for a politician" and instantly went to view the screen. This being an election year, I wanted to know which candidate, for President, they were talking about. Turned out they were talking about a local person, who's name I did not learn. They noted that this person was consistent in action and demonstrated belief, which had earned him strong support in the community; the inference being that integrity made him desirably different.

Traffic was very light on the long drive home, so I was able to think about that comment with safety. I wondered if politicians as a whole realize what that comment means? Do they realize that many of us assume they are either dishonest all the time, or will become dishonest and unethical after they are in office?

The comment again came strongly to mind a week later, when one of the presidential candidates said in a campaign speech "I will put a three month moratorium on mortgage payments". (I am not certain if the words were three month or ninety day, but my mind interpreted it as three months.) Amy instantly said what I was thinking, "It is twelve months before a new person can take office and by then it won't matter. Are people really going to base their vote on such an irrelevant statement?"

My answer was, "Yes, many people do not question what a popular person says, they do not ask themselves if it is possible, and relevancy is very often not considered. They believe what sounds good and desirable to them in their immediate situation. This is why scammers successfully rip off people: It is also the reason manipulative selling techniques produce sales and buyers remorse."

Amy thanked me for "Sermon No. Three."

It has been my experience that people possessing high integrity are honest in little things and big ones. They are honest with themselves. They tend to think about what they are going to say before they say it. Above all, they do these things consistently. Their consistency earns my trust.

My experience also shows that people, who shave the truth, parse words, quote research results and conversations out of context, louse themselves up because they cannot tell the same story twice with the same ending. Their answer to a question varies with the situation and what they think the questioner wants to hear. That is dishonesty in my view. When I form the perception that they are consistently inconsistent, I tune them out, stop doing business with them and tell my friends to do the same. I cannot trust them: They have no integrity.

Do you have integrity?

Does the way you run your business create sales and friends or sales and buyer's remorse?

I ask you again: Do you have integrity?


Wes Zimmerman


Adolph Hitler believed that if you told a big enough lie, often enough, it would be accepted as truth. That is how he gained power and how he eventually created, at least tacit, support for the Holocaust, among the German population.

Wes Zimmerman is the author of the book "The Perception of a Difference" and of a monthly paid subscription newsletter called "Zingers."