No price for guessing, that one rare habit to be a better leader is INTEGRITY.

In general, integrity means the quality of being honest, flawless, unified, undivided and having moral principles.

So, how does integrity help you become a leader? Integrity is like a compass to a guide, it will keep you on the path to your vision.

With integrity, you have nothing to fear, since you have nothing to hide. With integrity, you will do the right thing, so you will have no guilt. — Zig Ziglar

How integrity matters in the work environment?

Say, a prospective customer requests for a specific feature they want in the product and we are not yet ready with that yet. What will you say to a prospective customer if the deal is worth $50,000? Ideally, you should say ‘No’ until the product has the feature they requested or you should admit that the feature is being built and how long it would take to be complete. Just because it’s a huge deal, you can’t say ‘yes’ and accept it. Your company’s reputation will be at stake.

In another example, say your code for a specific module in the product is of low quality (takes too long to run, big logic, unindented, not organised for others to understand etc). Just because your code gives the right output and no one goes through it, you shouldn’t do that.

Integrity means telling the truth even if the truth is ugly

A leader should have the courage or openness to accept deadlines, possibilities and even mistakes. He or she should keep their promises.

A leader should be careful about the promises that they make. Once made, should follow it and make sure that things are going as promised. Because the colleagues, or co-workers who closely work with them, follow them.

A great way to ensure you doing your best every day is,

• By determining your top 3 priorities at the start of every day

• Paste the priorities in front of your workplace and act accordingly. Also, measure your actions and interactions with your colleagues

• Acknowledge the importance of honesty in self-improvement

Integrity is doing the right thing, even when no one is watching. — C. S. Lewis, a British novelist

Thanks for reading. Let me know in the comments what you think are the qualities one should develop to be a better leader.