Integrity and Humility

The following is from a book by Rick Joyner entitled, "Leadership, Mangement and the Five Essentials for Success".


"Integrity is more than just being honest, it is doing what is right...Even the greatest leaders make mistakes. The better the leader you are the more costly and visible your mistakes will be. Recovering from mistakes is an important test of true leadership ability. Complete recovery will not take place without accepting such mistakes and taking responsibility for them. The greatest leaders learn to turn their failures into opportunities for achievement and victory. In many cases failures will turn into the best opportunities for victory. Wellington, Napoleon and Lee accomplished some of their greatest victories because of their ability to turn their enemy's achievements into traps for defeating them. The Japanese used defeat in war as a springboard for economic victory in peacetime. Vision and leadership can turn the worst catastrophe into opportunity.

To his credit General Lee never blamed anyone but himself for the defeat at Gettysburg. His subordinates failed him a number of times in that battle; the compounded effect of these failures led him to make the desparate decision that led to defeat. But Lee never mentioned any of his subordinates' failures. After the war when one of these generals publicly and bitterly blamed Lee for the defeat, Lee agreed with him. This humilty endeared Lee to the entire world; he actually became the most respected man in the nation after the war. His humility soon caused even his worst critics to acknowledge him as one of the great men of their times."