Contest master, fellow toastmasters

Take a look at the person sitting next to you. (pause) Look at that face.

Is that an honest face?

Is it? Can you tell?

Or let me make it harder for you. Imagine, if you will, a mirror. Hold that mirror out in front of you.

Is that an honest face?

Now I don’t mean to suggest we’re not honest people. No, not that. But sometimes, even though you want to be honest: it’s not so easy.

Have you ever had the EVP call you up to do a speech and you say that you’re too busy, but really you’re not?

It’s not always easy to be honest.

And do you always do what you say you will do, be consistent, practice what you preach? If you have children, have you ever scolded them for watching too much TV, and then as soon as they’re in bed you sit down and watch hours of soap operas?

It’s not always easy to be consistent.

And can you always do the right thing? What if you scratched a parked car when no one was around to see you? Would you take out a card, write your name and phone number and place it on the windshield? Would you really?

It’s not always easy to do the right thing.

And hey, in this modern fast paced crazy world, do we always know what the right thing is anyway? Would we all, in this room, agree on every single thing what is wrong or what is right? Maybe not, but I hope we would at least have our own principles and values to stand by.

Except as the American comedian Groucho Marx said, ‘Those are my principles. If you don't like them I have others.’

It’s not always easy to stand by your principles.

So what is this all together? Being honest and consistent, knowing and doing the right thing and standing by your principles? What do we call that?

Well, there is a word, and that word is integrity.

And integrity is not a common thing. We all know examples of individuals and organizations who have failed in integrity.

Recently at the University of Central Florida 200 students were caught cheating on an exam.

Last year a New York financier went to jail for 150 years after he stole 15 billion dollars.

No, integrity is not a common thing, but everyone says it is important, everyone says you need it, and most everyone claims they have it. Maybe we need to understand integrity better. As an example there is a story told of Mahatma Gandhi; the great leader who changed much of India.

Gandhi used to hold open meetings where people could come and ask for help or advice. At one such meeting a woman came to Ghandi with her son, and said,

‘Ghandi, could you tell my son that sugar is bad for him, that he should stop eating sugar.’

And Ghandi looked at the boy, who was a little fat with bad teeth. And then looked at the woman and said,

‘Madam, I cannot tell your son that sugar is bad for him and to stop eating sugar.

And the woman who had traveled a long way to see Ghandi was annoyed.

Ghandi seeing the woman was annoyed said, ‘Come back in three weeks and see me again.’

Well, this was Ghandi, so she did as she was told, and came back in three weeks. And again she asked,

‘Ghandi, please tell my son to stop eating sugar.’

And Gandhi knelt down in front of the boy, and said,

‘Your mother is right. Sugar is bad for you. You should stop eating sugar.’

And the mother said,

‘Why didn’t you tell him that three weeks ago?’

Ghandi replied,

‘Madam, three weeks ago, I was still eating sugar.’

Ghandi knew that eating sugar was bad and to do the right thing he should say so. But he also knew that to be consistent he couldn’t tell another person to stop eating sugar if he ate it himself. That would be a lie. So as a man of integrity he had to give up the sugar he liked.

And that’s integrity, and it’s not easy.

But today we need integrity. We need integrity in our leaders. We need integrity in our workplace. If you want people to follow you, if you want people to trust you, you need integrity.

And does this sound familiar to you: Dedication to excellence. Service to the member. Respect for the individual: and Integrity. Yes, one of the core values of toastmasters is integrity.

And integrity means; being honest, being consistent, doing the right thing and standing by your principles.

And we here as toastmasters, can we always try to be honest? Can we?

Can we as toastmasters always try do what we say we will do? Can we?

Can we as toastmasters always do the right thing? Can we?

Can we as toastmasters always stand by our principles and the values of the Toastmaster’s organization? Can we?

If you can, then when that person sitting next to you looks at your face, they will see a face of integrity.

Contest master.