Integrity

Sportsmanship and Honoring Traditions

Peter Sagan does his Forrest Gump impersonation to celebrate his victory of the third stage at the 2012 Tour de France ? ?Ride Peter Ride!? Photo: AFP

Yesterday the Tour de France finished on the Champs-Élysées in Paris.

Like all sports, cycling has a book of official written rules. But cycling also has unwritten rules. These unwritten rules are about the sportsmanship of the competition. The unwritten rules honor the traditions of the sport. They are known and understood by the individual riders, the riders’ teams, and the event organizers. The unwritten rules are very much a part of the sportsmanship and traditions of the Tour de France.

Life also has unwritten rules that we all tend to follow.
Families have unwritten rules that they follow.
The workplace has unwritten rules that you are expected to follow.

To willingly follow the unwritten rules is to live with integrity.

Unwritten rules honor traditions and play the game (or live life) with sportsmanship.

I enjoy seeing good sportsmanship at the end of a tough competition.

Here are four examples of sportsmanship and the honoring of tradition from yesterday’s Tour de France final stage – and the corresponding life lessons.

Being Gump-like (Part 1) – Integrity

When Forrest went to Bayou La Batre to buy a shrimp boat he said, ?I always try to keep my promise.?

Fifteen-plus years ago, I first started working professionally as a Forrest Gump impersonator/look-alike/tribute artist. I’ve used the expression ‘gump-like’ thousands of times to describe a person, one of their attributes, or to define an interaction that occurred between myself and another. People instinctively got what I meant whenever I used that phrase.

Now let’s start a conversation on what it means to be ‘gump-like’. Let’s give gump-like a definition. Let’s put what we instinctively get into plain gump-like language.

Why Gump-like Character Matters in a World of O?Keefe?s Hidden Videos

Forrest-Gump-Character-Consistent — Gump-like character is when words and actions are 100% consistent

If you were secretly recorded, would you be proud of what you said? Especially if the whole world suddenly could see you and hear your exact words?

James O?Keefe?has struck again with his recordings of conversations that reveal how people think and talk in private ? as opposed to their public image and persona. This time the video?victim was Ron Schiller?of NPR. Last time O?Keefe stung ACORN with his phony prostitution ring.

This post isn?t about O?Keefe?s tactics, or NPR?s or ACORN?s rightness or wrongness.

This is about character. This is about the world in which we live, where every word you utter may be recorded and possibly revealed to the world. It should be a wake-up call to all of us realizing that what is said in private is really no longer private. It?s a wake-up call for me that my public and private persona must be 100% harmonious.

I grew up in an era where it seemed that what one said publicly and what one said privately could sometimes differ as long as one didn?t really mean it. Politically incorrect jokes and use of colorful language were often accepted in casual and private situations ? where people felt that everyone understood that no harm was intended. My own father, a man of great integrity, told me 35 years ago when I went to work for him in a traditional blue-collar job, ?It?s okay to swear at work, but we don?t talk that way at home.? It was the times and the era.

When I moved to California at age 22, I slowly began to realize that saying one thing and trying to live another way was inconsistent. I started to shift my thinking. I began to moderate my words. And several times during my career, I learned the hard way that words do come back to bite you ? stupid is as stupid does!

Now we live in a world where most people have audio and video recording capabilities on their cell phones. Undercover reporters like O?Keefe are looking to shine the light on hypocrisy. And once and for all, I can no longer allow myself to even think such inconsistencies, yet alone voice them ? even in private.

Character is defined as the aggregate of an individual?s persona and traits, reputation, and behavior qualities. H. Jackson Brown, Jr.?said, ?Our character is what we do when we think no one is looking.?

One of the reasons we loved the fictitious Forrest Gump was because his private words and actions perfectly matched his public words and actions ? there weren?t any inconsistencies. Forrest Gump was a man of true character.

Are your words and actions consistent in both your private and public persona?

What harmless things do you say in private that are actually harmful?

Are you willing to do what?s necessary to be known for your Gump-like character?

Next Blog Title:? Initiate Good Communication

Next Blog Date:? March 17, 2011

Use Common Sense to Drive Integrity

Forrest-Double-Paddle-Ping-Pong — Forrest's actions spoke louder than his words

Gumptionable?is a combination of conventional gumption with Gumption?and means being 100% personally responsible for your actions and interactions. So today, let?s examine the 1^st of the 7 principles of being gumptionable more closely: Use common sense to drive Integrity.

Common sense will simply be defined as sound practical judgment.

From the original post on being gumptionable, here is how I described using common sense to drive integrity:

If we define integrity in its simplest form, then guiding it is as simple as the Golden Rule: ?Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.? Not just an adage, the Golden Rule is the oldest ?common sense? principle we have.?

Here are five ways to use common sense to drive integrity in either your life or at work.?

A Story of Gumption ? Lois McElravy

stories-of-gumption
Stories of Gumption is a regular column that profiles individuals who admirably demonstrate Gumption as we define it. These are the stories of real people who exhibit gumption in overcoming personal challenges, and validate the spirit of Gumption during their journey. Let?s take inspiration from those who seize 100% personal responsibility and show us how to live a life that exhibits Gump-like character traits worthy of applause!
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At the end of October I met a remarkable woman and fellow speaker ? Lois McElravy. The first thing I noticed about Lois was her energy and the way her presence brightened up the room. Her enthusiasm was infectious. We instantly bonded and are now friends.

About 20 years ago, a utility truck crashed into Lois? car. Lois suffered a brain injury that changed everything and destroyed her life?s plan. Two years after the accident, doctors told Lois her brain would not improve but her abilities could improve if she learned compensatory skills. Over the next decade, Lois developed creative systems and strategies to counterbalance her organizational, planning, and memory deficiencies. She also learned how to protect her brain from the outside influences that caused rapid cognitive wear-down (i.e. If she doesn?t take care of herself she gets exhausted easily and can?t function effectively).

About 6 years ago (or 14 years after her injury), noticeable improvements to her brain functioning started to occur. The doctors attributed her brain?s regeneration to her ?consistent effort of doing many small things over an extended period of time.? Lois? persistence and perseverance in learning compensatory skills was paying off.

Today, Lois? motivational speaking business Lessons from Lois?teaches others to ?hang on with humor when life looks ugly.? Her personal character demonstrates that ?things are not always as they first appear.? For these reasons, Lois is proudly featured in this edition of Stories of Gumption.

Lois-McElravy
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Here is how Lois?s life mirrors the 7 Principles of Gumption.

Sunburst 2010 ? Being Agent Friendly in a Google World (Part 3 of 3)

Sunburst20100-Presidents Agent Friendly is a term used by both Speakers Bureaus and Agencies that book entertainment such as tribute bands, tribute artists?and impersonators. (Let?s just refer to both distinct groups as Agents going forward.) The term Agent Friendly specifically refers to the promotional materials (i.e. web sites, one-sheets, headshots, etc.) that the speaker or tribute artist provides to the agents so that they can better promote and sell the speaker or tribute artist (hereafter both referred to simply as Talent). Agent Friendly promo materials intentionally omit the talent?s specific contact information. Rather, it has the contact information of the agent.

The reason behind this? The agent is acting as the principal dealmaker between potential clients and the many talent options. Agents have the difficult job of sending out many unique talent proposals to a single client for any single event. After the client does an initial screening, the agent may help the client select the talent that will best fit their specific needs. For example, an agent may send one particular client proposals for 5 different speakers. The client then selects the one or two they like best, then the agent may give additional advice on the specific speakers that client has selected. Now expand that task to potentially a hundred different clients with hundreds of proposals with thousands of different talent options and you can easily see a complex management task that the agent must deal with on a daily basis.

Agent Friendly promo material is an efficient way to keep the communication between the client and agent (i.e. broker) and not get the talent involved during this initial screening process, and frequently not until the specific job is booked.

Besides making an efficient process unnecessarily confusing, a client calling the talent directly and bypassing the agent raises a specific ethical dilemma. When clients and talent decide to do business directly, eliminating the agent who was the original dealmaker, a valuable link is removed and devalued. This would be similar to a manufacturer who decides to sell directly to the public after a previous agreement has been made to sell through a channel of wholesalers and retailers. How would the middlemen feel in that situation?

Fast forward to 2010 and a world where Google is king, when it?s possible for anyone to find anyone else in seconds with a simple internet search and clients can find the talent that want almost instantly; you now leave the scenario screaming for some clarification and new common sense guidelines.

Does this make agents obsolete? Unnecessary? I say, ?No!? Speakers Bureaus and Agencies still have a vital role to play going forward. Understanding the role of agents and operating from a foundation of integrity will make it both practical and beneficial for agents to broker deals between clients and talent.

Here are the key issues as I see them and the principals that I believe are necessary for clients, agents and talent to work together productively and ethically in a Google dominated world.

Integrity

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