[The Knowledge Project Ep. #161] Jim Dethmer: The Pillars of Integrity

Shane: When I was thinking about where to start with you, I listened to our last conversation. I was just struck by how timeless it was, and I think I want to start with integrity and … the four pillars of integrity.

Jim: The four pillars of integrity I got from Katie Hendricks, Dr. Katie Hendricks. It’s been a cornerstone of my life for 30 years or so. So let’s begin by just differentiating the way I want to speak about integrity from the way it normally gets talked about when integrity shows up as a value inside of a company, for example. And then you ask people, what does the value mean? The normal thing that people say is “do the right thing,” which is beautiful. I get that. Great. Integrity then tends to have more of a moral or an ethical kind of orientation. And the way I play with integrity is none of that. But again, let’s just do a little etymology here. So “integrity” [is] from the same root as “integer.” So think of whole number[s], think of wholeness. So that’s where I like to go: think of wholeness.