In a job interview, one of our applicants said that integrity was doing the right thing when no one is watching. I discovered that it was easy to do the right thing when no one is watching, the challenge is to do the right thing when everyone is watching.
We are all born with the same amount of integrity; however, over the years we will engage in actions that will erode that integrity. We live in a world in which people will sacrifice their integrity for financial or political gain. Some have eroded their integrity to the point that there is no hope for them because lying has become a way of life.
We frequently see this erosion in animal shelter when people come up with excuses for abandoning their pet or volunteers wanting to lie about an animal to encourage its adoption.
The hardest part of directing an animal control program is standing guard of the organization’s integrity. Animal welfare is a profession of compromises; a good director will make sure that any compromises agreed to, do not compromise the integrity of the organization.