THE ARTFUL DESIGN OF YOUR BRAND AND LEGACY WITH INTENTION, PURPOSE, WISDOM AND STRATEGY
The Legacy of Integrity
“A pretty face and fine clothes do not make character.”
Contemporary society has certainly invested countless hours in creating the right image. From sporting the right clothes and in season fashion, sculpting your body at the gym and wearing on trend makeup.
Don’t get me wrong. There’s absolutely nothing wrong with beautiful things and a well toned body.
However, balanced self-care and legacy building involves creating and planning a holistic life design that starts with nurturing the heart and character through fostering integrity.
This is the fulcrum of beauty from within, that can then be followed by taking care of the body without.
The word integrity is derived from integral – the state of being whole or complete, unimpaired, of sound principles, upright, honest and sincere.
Men and women of integrity do not pretend to be what they are not; they are solid inside and out. They are dependable and trustworthy.
They are not double minded - which in essence means ‘hypocritical, leading a double life, being one person in public and another in private, one person at home and another at the work place.’
Another way to ensure your integrity is by carefully choosing who you spend your time with. You are the sum of your companions which implies that wise selection of the kind of friends you spend time with is critical.
The fact is whoever you spend the bulk of your time informs your choices. Choices that can have consequences that reverberate not only across one’s immediate and extended family but also into the future, affecting future generations.
Insight Inspiration
People of integrity live honestly, in what they do and also in what they say.
This means building up others and doing them good. It means avoiding gossip (we just have too many other important things to do) and blessing others with our words.
It means exemplifying kindness, treating your staff fairly and caring for them in the same way as we do our family members.
It also means working hard and smart. If a parent, it means modelling a combination of integrity and smart work, making sure your children learn to clean up after themselves, to share in chores and to model respect, love and care for others right at home, while telling and living in truth.
Think on it.
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About Dr Gladys Mwiti
The Legacy Insights series is authored by Dr Gladys Mwiti, an internationally recognised trauma psychologist who has served two electoral terms as Member of the Board of Directors for the International Society for Traumatic Stress Studies (ISTSS); is Co-Chair for the Lausanne Congress Mental Health and Trauma desk, Global Board Member for Langham Partnership Board, is the current Chairperson of the Kenya Psychological Association (KPA); Interim Chairperson of the Kenya Society for Traumatic Stress Studies; member of ChildFund Kenya Board of Directors, immediate past member of the Board of Trustees for the Kenya Methodist University (KEMU); member of the American Psychological Association (APA); and immediate past Chair of Council, Cooperative University College in Kenya.
She was the lead psychologist overseeing a team of highly trained trauma counselors providing crisis intervention during the Rwandan genocide of 1994, the US Embassy bombing in 1998, the Gujarat (India) earthquake in 2001 and violent aftermath of the 2007 Kenyan elections. She was also lead coordinator post the Westgate Mall terror attack in Nairobi, overseeing the training of over 400 psychologists and counselors as well as managing the massive intervention and therapist supervision that reached over 2,500 survivors of the terror attack. Her current client list includes the US Embassy, USAID, Coca Cola, IBM, British High Commission, Syngenta, Google and Mastercard, amongst many others.
