Episode 152: Integrity in Business: The Hidden Currency of Long-Term Success

Integrity is easy when everything’s going your way. But what about when money, ego, reputation, or opportunity tempt you to cut corners?

In this episode, we get real about integrity — what it really means in business, why it’s often faked in today’s social-media-driven culture, and how to stay grounded when the pressure is on.

Some highlights:

• The difference between short-term wins and long-term integrity
• Why performative integrity (a.k.a. “virtue signaling”) erodes trust
• How ego and success can quietly pull you off track
• The role of values, vision, and mission in keeping you aligned
• What to do when you slip out of integrity — and how to recover
• Why owning your decisions (even mistakes) builds credibility
• How integrity evolves with your stage of business and life

This isn’t about being perfect. It’s about taking relentless responsibility, auditing your motives, and making decisions you’d stand by if the whole world found out.

Tune in for a candid conversation that will challenge how you define integrity — and how you show up in business and life.

Make sure to subscribe to our YouTube or Spotify and leave us a review!

• Like the show? LEAVE US A REVIEW wherever you listen!
• Have a question? CONTACT US at info@thepursuitofbadasserie.com!
• Want to sponsor us? Find out how HERE.

…

Read the full transcript of this episode below:

 

Lynn Howard

Hey, I’m Lynn.

Amanda Furgiuele

And I’m Amanda. Welcome to The Pursuit of Badasserie, the podcast. Today, we’re talking about… So about integrity in your business, in your life, what it means, and how it can affect you long term.

So let’s break down. What’s integrity?

Lynn Howard

Yes. Well, you know, every time I think of integrity, I always think of the old saying, it’s doing, it’s being who you need to be doing the right thing, even when nobody’s looking type of thing, right?

So it’s just, like, integrity is such a that has played out. I feel like so many people use that for marketing ploy, or they did back in the day that it’s become watered down.

But at the end of the day, to me, that’s what it is, who you are behind the scenes, you are in front of the scenes and doing what you need to do, no matter if nobody’s looking or not, like being a good, being a good person, which I don’t think all you have to be good.

To have integrity, but I would say more good people have integrity than rotten apples.

Amanda Furgiuele

I think that’s true. think integrity isn’t situational. think that’s where it makes the difference there. Integrity is not a situational circumstance.

It is the small everyday. You do it for everything, not just for the big things that are on display, that it’s the behind the scenes.

This is how I act. This is what I believe. I think that’s what sets it apart from just, you know, being a conscious business owner.

mean, integrity isn’t situational. Integrity is what’s always happening. Even when you’re not masking and when you’re not, you know, projecting on other people and when you’re not in a group, integrity is what happens behind the scenes.

It’s everything that you are. It’s that foundation of who you are as a person. And I think that. People can have integrity for certain things, but I think you’re right that most people have to be kind of a good person.

Also have integrity, even if they like may not talk about being a good person. think like deep down, you kind of have to be a good person to have integrity.

I don’t know if I know any bad people who are have integrity.

Lynn Howard

I mean, I think, no, no, I think so. I think, I think it can be faked and I think it can be situational.

Like you said, like you can have integrity on, um, I was watching a show recently and it was some, I don’t know, you know, probably a killer show or something like that.

Actually, she was, she was, uh, it was some kid that was in a mental, a mental home and she like would abuse her brother and abuse, like she was super, um, she was a sociopath and probably a psychopath.

I don’t know what she, I don’t know the difference. Anyway, long story short, she ended up making a friend in the, in the psych ward and she.

And she ended up supporting her. And so she had integrity with her, although she’ll like kind of trying to kill her brother.

So I think sometimes, I know that that’s a way far off kind of example, but I think sometimes bad people can have integrity when it’s self-serving maybe.

I don’t know. I don’t know. But at the end of the day, we’re not here to talk about that.

You know, this, this podcast came up because in the news right now, it is a blowing up over a couple different people, including a high ticket or high value coach out of Dubai.

I believe she’s out of Dubai, where a phone call was just leaked about because she works with high value men or like millionaires and billionaires, and she ends up being the side chick.

Um, and so there’s all this like critical eye and that she’s not living in integrity and, um, you know, this other famous coach.

..空津. Three Thank Actually, was in another type of business who it just came that she isn’t who she says she is.

She’s not giving the bonuses like she said she was. She’s not doing this. She’s not doing that. She’s not donating to this particular.

Essentially, she’s lying, but she’s also not living in integrity. And the value of her business has dropped tremendously. It was like three digits in the millions, and now it’s down to two digits in the millions, which is a huge drop.

So being in integrity, and especially in today’s world, even if you are still living in integrity, the cancel culture is real.

Amanda Furgiuele

It still is real, and it’s going to happen.

Lynn Howard

But yeah, I believe that being in integrity is about you. It’s about the human that you are and the legacy that you’re leaving.

And to me, it does have, and I say this out loud, but I know people, who are, I’m thinking of, oh, I forget where he was from, but there was just something on the news that this man snatched a baseball out of a kid’s hand.

Oh, yeah, out of a kid’s hand. Yeah, and he’s this, like, multimillion-dollar business, and he put a statement of, like, you snooze, you lose type of thing.

He’s like, you have to take what you want. And I was like, damn. So I guess I’m saying this because it’s my belief, and I can live in this rose-colored glasses bubble.

I feel like you need to have integrity for the compounded effect of, like, having a good business, but I know that’s not necessarily true.

But I want to believe it, Amanda. I want to believe it. But I think it’s more about the soul.

Like, and some people don’t care about the soul that they have. This is an excuse I give myself, isn’t it?

Amanda Furgiuele

Yeah, it’s an excuse you give yourself while you go back to our last episode. No, I think it’s more about long-term growth.

I think a lot of times when you’re not using integrity is when you’re thinking of a short term gain.

You’re thinking like, oh, if I just cut this corner, I can make this buck so that I can get to a longer term goal.

But I think if you are in integrity, you are thinking long term, like, how does this affect me as a person, as my business as a whole?

I think there’s a lot of things that come into like integrity, attracting the right clients, integrity, helping with your cultural flow, integrity, helping with your reputation.

And I think that is a long term thing versus that short term. Like, I want that ball. I want that thing.

mean, yeah, this guy’s a millionaire. Sure. I’m sure he’s made some really great decisions. And I would have given the kid the ball personally.

But there’s there’s there’s choices you make in your business. I think I think overall, overall, I would like to believe.

No, I don’t believe that at all. I just tell myself, I’d like to believe that people are integrity, but I don’t believe they do.

And I think most people. I think that’s just the way our culture is set up, the way the world is going.

I think that a lot of people are rewarded for not having integrity. And that integrity can be faked very easily.

It’s, you know, it’s, what can I throw money at? Where can I have a headline post of this, that, and the other that shows that I’m a good person?

I think that’s really, really, really common. And really, I mean, I think it’s disgusting, but, you know, posting a picture of this just to say, like, see, I care.

I believe in this. Look, I’ll show a picture of me doing it so everybody knows that I’m cool. I hate it.

So, but I think that’s the way our culture has kind of shifted over the years. And I think that cancel culture is part of that.

Like, you’ve got to show that, like, I’m cool. I’m fine. Nobody canceled me. Like, I’m okay with everything. And I think that’s that, like, need to feel liked and that need to, that you, that everybody needs.

And I feel like that’s cut down on people’s personal integrity, because you’re afraid to stand up, and you’re afraid to stand for something and to be about something.

I think that kind of has reared its ugly head in the last few years, I think in the last decade, that it’s become more and more that you can fake the system, you can pretend to be a lot of things, and certainly you can make money without having integrity.

I think that’s 100% true.

Lynn Howard

We see this all the time. And, you know, I think of like, this really, social media has definitely helped it.

And I’m not saying that it wasn’t before, like, look at all these big brands as soulless things that were killing us, and especially in the US, and they freaking knew it.

That’s not living integrity. That’s being more focused on the bottom line. But now it’s more exposable, right? So versus back in the day.

and me you You And I But you think of like all these marketing and branding ploys that people do to sell you up a river, but your marketing and your branding shouldn’t be better than the results that they’re receiving, stop over delivering on the that and you want to catch their eye but make sure that you’re able to fulfill it like the, the, and of course you can’t guarantee everybody’s results regardless how great your product or service is.

Um, but, like, is there a connection? Um, yeah, it’s, it’s interesting. Also, when we’re talking about when we’re thinking about this is, you might start off with integrity, but then you get lost in the ego and in the in the.

Yeah, and it could be at different stages in your business where you get lost in the me myself. Myself and I, and you can lose.

Sometimes even the person who has the most, like, they value integrity so much, you can lose that because you’re stuck in the me, myself, and I in that self-serving aspect, like you were talking about earlier.

And I think when you can stay connected to your core values, I think integrity is a direct correlation to core values, your vision and mission.

I, I, and I think that that will definitely help, actually, I believe that helps, not, I think, and also like that whole, and we talk a lot about this, how you know if you’re kind of falling into that, if you’re not triggered or have like a, a clarity, aha moment that you’re like, oh , I’m falling out of integrity because you’re not connected to your gut, to your feelings, then that’s where the audits come in.

Like, like every six months, every year, you should be auditing, auditing yourself, and am I still connected to. My purpose.

Am I still connected to everything? Yeah. And I think also it’s like when you see the mistakes or when you audit your motives, and especially if you are a very public brand, calling yourself out and saying, I made this mistake.

Because if you don’t, depending on the mistake, I’m not saying for everybody, but depending on the mistake, if it is a mistake that is found out, like that whole video, that phone call, this was years ago that she did this.

And if, if it’s found out that, and you haven’t like fixed it and accept that you did something out of integrity and fix it.

And you didn’t publicly like talk about it. Yeah. So for the things that need to be public, I’m not saying air all of the laundry, then it could come back to bite you.

Amanda Furgiuele

Absolutely. mean, integrity is easy when everything’s going well. It’s easy to have integrity if everything’s going your way, but it’s when the real pressure is on, when it’s about money or your reputation or, you know, crazy opportunity that’s tempting you to compromise, like that’s when integrity gets difficult.

And we said it before, we are human. And in the case that you’re mentioning now, you know, once you make a decision, the decision is made.

There’s no, you can’t unmake a decision. So then later, if something comes out, you have a decision again. Like, do I try to backpedal?

Do I try to find a scapegoat? Do I talk more about it? How do I address that? Like, how do you bring that up again?

And how do you get back on track with your integrity? Because things happen. Once the decision is made, the decision is made.

You can easily fall off. Even the person with the most integrity. We’re human, but it’s not about the decision you make, it’s about whatever comes after it.

It’s what comes after. Do you go down a spiral and start a gangster mafia group? If that’s what you’re going to do, great, go for it.

It’s a really sound business model in a lot of ways. Or are you going to swing back the other way?

You get to make the decision on what happens after something happens. Well, I think you bring up a great point.

Lynn Howard

Yeah, I love that. And live with your damn decision and your choice and your actions. Like, own it. You’re the one who made it.

Own it. Even if something was stressed upon you, your actions in that, the way that you dealt with things is absolutely speaks to you.

Now, we’re not saying that things can’t be cross-contaminated and some of your integrity can be tainted by at least external integrity.

you’re right, It’s It can be tainted even internally by others around you or situational or different things like that, but you got to own up and live with your , like live with it.

You know, I think that taking responsibility, like really relentless responsibility for yourself, for your actions, for, you know, what you’ve done, like your own responsibility.

You can’t take responsibility for other people, will really help you live in the integrity in which you define integrity, and that’s on you.

For example, the one chick, like maybe her, maybe she doesn’t see anything wrong with being the side chick, and that could be her integrity.

Other people might disagree. So a lot of people. But there are a lot of people who actually agree with her.

And that’s, that’s their truth, their integrity. And so really, again, go, I’m going to go back to it, like, what’s your beliefs, your core, core values, your own vision and mission when it comes to business?

And are you in alignment with that? And does it feel good to you?

Amanda Furgiuele

Absolutely. Yeah, mean, everybody’s truth is different. Everybody believes something different. One person thinks that killing people is wrong, the person wants to kill people, like, we all have different beliefs.

So, and that’s an extreme case. But what’s true to me is not true to everybody else. 100%. doesn’t have integrity for someone else.

Lynn Howard

So it’s got to own what that is. Well, I think that goes back to when I was initially struggling with, I feel like having integrity, you should be innately good, but that’s not true.

Like, at the end of the day. you. you. you. Everybody’s truth is that it’s their own truth. You know, I think integrity is definitely a muscle.

It’s not something you just check off at the box. And it’s always like it’s a discipline that you’re always working to stay in alignment with to, again, I’m going to use this phrase again, I know I just used it last podcast, I have a critical eye with what integrity truly means to you at the different stages, because that can evolve.

I tend to believe like the core of who you are. And you make comments about this sometimes about me of like, that’s just you Lynn, like, that’s just who you are.

Like, it’s one thing that I love about you. And I feel like that’s my integrity, right? Like, like, when I helped that man with his bag at the airport or whatever.

And I know it seems little, but for it. be a For I was actually having such an internal dialogue with myself, and how I felt like I was living in my truth and my integrity is to help him, right?

Because I felt bad. I was struggling with it, and it’s a whole, it’s a…

Amanda Furgiuele

It’s funny. We had a totally different internal struggle on that day, and so it’s interesting that you say that.

Lynn Howard

Yeah. But that was my integrity. I would have felt horrible if I wouldn’t have done something. Yeah. Anyway. No, we got off on a story tangent.

We did fully flesh out, but…

Amanda Furgiuele

It makes sense to us. Anyway, I’m gonna air my dirty laundry on that one. Maybe another podcast.

Lynn Howard

I didn’t realize you were having a different internal struggle.

Amanda Furgiuele

I was. was.

Lynn Howard

That’s okay.

Amanda Furgiuele

How about the speed? all have a moment. No! Okay.

Lynn Howard

No, I do have a… Oh, you don’t have to. I do, too, actually. But I think we have to flesh out.

So essentially, we’re at the airport, and there was a man who had crutches. And he was trying to do, it was actually in KL.

He was trying to pull his wheelie, too. And he was just really struggling and kept dropping it. And he was in front of us, further up.

And actually, I saw him at a couple different stages. But then he was, like, right in front of us on the movie belt, which I typically don’t go on.

But we had your kid, and he loves the movie belts. And it’s just fun. And I actually took his bag.

And, well, I don’t even know if I asked him, but, like, the words. But, like, let me do your bag.

And I pretty much walked him to, as far as I can walk him to. Because I felt bad, like, struggling.

Yeah, all the way to security. Because there’s a second security. Which is far, it’s actually quite far in the KL airport, because it’s like the wing security.

But I was having an internal dialogue about like, oh, he’s okay. Like, and especially in certain countries, like, it could be weird, a woman helping a man.

But I had to make a choice that made me feel like I was, yeah, make me feel good. But also like, that I was living in my integrity, because I felt bad that nobody was having And I’ll get from my side of things in that same moment there with my kid.

Amanda Furgiuele

It made me think of an occasion when I was moving from Hawaii, with my son, he was two years old at the time, and or almost three.

And I had, you know, the stroller, his car seat, like I had everything with me and like, not a single person offered to help me bring all that stuff.

And I was like, struggling with him. he was like, all over the place. And it was like, And I don’t

A red-eye flight, so it was like way past his bedtime, and I was carrying like a ridiculous amount of stuff because we were moving.

So it was like everything that we had, it was with me. And then fast forward to being older with my child, there’s a lot of times that I don’t help when I want to because I have my kid with me.

And so it’s this, like I wanted to help that same gentleman. We were watching the same gentleman, and the whole time I’m thinking like, wow, if I didn’t have my kid with me right now, I would.

But it’s like my priority and the way that I have to handle myself is different. Now that I have a kid, a lot of the things that I used to do all the time, like I would be that person to help you, carry you.

I would go out of my way. I’d go, you know, other side of the terminal wouldn’t even bother me.

But now it’s like, is he going to melt down over that? Is he going to be, is he going to feel unsafe?

Am I putting him in a, so it was this whole dialogue of like the things that I changed about myself after having a kid.

it was like a totally different dialogue happening while you were doing the thing that I wanted to do. And I’m like, oh, that’s cool.

I’ll just sit here. And I have a flashback to when nobody helped me and then think about like, oh, what I’m not doing.

That’s not nice anymore. Oh, great. So very different dialogue, but still the same. Both of us were having a moment of thinking about, you know, who we are as people and the integrity that how we run our lives.

So in a different way, but still.

Lynn Howard

Yeah, no, I love that. It’s interesting that you brought that up. And I love, thank you for sharing because a lot of people would have that and have that.

And I’ve had this conversation several times, have that same situation because I would travel with Julian Justice by myself.

When we went to Saudi, OT was never with, like, I always traveled with the kids and like doing all the things and not getting help and having to be self-sufficient.

And that would turn them off, even if they were capable or in a position where they can help people because they’re like, oh, nobody helped me.

So you got to figure it out. And for me, that’s like. I feel, and this is my own personal values, is, that’s not, that’s not cool, like, and that goes back to, like, one of our other, our other, the podcast that we just did about, like, an excuse that becomes a pattern or, like, a belief in you because something happened to you.

You feel like, I was just watching something on Instagram last night, too, about, you know, some people who are lifelong felons and having a conversation with a cop, and this woman was grouping this cop into all of the other, well, I hate cops because of you all, you all always profile.

And, and his responses were actually quite good, but it’s the same kind of concept, it’s like, we’re putting everybody into one, one box because something happened to us, and I know that’s kind of on the, that’s a sidestep of intent.

But I think we set up our integrity to either fail or to be prevalent based on also, like, things that happen to us and our beliefs and stuff like that.

Amanda Furgiuele

Absolutely. Absolutely. I mean, we are, you know, sum total of all our parts.

Lynn Howard

Yeah, that we are. All right. So are you an integrity? Are your actions in alignment with your values, with your vision, with your mission?

Have you been in that position where you’ve done something or not done something because an inaction actually is an action and you felt that little niggle inside?

You’re like, oh, that didn’t feel good. That’s your sign that you’re doing things not in integrity. And so how are you going to take a critical eye and look at that and fix that?

Because, listen, it’s… If we go back to the business aspect and the cancel culture, social media isn’t going away.

It’s just becoming more intense and more available and more like people think that they know what people doing. Yeah.

And abusive is the word. And so, but even more so, access information is so readily available and you’re going to be found out.

So how are you showing up in integrity? And if you want to get to the woo-woo side, like the shadow side of like the lack of integrity, yeah, how are you fixing that?

Because it’s important. Having integrity, I feel like is a very, very important aspect of one’s being in life, my personal opinion.

Amanda Furgiuele

Absolutely. You know, and if you’re in a tough spot right now and you’re trying to make a decision that’s within integrity, think about

Got it. If your decision came out to the entire world, would you be happy with it? Would it be a positive PR move or a negative PR move?

And that might help you understand. Because we all, I feel like we definitely live more in ego now. There’s definitely more of putting yourself out there in ego.

And I think that’s a really good way to check yourself. If the decision you’re making is one you wouldn’t want everybody to see, and if it comes out because it will, and when it comes out, is that the PR that you’re going to want to put out there?

Is that what, how you want people to see you? And, you know, there are some decisions that both sides, it’s going to be negative PR.

Sometimes the only decision you have is not a good one, is a bad one. But what, what, which one’s going to fit better with you the next day?

Like what’s going to help you sleep at night? What’s going to ultimately be the lesser evil in that case?

Because there are definitely occasions when, yeah.

Lynn Howard

Yeah. Yeah. I love that you said that because the only constant is you. So you’re going to piss people off.

You’re going to, you know, not reason, season, lifetime type of thing. But, you know, I kept, I’m thinking of presidency while you were talking, like, you know, how all the skeletons come out of the closet when people run for presidency, but also one of the many reasons I will never run for presidency.

But yeah, neither one of us could. One of the phrases that it’s actually, it’s guided some of my decisions in my life.

I do know some of the skeletons in my closet. It doesn’t mean that I lived out of integrity. just means skeletons in my closet.

Anywho, one of the, I forgot to say this. One of the things I saw in the, in the feed, in the, in the comments by so many, and even like high level influencers for this one chick was, I saw it coming.

I knew that I that was going to happen. And so I want to leave you all with that. Like.

Thank you. Are you going to have the, saw that coming, or this was just a blip in the road.

She is, she or he is really a good person, right? Because we all make mistakes, but like, are you going to be the, I saw that coming in a bad way?

Amanda Furgiuele

Nice.

Lynn Howard

All right.

Amanda Furgiuele

Let’s let you sit with that and sit with your integrity for the day. If this hit a note for you, if it may be a tough spot for you, make sure you are liking and subscribing on any platform that you’re listening or watching.

We are always open to hear your comments and your thoughts on what integrity means in your business.

Lynn Howard

So make sure you drop us a comment. Absolutely. Share this with somebody who you feel might need to relook at their integrity, or that is going through something that this podcast could definitely help.

Make sure you ask them to hit the subscribe button and until next time.

Amanda Furgiuele

Get after it.