We All Need Grace…

I remember two interactions that caused me to pause and reflect on integrity—my own and that of the people around me. More specifically, they made me question how willing I am to hold someone else to a standard I sometimes fail to meet myself.

Humbling.

Integrity matters. Our values should shape what we do, not just what we say. But I also have to ask whether I sometimes expect a level of perfection from others that I don’t expect from myself.

Patrick Lencioni describes a tendency often called the fundamental attribution error. When someone else does something we dislike, we may assume it reveals a flaw in their character. When we do the same thing, we explain it by our circumstances.

Consider a simple example. Someone cuts me off on the highway, and my first thought is that they are inconsiderate. If I cut someone else off, I’m quick to explain that I didn’t see them in my blind spot.

Same action. Two very different explanations.

I don’t want to stop caring about integrity or accountability. I do want to remember that a mistake doesn’t automatically mean a person lacks character.

That means extending the same grace to others that I’m so willing to give myself.

Where might you be quick to judge someone else and slow to offer the understanding you would hope to receive?

Your coach’s insight…simply put.

— Rory