Did you hear the fascinating story about the French mountaineer who found a box of precious gems and decided to do something most wouldn’t do? Read on!
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Can you make money from your Integrity?
I stand firm in the belief that people do business with those they TRUST, can COUNT ON, and when you say you’ll do what you are going to do – Keep a PROMISE – that leads to more opportunity.
Seth Godin says, “The Best Marketing is retaining the customer who already buys, more than needing new ones every time”, and those who return are the ones who know they can count on us, due to our Integrity of promises-level living.
Can you gain financial benefit from integrity?
Take the mountaineer who came upon a metal box poking out of the snow on Mont Blanc near the French-Swiss border, for instance.
Opening it up, he found a treasure trove of precious gems: emeralds, rubies, sapphires!
Put yourself in the weathered boots of the hiker. Looking around you realize you’re all alone. No one saw your discovery.
What would you do?
No one would have ever known had he just stuck the valuable box in his pack and walked away.
This particular box of great worth had been missing for decades…
Is there a profitability in Integrity?
This level-headed man of character saw that the box said, “Made in India”, and knowing the story of 2 different planes having crashed on the mountain in that area decades earlier, respectively, in 1950 & 1966, wondered if it might belong to one of those fateful crashes.
He took the box to the police station, not knowing if his honesty would ever “pay off”.
His discovery was back in 2013.
Here we are, nearing the end of 2021: 8 years later the mountaineer receives a call from the local police and mayor, who said, “The mountaineer showed integrity…the stones have been shared this week.”
France 24 News reports: “The treasure has been split into two equal lots, between the local authorities and the honest mountaineer, each receiving $169,000”.
The mayor praised the man for his integrity in bringing his find into local authorities.
You might say – well, that guy could have kept it, gotten away with it, had double the money.
But what is the price of Integrity?
What is the cost of making and keeping a Promise to yourself to do the right thing?
I can guarantee you this: If you can make a judgment call when it comes to something simple, such as picking up the poop your dog leaves on a stranger’s lawn when no one is looking, if you can be trusted to close the small business cash register till even when you know the accounting department doesn’t keep exact track of what comes and goes, if you can get the job done and do it right, even when no one knows who did it or who gets the credit….
You have Integrity.
Integrity is a profitable and essential skill that few praise as one of the greatest traits a human can have.
But when a story like this shows up in the news – it is highly commendable, and rightly so! Thus my sharing it.
Yet when have you had the chance to live in your Integrity in secret?
For your own satisfaction.
Between just you, your conscience, and God…
Is there a personal level of satisfaction in knowing we did the right thing, even if we don’t benefit from the full lot of what could have been attained?
There is if you believe there’s Profitability in Integrity.
Integrity is one of the choicest traits in Leadership, a Signature Move unlike any other, and the truest sign of a great person.
Well done mountaineer, and well done to everyone who reads this and says, “Yep, I would have done the same thing, no question.”
That’s The Promise.
~ Jason Hewlett
Husband, Father, Writer, Hiker, Coach
- Speaker Hall of Fame * Award-Winning Entertainer * Promise Legacy Coach
- World’s First & Only Keynote Speaker utilizing entertainment, musical impressions, and comedy to teach the Power of Keeping Your Promise
- Founder of the Bunless Triple Patty Baconator Club (available only at Wendy’s drive-thru, along with heart monitor cuff test mandatory before ordering)
Author of “The Promise To The One”
6 Responses
Great story and reminder of the power of keeping your integrity. I wonder if he really questioned “if his honesty would ever pay off”. My guess is he knew right away keeping his integrity had already paid off.
Thanks for a great illustration and all you do to make us all better humans.
Well said, Tom, I agree. Better said! Thank you.
When I was a young mom and we were strapped for cash I was leaving a fruit stand and found $800 on the ground a few feet away. The owner had treated me very badly at this visit but I took the $800 to him. I never knew what happened to the money. If I had it to do over again I would take it to the police because the owner of the stand lacked integrity. Nevertheless, almost four decades later I am glad I turned the money in and I hope the owner did the right thing. I could tell by his face that he was shocked I had turned the money in. Maybe that was helpful to him. It was helpful to me because it set my feet in the right direction. Integrity matters! Thank you for sharing this wonderful story.
Oh wow Mary Ann, this story blows me away. I am so proud of you for doing this. You have just perfectly described integrity. Thank you for this.
A wonderful story. It keeps it simple.
I love this story! I hope you are feeling well at this time, thinking of you!