Last month we opened up about the motivation behind our new Pledge 1% initiative. The highlight if you didn’t read it is that StackSource is now giving 1% of its revenue away to charities. If you’d like the full backstory, I’d recommend Propmodo’s coverage which was excellent:

Since charitable contributions have now become a core piece of the StackSource culture, I’ve been thinking about other aspects of our culture and what is important to us as a company. This is the first in a series of short posts about the qualities we strive to cultivate in our company.

Integrity

noun : the quality of being honest and having strong moral principles.

similar : honesty, rectitude, honor

I love the image of integrity when you think about a building, which is what this industry relies upon. Integrity is having the strength to stand and keep your shape. It requires a firm foundation, and for the structure of the building to rest upon it at the right vectors. Integrity is created long before a building is ready for use, and maintained by strong interconnected pieces. Integrity is at its best when you can safely take it for granted and focus on function, and that’s precisely because the builder didn’t take it for granted.

In a person, integrity comes down to honesty and a firm moral foundation. Like a building’s integrity, it’s something unseen, below the surface. Growing up, the definition of integrity that stuck with me was “doing the right thing when no one is looking”. When someone has integrity, they can add skills and abilities that will take them as far as they are worth in this world. If someone lacks integrity, it truly doesn’t matter how talented they are, because, like a building without structural integrity, it will all cave in.

Real estate transactions are complex. They rely on trust. There are several ways to build credibility that leads to trust, like intelligence, experience, and tenacity, but integrity underlies them all.

As we map out StackSource’s values, this is one we’re certain we want to start with. Integrity is the cornerstone of a person, or a company, that you can trust, and that’s the type of company I want to be involved in.

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