Integrity as a way of being: a practitioner's theory of value.

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This paper reflects a deeply personal journey - one that began with uncomfortable questions about my own professional practice and evolved into a broader inquiry into what it means to work with integrity. After several decades in financial services, I found myself increasingly uncomfortable about the disconnect between my personal values and those often celebrated or rewarded professionally. Writing this autoethnographic piece was both challenging and liberating. It required me to confront my own complicity in systems I had begun to question, while also exploring how I might contribute to something more meaningful. The Integrity Wealth Model which emerged from my wider body of work and features in this paper is not just a theoretical framework, it is a lived practice. I also teach it to others, particularly financial practitioners seeking to align their work with their values. It seems many professionals are re-evaluating the sustainability of purely economic based models of business and increasingly people are seeking purpose, meaning and ethical alignment in their work - not just the financial outcomes. And yet, much like the investment markets, corporate attitudes toward issue such as sustainability, ESG and inclusivity seem to oscillate with the economic cycle. When times are good, these values gain prominence; in downturns, they often recede in favour of shorter-term priorities and profit first decision making. This paper proposes a framework for transformation that transcends the economic -one grounded in personal integrity rather than market sentiment. I invite readers not to see this as a criticism of their current practices, but rather as an opportunity to reflect on how their professional lives might be brought into closer alignment with their personal values. The world urgently needs practitioners willing to question accepted norms and model a different way of being in business. This is my contribution to that ongoing conversation.

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