In working and relating to other people, a person of integrity will have to know how to make judgements with integrity.

There are people who teach that we should not judge anything about anyone. Yet the people who make such statements are themselves judgemental of those who exercise judgement. One of the TV networks ran a series of PSA spots featuring Actors who told people that no one should judge. However, notice every election cycle who it is that makes judgemental statements about the political candidates which they disapprove.

It is perfectly appropriate to say that a person should not use a criteria for condemning another if that same criteria applied to himself would also condemn him. It is also appropriate to say that you should not make judgements based solely on surface appearances.

A few months ago, Skip Angel wrote an article on the Ladder of Inference. This article showed how people use assumptions and ignorance to make evaluations of another person.

One area in which people exercise unfair judgement is in evaluating both motivation and intent. In order to establish a just evaluation of the motives or intents of another person you need many examples of that person's behavior which are truly relevant to the incident which is being evaluated.

After Vice-President Dick Cheney's accidental shooting of Harry Whittington, there was a lot of good-natured ribbing that was piled upon him. But every so often, a comment would be made that showed that some people were quick to judge Cheney's motives and intents. For example, Seth Godin accused Cheney of being too glib with his apology and likened it to Customer Service department recordings which use the vacuous phrase "Your Call is very important to us."

The fact is that neither I nor Seth Godin are in a proper position to evaluate the sincereity of Dick Cheney's display of remorse. Does he truly feel remorse? I do not know. Yet I believe that only the sanctimonious would assume that he does not.

If on the other hand, Dick Cheney's behavior towards Mr. Whittington in the days after the shooting and after the TV interview had on multiple occasions demonstrated hostility or cold indifference, then his conduct would have allowed for a fair assessment of Vice-President Cheney's attitude.

Another way in which people make judgements which are not based in integrity is that they make a prejudicial evaluation of another person and then watch for incidents which they feel corroborate their previous decision. There are many historical examples of Racists whose accumulation of anecdotal evidence never included examples of heroism, self-sacrifice and integrity, but only those anecdotes which suited their agenda driven presuppositions.

I have noticed a similar agenda driven attitude occurring among many politically active people concerning those of the opposite party. Yet many times, if they were evaluated by the same criteria by which they evaluate those whom they prejudicially view as scoundrels, they also would be found wanting.

It is important to exercise judgement with integrity. If the other person has a hardened Win-Lose attitude, you can not negotiate a win-win solution. This was one of the mistakes that Neville Chamberlain made in his efforts to negotiate with Adolph Hitler.

Yet it is just as much a mistake to assume that if a person begins negotiations with a Win-Lose attitude that they have a stubborn attitude. History also gives us examples of people who started off as adversaries but enjoyed a long and enduring relationship because they both avoided assuming that the other person was intransigent.

Have you ever had someone assume the worst regarding your motives or intents at a time when your motives were pure? What criteria should the other person have used in evaluating either your behavior or the things which you said?

The person who seeks to develop cohesive integrity will take the times in his life in which he was unfairly judged and view those times as beneficial to his own learning with regards to how he evaluates others.