Like it or not, the world has become more cynical and skeptical of business than ever. Most of the blame for this condition falls squarely on the shoulders of big business leaders, from Enron almost a decade ago to Madoff, Goldman Sachs, Bank of America, and General Motors today. In some cases, business leaders are downright immoral. In other cases, they are insensitive or incompetent.

Regardless, small- and mid-sized business owners now bear much of the brunt of this cynicism, whether fair or not.

As a result, this is a wonderful time to assess your business in the context of integrity. I believe that integrity is a key hot button word in business today. If you have it in your business -- so deeply that you don't have to boast about it -- your business will be a leader.

Integrity in business has a few layers of meaning:

One: You keep your word. If you make a promise to a customer or vendor, you go out of your way to keep your promise. For instance, you don't delay vendor invoices without reason, promise a delivery date to a customer and then miss it, or quote a price to a prospect and then add on extra fees that you never disclosed. Your marketing collateral under-promises, so that your business can over-deliver.

Two: You bake "reliability" into the fabric of your business. A business keeps the promise of its brand and marketing materials day in and day out, through consistent, reliable results. Every single customer interaction should be consistent and positive.

Three: You are willing to look deeply at your business practices and constantly improve them. The root of the word integrity has to do with wholeness. You want a business that is whole. This means creating a business that is complete, that is a working system -- with or without your being there to oversee the details. This point goes hand in hand with the previous point, creating a reliable business. If you strive for improvement in everything you do, your business can only become more and more reliable. Here, improvement means everything from operations and efficiency to quality, safety, and environmental impact.

Four: Your business treats everyone it contacts with dignity and respect. This includes vendors and employees. It is your call whether it makes sense to offer best-in-class benefits to employees or not; after all, benefits are expensive and you are running a business. However, integrity means that you take an interest in your employees and their aspirations, help them develop skills, give them opportunities to grow the business by taking on more responsibility, and give them the tools they need to succeed. You care about them as people.

Five: You do what is right in your community and society. Businesses with integrity don't harm the environment or their community, and also strive to give something back. We all know the businesses in our community who have integrity on this point. They are the ones that encourage employees to volunteer, that sponsor local events and non-profit organizations, and that help out people in need. It is fine to do these things in order to be more visible and get a marketing benefit; however, doing good is part of the culture of businesses with integrity. A "whole" business is one that recognizes its place in the community at large.

Six: You contribute. The essence of the previous five points, and the essence of any business, is that you contribute. You add value. You make things better, not worse. In fact -- unlike with government -- you add so much value that people voluntarily pay for your products and services. Integrity is about making a contribution, one that has customers walk away saying, "Wow, I got great value for my money." Society may look down on businesses for asking for money in exchange for our contributions, but in my judgment business is the most honest way to contribute. In an honest business transaction, there is never any doubt that both parties walk away satisfied about the mutual value they have received.

We all think we are people of integrity. We take offense whenever anyone suggests we don't have integrity. However, people with true integrity do something extraordinary: They realize that no one has complete integrity. They look for places where they have room to improve, fill those holes (to make the business and their lives whole), and keep looking for other areas to improve. It is an ongoing process.