Three cars ahead of me he stepped out into traffic. It was the morning rush hour so everyone was inching along – he was not in any kind of real danger. Unbeknownst to me, I was the one who was in danger.

He waved on the car in front of me, then he pointed directly at me and flagged me over.

Dang, not a good way to start the day. Why on earth was this officer pulling me over? I wasn’t speeding. I wasn’t texting or checking emails. I’m clean – no skeletons in my closet.

Then a tinge of guilt shot through my veins…

Oh yeah, I haven’t permanently affixed my front license plate to my vehicle yet. I knew I was busted before he came to my window. I took a quick scan around the other cars pulled over in this little cul-de-sac: Mercedes, BMWs, Audis – none with front license plates. I had it in the glove box of my car. I just hadn’t gotten around to buying the self-tapping screws to permanently affix it to my grill.

My car came from out of province, where it wasn’t required to have a front license plate. In British Columbia you’re required to have one. However, my grill doesn’t have a specific space for the plate and a new grill would cost close to $500. After checking I discovered there are no aftermarket brackets to accommodate a plate on my vehicle.

I had 2 choices: spend the hundreds of dollars for a new grill. Or, buy self-tapping screws and affix it to my current grill. Or, I guess there was a third option that I chose: do nothing, keep the plate in my glove box and hope I wouldn’t get caught, or if I did I could talk my way out of it, or simply pay the fine(s) as they come.

I had had one warning already from an officer, but this day there was no second warning. I was issued a ticket and I knew I deserved it. It was time to pay the man. I should’ve done something about this months ago, but I didn’t.

You know why I hadn’t done anything about it?

It’s the same reasoning that causes many leaders to destroy their organizations and their own lives. It’s the reason behind many a grand and glorious downfall. It’s the reason why corporate giants who seem impervious to failure, can and do actually fail. It’s the reason why well respected national and international institutions lose respect and fall into decay.

It’s a lack of integrity.

I failed to hold myself to a high moral standard. I knew I was breaking the law. I thought it was a silly law, but that makes it no less legal. Sadly though, this isn’t the real reason behind my actions. The belief I had, which can be shared by many leaders in positions of power, affluence, influence and authority is this:

“The rules don’t apply to me. Sure, they apply to everyone else, but they don’t apply to me.”

Now, you may think this is a little silly when we apply it to a front license plate. But it’s that same thinking, that “somehow the rules don’t apply to me”, and the “I can get away with this” mentality, that is the root cause of many, many failures.

Leaders can be seduced by their own success and power.   One of the ways this seduction takes place is a core belief that they’re special, they’re unique and can, therefore, live and lead by different rules than those whom they’re leading. This is a form of self-deception. Leaders can easily deceive themselves into thinking they can get away with things their people never could.

Don’t kid yourself. You cannot lead by a different set of standards than you expect from your people – unless it is a higher standard. Manipulating your power and influence for your own personal gain will ultimately come back to haunt you. A lack of integrity in the little issues, turns into a lack of integrity in the big issues.

So, be honest with yourself, do you sometimes think the rules don’t apply to you?

Don’t kid yourself. Integrity wins every time.