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For Bracher, integrity
matters
By Kelly Nix
The Salinas Californian
Jim Bracher has made integrity his life’s work
– and he keeps finding new ways to spread the
gospel.
His latest venture is a book called Integrity Matters,
which he co-authored with partner Daniel Halloran. Bracher
[and Halloran] today will sign copies of the book at
the California State University, Monterey Bay, where
it will become required reading in some business courses.
Bracher was ordained into the Christian ministry of
the [Congregational Church (United Church) in 1970],
later becoming a corporate leadership consultant in
1980. In 2002 Jim founded the Bracher Center for Integrity
in Leadership in Monterey. This past winter, he began
working with the Boys and Girls Clubs of Monterey County
on ways to teach life values to young people.
The new 200-page hardback, Integrity Matters,
due out in bookstores May 3, explores how honesty, openness
and fairness come to the fore in both business and personal
life. It’s already available on amazon.com.
Integrity Matters grew out of Bracher’s
weekly question-and-response column of the same name,
which since December 2002 has appeared on the Business
page of The Salinas Californian and also in El Sol.
In the book, Halloran has added context and background
that’s woven among columns organized around what
the authors call the “Eight Attributes of an Integrity-Centered
Company.”
Integrity Matters is a road map for renewing
values in an all-too-often-directionless society,”
Bracher said last week.
‘Full of anecdotes’
The “Eight Attributes” - a structure inspired
by a column reader’s question – are:
- Character
- Honesty
- Openness
- Authority
- Partnership
- Performance
- Charity
- Graciousness
Despite its weighty subject, the book is not a daunting
read, said Scott Warrington, vice president of the university
advancement at CSUMB.
“It’s full of tremendous anecdotes about
life in the business world and life in general,”
Warrington said. “We think the university benefits
110 percent with our association with him.”
Bracher and Halloran have donated 200 copies of Integrity
Matters to the university for sale as a fund-raiser.
They’re also donating copies to the National Steinbeck
Center next month.
Bracher, 58, left a 10-year career as a clergyman to
found Monterey-based Dimension Five Consultants Inc.
His experiences as a leadership consultant working with
many large corporations gave him insights that helped
inspire the Center for Integrity in Leadership, he said.
“I knew a lot of business people, and they built
their business on integrity and leadership,” Bracher
said. “Integrity-centered leadership is the only
reliable foundation for long term success.”
Sharing message with youth
Just as business leaders encouraged him, Bracher is
taking his message of integrity to 7-to 18-year-olds
at the Boys and Girls Clubs of Monterey County.
In a series of integrity workshops, which began in
February, he explains to young people the “Eight
Attributes” before asking them what they mean
to them.
“I wasn’t sure I would be able to talk
[with] 8-year-olds,” Bracher said.
But Steve Metzger, board member with the local Boys
and Girls Clubs organization, said Bracher has a way
of making the elements of integrity tangible to children
and young adults.
“When someone borrows your baseball bat and doesn’t
return it … these are things they can relate to,”
Metzger said.
Bracher and Halloran are currently writing another
book on executive leadership that could be released
by the end of this year. A title has not been chosen.
Bracher is eager to see his integrity message reach
Salinas-area young people and beyond. With his newspaper
column, book, a Web site [www.brachercenter.com] and
other plans still in the works, he’s hoping for
a global audience.
“We want to expand both the national and international
conversation on integrity,” he said. “So
the “Eight Attributes” can literally move
thinking to planning on to discussion, decision-making
and behavior. It’s a pretty grand hope.”
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Matters main page
