Of course I knew who Joan of Arc was.
Or I thought I did.
Recently, I actually listened to her story.
Wow.
A teenage girl in the 1400s, with no military training, helped change the course of a war. She was captured, put on trial, condemned as a heretic, and burned at the stake at just 19 years old.
But it wasn't her military accomplishments that stayed with me.
It was her extraordinary self-integrity.
Joan knew who she was. And what she believed.
Yet she was surrounded by people telling her she was wrong.
People with authority.
People with power.
People who could determine whether she lived or died.
Under enormous pressure, for a moment, she accepted their truth, signing a document written in a language she could not read and relying on what she was told it said.
But when she understood what it meant—that she would have to deny her truth—she couldn't do it.
She took it back.
She returned to what she knew to be true for herself.
Even knowing the consequences.
Self-integrity doesn't necessarily mean never losing yourself. Sometimes it means finding your way back.
Twenty-five years after her death, another court reviewed the original proceedings, declared the conviction invalid, and cleared her name.
But Joan never got to know that.
And maybe that's the part I've been thinking about most.
She wasn't waiting for vindication, or public opinion, or anyone to agree with her.
She had herself.
To me, that's self-integrity(!).
Knowing what is true for you when the voices outside of you are incredibly loud.
And yes, as leaders, we need to listen.
To our teams. Our bosses. Our clients. Experts. Data. Feedback.
But at some point, we also have to know our own voice.
Because integrity isn't knowing what you believe because others agree with you.
Integrity is knowing what you believe, even when they don't.
❤️ Heidi