Integrity is inconvenient and yet essential

Pet Bautista —CONTRIBUTED

In business, integrity is easy to endorse and difficult to practice.

It rarely arrives as a dramatic crossroads. More often, it appears quietly—in a boardroom discussion, in a line item on a report, in a decision that feels uncomfortable but necessary.

Over the years, I have come to see that integrity is most tested when it disrupts comfort.

At San Miguel Beer, I once asked the board to consider something that had not been done in more than a century—reduce prices.

Tradition carries weight and history commands respect. But markets respond to reality, not legacy.

What mattered was protecting the brand for the future, not preserving a record.

In another chapter, at San Miguel Foods, we made the difficult decision to stop exporting prawns to Japan, even though we were the country’s largest exporter.

It had long been a source of pride. Yet the business had never truly generated sustainable returns. Continuing would have meant defending prestige rather than exercising discipline.

There were also moments that required stepping forward rather than stepping back.

At Wyeth, launching Promil over the counter challenged established norms.

Later, at Universal Robina Corp. (URC), introducing green tea in a PET bottle meant creating a market that did not yet exist. Both carried uncertainty. But the decisions were grounded in careful judgment, not impulse.

Looking back, the thread that connects these moments is not boldness or caution. It is clarity.

Clarity about what was true. Clarity about what was sustainable. Clarity about what we were unwilling to compromise.

Through the decades, I learned that integrity cannot reside only with the CEO.

It must live in the culture.

I tried to surround myself with people who understood that results matter—but how those results are achieved matters more.

We invested time developing leaders who valued transparency and fairness.

And when integrity was clearly absent, we addressed it firmly.

Talent can grow. Character must be protected.

Culture is shaped not only by who you reward, but by what you consistently refuse to tolerate.

I have made enough decisions to know which ones allow you to sleep peacefully years later. They are not always the easiest and rarely the most convenient. But they are the ones who safeguard trust.

Growth is important. Profit is necessary.

But integrity—especially when it is inconvenient—is what allows a brand and the people behind it to endure.

And integrity, not applause, is the true measure of leadership.

(The author has held top leadership roles as president of San Miguel Brewing, San Miguel Foods, Kraft Foods and PT Warner Lambert Indonesia, as well as managing director of URC. A recent recipient of the Mansmith CEO Lifetime Achievement Award, he will be sharing his insights on trust, strategy, opportunity and leadership at the 17th Mansmith Market Masters Conference on March 17, 2026. This event is open to the public.)