The year was 1904, our nation was much embroiled in the Industrial Revolution, the automobile was in its earliest stages of evolution, and the Wright brothers had just made their first machine-powered flight at Kitty Hawk, when a young professor of economics joined the faculty of the University of Pennsylvania’s famed Wharton School of Business. His name was Dr. Solomon S. Huebner. This young academician was hired by the university to teach his students about the security and commodity exchange markets.

Mildred F. Stone, CLU, wrote of this remarkable man and educator in her book entitled A Teacher Who Changed An Industry.

Early in his career, Dr. Huebner developed a genuine fascination for the subject of insurance, property and liability as well as life and health. As a professor of economics, his early interest soon developed into a deep admiration for the economic value of this remarkable product and the important role it played in the financial and moral fiber of our nation’s economy. His growing interest in our industry soon inspired him to write one of our nation’s first recognized texts on life insurance, which subsequently led him to teach the first college level course on the subject.

Throughout his career, Dr. Huebner looked upon those persons who sold insurance as performing a socially redeeming service for all of society. It was this deep conviction, coupled with his research, writing, and teaching on the subject, that soon led him to the belief that the work of the life underwriter was so socially important to society that it should be recognized as a profession.

In the immediate years following the Armstrong Investigation of 1905, Dr. Huebner’s thinking further crystallized. He became convinced that the life insurance industry must set about the task of professionalizing its unique calling by building upon those two basic pillars of professionalism, namely education coupled with professional ethics.

The rest of this story has become history. In 1914, Dr. Huebner made his first public speech regarding his idea of creating a professional designation program for the life underwriter before the Baltimore Association of Life Underwriters. His idea was not one which caught the immediate fancy of the industry. But through deep personal commitment (a word we shall discuss later on in more depth) and perseverance he, in time, gained the moral and financial support of the industry. And in 1927, the American College of Life Underwriters was incorporated in the District of Columbia with the enabling assistance and enthusiastic support of the National Association of Life Underwriters.

The CLU movement was finally underway, with the first class of graduates receiving the designation in 1928 at NALU’s annual meeting held in Detroit, Michigan. This first class was composed of 21 graduates including one woman and a trust officer of a New England bank—a mix of students which prophesied several industry trends which would develop in the decades to come.

By now you’re probably wondering why we are discussing such historical events in a column dedicated to dissertations on ethics. The answer lies in the very early principles upon which Dr. Huebner dedicated his work. As a scholar he knew that no profession could ever be successfully formed without the presence of two important underlying principles: that of a unique body of knowledge which could be taught to aspiring students and the development of a code of professional ethics. These he knew were the twin pillars of professionalism.

As members of the American Society we have already demonstrated our belief in and commitment to a lifelong process of education by acquiring our designation(s). Many of us have taken the second step by committing ourselves to keeping this knowledge viable and updated throughout our professional careers by participating in the Professional Achievement in Continuing Education program—PACE.

What is not always so clear, or as frequently discussed, is the absolute need for us to likewise commit ourselves to the highest standards of professional conduct as embodied in The American College’s Professional Pledge. There’s that idea of commitment again.

As has been so well stated by the American Society’s president, Donald H. Mehlig, CLU, ChFC, "Professionalism is built on commitment; a long-term commitment to education through programs such as PACE, and a lifetime of commitment to dealing with your clients with the highest degree of personal integrity and professional ethics." Don goes on to say, "This kind of professional commitment is not unlike the commitment which is required of one through marriage. We all know that you can live together, buy homes, raise families, without being married, but with marriage there is a very real difference. It’s called commitment."

This is the kind of ethical commitment our acceptance of the CLU designation demands of each and every one of us. It’s embodied in our Judeo Christian beliefs and expressed in the Golden Rule whose principles have been incorporated in our Professional Pledge.

Ethics is the cornerstone of our business because ethical conduct must be the anchor to which all social and business change must be tied. As our industry and practice evolve, they must move forward rooted on the very foundation of ethical behavior. Ethical behavior must be practiced not only by the life underwriter, but by our companies as well. If we were to lose this anchor, we would surely lose the ship of professionalism upon which we sail.

Our business is one of unique, long-term promises and long-term commitments made by the life underwriter on behalf of the insurance company; promises that are often not required to be fulfilled for 40 to 50 years. As a result, the industry’s one and only real product is a promise to pay.

Is it any wonder then that ours is a calling rooted in trust? We ask our clients to place their faith in us and in our companies for the delivery on the carrier’s promise—a promise that must be honored even when those clients are no longer alive to witness its fulfillment. It is clear that faith is the real commodity with which we deal. Without our commitment to ethical integrity to foster such trust, our industry would not survive long.

Our industry is moving into an era when this faith and trust will be severely tested by the marketplace and our clients. The past decade of policy replacements and illustration abuses has not strengthened our long-held position of trust. Therefore, it is even more important that you, the individual CLU, and your American Society, take a leadership role in our industry to rebuild our position of trust with the public. If not us, who? If not now, when?

It is for the precise reasons that the American Society has fostered the Professional Practice Guidelines to help curb policy illustration abuses by both agents and companies. It is why The American College has created a full-time professorship in Business Ethics and why the College, the Society, and our CPCU friends worked last year to create, for the first time ever, an insurance industry Ethics Awareness Week.

Our industry is coming under the magnifying glass of public scrutiny as our companies deal with the problems of financial security and profitability. Let us not expose ourselves to increased scrutiny through unscrupulous business practices. Because ours is an industry built on trust, it is imperative that we weed out unethical individuals whose conduct robs us all of public trust. We cannot be tolerant of the unethical practitioner.

In the process of rededicating yourself to ethical practice, set your personal standards high, base them on trust and the Golden Rule and, in so doing, develop a personal touchstone by which you may judge your own behavior.

John R. Coleman, PhD, former president of Haverford College and the author of "Blue Collar Journal," suggests that in your business and personal dealings with others, you check your ethical behavior by asking yourself the following question: "How would my children feel if they knew of my recent activities? Would they be embarrassed if they learned of my conduct or actions?"

Dr. Huebner did, indeed, have a dream. He did, in fact, change an industry by helping us to professionalize the noble calling of life underwriting. We have been endowed by a rich legacy left to us by the leaders of the past. But how will we treat this legacy? How will we leave this great business for the generation which is to follow? The poet, R.L. Sharpe, captured our opportunity best in these few simple lines:

Isn’t it strange

That princes and kings

And clowns that caper

In sawdust rings

And common people

Like you and me

Are builders for eternity?

Each is given a bag of tools

A shapeless mass

A book of rules

And each must make

Ere life has flown

A stumbling block

Or a stepping stone.

What we have inherited in the form of public trust has come from the builders of the past!

What we do in the future with what we have inherited will be the legacy we leave to our successors.

As a CLU or ChFC, as a professional life underwriter, the choice to be better than the minimum requirements of the law is yours!