On a recent business trip, I read an article on business ethics in an airline magazine. The article, entitled "Ethically Speaking," was written by Patricia Haddock and Marilyn Manning, PhD. It appeared in the March 1990 issue of Sky magazine.

The article began with a quotation from Mark Twain: "Always do right. This will surprise some people and astonish the rest."

For those who aspire to be professionals, this quotation cannot be applicable. We must live our business and personal lives in such a manner that people expect us to do the right thing and would be astonished if we did not.

The acquisition of such a reputation is absolutely vital if we are to conduct our business based upon our clients� trust rather than caveat emptor.

In their article, Haddock and Manning relate the following story about the effect upon a business of an ethical code.

"In 1932, a Chicago Rotarian was asked to save a business from bankruptcy by strengthening its moral character in order for it to stand out from its competition. The Rotarian came up with four key questions to establish a code of ethics for the company. This code has become known as The Four-Way Test. It requires that four simple questions be asked:

Repeated use of The Four-Way Test caused the company to change its policies toward competitors. Employees stopped making adverse comments about the competitors� products, and when they found opportunities to speak well of the competition, they did so. They also applied The Four-Way Test to relationships with employees, suppliers, and customers.

The company went from near bankruptcy to becoming a multimillion-dollar business. It enjoys the increasing goodwill and confidence of its customers, competitors, and the public. The company believes that the application of The Four-Way Test is the reason for its success.

By applying The Four-Way Test, it is easier to make decisions that fall into gray areas. For example, when we talk about the features of our products, are we obliged to admit negative features if we are aware of them? Remember, The Four-Way Test would require us to ask such questions as "Is failure to disclose fair to all concerned?" and "Will not disclosing build goodwill?"¹

While this story has a happy ending, Robbin Derry, Chairholder and Associate Professor-Management at The American College, has stated that one should not adopt ethics because it leads to financial success. There are many examples in history where adherence to a high moral standard has wrought terrible consequences. Instead, we should do the right thing because it is the right thing to do.

As a moral imperative, the last sentence of the previous paragraph will do nicely. However, a professional society and the members who support its Code of Ethics must struggle to answer a most difficult question: How do you get people to do the right thing always? Stated more simply: Can ethics be taught? The answer is that ethical behavior, like skilled piano playing, is acquired only by teaching and by practice.

Any parent can attest to the fact that we are not born with an innate sense of ethical behavior. Somewhere near the age of two, we begin to learn that everything within reach is not "mine." According to Professor Michael Levin at City College of New York, "Moral behavior is the product of training, not reflection. As Aristotle stressed thousands of years ago, you get a good adult by habituating a good child to doing the right thing. Praise for truth-telling and sanctions for fibbing will, in time, make him �naturally� honest."

I must stress that mere knowledge of what is right and what is wrong does not make a person ethical any more than living in a garage will make a person a car. Great skill at the piano is acquired only when knowledge and technique become automatic. The same is true of ethics. In Levin�s words: "Honest people don�t have to think how to answer under oath."

It is clear that insurance producers are striving towards acceptance as professionals. It is an expensive road. Replacing customers and caveat emptor with clients and trust permits clients to sue when the advice is bad. Becoming an adviser to clients requires giving advice that is in the clients� best interest.

I once heard a prominent figure in the life insurance business say, "What obligation does a life insurance agent have to point out the deficiencies in his own product? Damn little I say!" That kind of thinking is not an example of professionalism. It is a roadblock in the path to professional status.

The Four-Way Test is a simple system, and a good one. But I submit that it is lacking one element to make it satisfactory for a profession. That element is altruism. For members of the American Society, it is not enough that an act be merely fair and beneficial to all concerned. We have the ethical obligation to put our clients� interests before our own. That is a far higher standard because it requires us to act on our principles�sometimes to our own detriment.

As you conduct your practice, consider this idea from Professor Levin: "Telling right from wrong in everyday life is not that hard; the hard part is overcoming laziness and cowardice to do what one perfectly well knows one should. As every parent learns, only good examples and apt incentives can induce that strength."²