Finance Monthly April 2020 Edition

met as evidenced by a certificate of insurance. To obtain this certificate, the prospective client chooses the unusually low-cost certificate provided by the unethical broker (the drug dealer) who has falsely manipulated the project details and operations. The unethical broker celebrates his sale, the prospective client earns a project deal, and the job owner suffers betrayal from both of them, unknowingly taking the biggest risk and paying the biggest price in the event of a claim or significant loss for which there was not adequate insurance coverage. At least, the fatality results in quite a show. It puts lives at risk, wastes time, breaks companies apart, destroys reputations, and puts honest people before a judge. I have previously pointed out these unethical dynamics to potential clients, spending valuable time doing so and was astounded to see that some were unphased, to be concerned by dollar signs only, even asking, “Why should I care, I don’t know the job owner.” Consequently, I have been deeply disheartened regarding the ethics within my field. The most devastating part to me is not that I have lost potentially valuable clients due to the unethical practice of brokers willing to put others at risk. It is not also that I have witnessed before my eyes the willingness of another to trade or accept unethical services for money. It is that I have tasted and felt the decision of another’s willingness to profit at the harmful risk of an innocent third party. Listen, I am certainly not the sinless one to cast the first stone and no one is, but when it comes to business and the safety of others, I will suggest that we take a deeper look at this unethical dynamic occurring quite regularly. How do ethical insurance practices look different from unethical ones? Incontinuationof theaforementioned dynamic, let’s replace the drug dealer with an honest pharmacist. The honest pharmacist (an ethical broker) engages in the lawful distribution of medications (or insurance products). The honest pharmacist is not greedy for a sale, assumes the parent’s best interest and carries himself with integrity as he sends the teenager away. The pharmacist does the right thing when no one is looking and is willing to lose a deal for integrity’s sake. He takes into account the ripple effect of his actions and in doing so, forwards the growth and advancement of his industry overall. His character comes before monetary gain and this is evident by his choices, not his sales pitch which is a commonly used device among the unethical brokers seeking to appear honest. Both a drug dealer and pharmacist look credible, so to speak, in a suit and tie. Therefore, we must be careful in distinguishing the appearance of honesty from ethics which account for two very different types of insurance brokers. One of my most frequently asked questions is: “What is that difference between an honest broker and an ethical broker?”. I like to compare the difference to a person with talent and a person with skills. A person with talent has the natural ability to achieve great things where a person with skills uses and applies that talent in everyday life to achieve amazing things. “Honest” brokers have the potential for greatness but with a missing trail of evidence, they are only halfway there. Ethical brokers, on the other hand, harness their natural talent and apply it to everyday insurance practice. They live out their moral principles and tangibly obtain ethical outcomes that “honest” brokers merely speak of. Ethical brokers have fully arrived at greatness followed by their ethical trail of actions which can number in the hundreds of thousands. Ethical brokers can build empires by their foundational practices and stand apart significantly if we watch what they do. How do you practice ethical behaviour in an unethical environment? As I alluded to, there is a widespread practice of manipulating business numbers by altering class codes and It is possible to do be ethical and to be successful at the same time. 14 www.finance-monthly.com FRONT COVER FEATURE - ETHICAL INSURANCE