Welcome again to March, which is National Ethics Month, sponsored by the CPCU Society and other fine insurance organizations. Here at "Policy Issues" we have a tradition of making ethics the focus of our March article.

Perhaps you wonder why we'd "waste" time with something as rhetorical as National Ethics Month. By the time you reach the age of pursuing a career such as insurance, shouldn't your ethics already be solidly grounded? If not, isn't it silly to try to persuade adults to take classes and attend luncheons where some speakers lecture them to do right and not wrong? To paraphrase a national publication expressing skepticism about the burst of ethics training requirements in many professions–including ours–hasn't that "morality" horse already left the barn?"Neigh!" say I, pun intended. The assumption that ethics is about "doing the right thing" and not being a sleaze makes what passes for a discussion or class on "ethics" less than useless. It's a bit late to preach honesty as a virtue to adult professionals. And it's borderline ridiculous to think that reviewing state trade practice regulations is going to convert the pond scum into high-principled practitioners.Get to the heart of true ethics and discover the value of ethics awareness and focus. Cut to the chase and realize the power of ethics is not in choosing right from wrong. We probably agree that those who happily do the wrong thing–for whatever reason–should be taken out and tied securely to railroad tracks. Rather, ethics is in choosing right from right.Consider the following case study, taken from my Street Level Ethics class and based on an actual incident.It was the biggest storm to hit the area in decades. You saw news stories, but nothing has prepared you for the total devastation you find when you arrive to set up the first catastrophe claims office for your carrier. The designated location is almost impossible to find, since street signs are gone and nearly every landmark has disappeared with the trees. There isn't an undamaged building for miles. Agents and insureds straggle into your claims trailer, begging for any assistance you could offer. Your plan had been to determine from local agents which of their insureds needed help the quickest and some idea of the coverage each had purchased. But the agencies were damaged as badly as their clients, and few client records are available. You have your computers, but phone lines are dead and the cellular towers are down. It will be days before you can connect to your carrier network and pull up needed information. For now, a growing line of insureds is forming at your door.

One agent tells you a major national carrier down the road is so swamped by claimants that they've started taking down names and handing each claimant a $5,000 check, telling them to get a place to stay and buy some food and clothing. The carrier will contact them later to start the formal claims process. You understand such compassion, but your feelings that that might not be a totally good idea are confirmed when the agent comments he knows some of the folks getting checks don't even have coverage with that carrier.