Businesses give plenty of lip service to ethics, but you have to wonder how many really take it seriously. Corporations are awash in sensitivity training, sexual harassment prevention workshops and other endless efforts to promote ethics. Yet many of these same businesses have also contributed to the financial mess we’re in today — by promoting salary and bonus policies that emphasize profit over common sense.

The issue of ethics, or lack thereof, is exacerbated in tough economic times. It’s no surprise that insurance fraud is up across the board for the first half of 2009, according to the NICB, or that crimes like burglaries and break-ins are on the rise in even the safest communities.  I currently serve on the national ethics committee of the American Society of Business Publication Editors (ASBPE), where the convergence of print and online content have blurred the line between editorial and advertisement – at a crucial time when advertising dollars are growing ever scarcer. When businesses are fighting for survival, the concept of ethics can seem like a quaint anachronism from a more profitable past.

Ironically, as times get tougher, ethics become more important — or should.  AA&B ran a “Last Word” editorial in April by a programs insurance broker who blamed the seemingly endless soft market for the cutthroat competition that was trumping professionalism and in-depth customer knowledge. She complained that unethical newcomers were passing themselves off as experts and using discount rates to entice formerly loyal clients, who, financially squeezed themselves, were seduced by cheaper premiums. Think of the E&O claims that await an agent or broker who doesn’t really understand a client’s risk!

On a larger scale, the lack of ethics in the financial services industry has not only put us into a global recession, but now has the Feds breathing down the industry’s neck for tighter regulation. Based on the industry’s past irresponsibility, this should neither be surprising nor unwarranted.

That’s why the CPCU Society‘s recent unveiling of “A Guide to Organizational Ethics Policy” couldn’t come at a better time.  The Society’s ethics committee collected 75 ethical codes of conduct from different insurance organizations and compiled a list of 12 steps an insurance business can take to ensure it is operating ethically.

Not surprisingly, the first and most impotant step is to “create an ethical mission of the organization,” a single sentence that broadly describes the organization’s goal. Sample statements include “Treat customers, vendors, employees, owners and regulators as we would wish to be treated,” or “Place the interests of those with whom we have business relationships above our own interests.” The other 11 steps boil down to communicating and enforcing this statement.

Does your agency have an ethics policy? Tell us about it, and why it was adopted.

It’s hard to believe it’s been 8 years since the terrorist attacks on the WTC and the Pentagon. Do you remember what you were doing when it happened?

I was driving north on 294 on my way to work at NAII (now PCI) and listening to erstwhile Chicago radio shock-jock Mancow Muller gibbering about a plane hitting first one tower, then the second. By the time I walked into the office, the news about the Pentagon attack was being broadcast. My first thought was that a massive planned air attack was moving west, and that a downtown Chicago target would be next on the list.

Of course, there weren’t any attacks on Chicago, but that didn’t keep the events of that day from changing all of our lives, on both a professional and personal level. I recall spending the next week or so in a state of shock and uncertainty. When would another attack happen? Where was Osama bin Laden? Were there still people buried alive in the WTC rubble? How could insurance craft coverage and pricing to protect against similar events? And how could someone write about the impact of such an unprecedented event when history was still happening?

I wasn’t alone. Both businesses and people were afraid to travel, conduct business, make long-term plans. 9/11 may not have launched the recession of the early 2000s, but it sure didn’t help. In the aftermath, a burgeoning global recession went viral, following heady years of stock market growth, dot-com mania, and relief that we dodged the 1999 Y2K or Armegeddon bullet. 

Ultimately, of course, insurance took a huge hit — between property, business interruption, aviation, workers’ comp, life and liability payouts, the cost came to almost $40 billion, according to III. The human cost was much higher.  Zurich, Marsh and Aon, all of which had offices in the Twin Towers, had their share of fatalities among the almost 3,000 who died as a result of the attacks.

Today, in spite of a couple of wars and the Dept. of Homeland Security, we don’t seem to be any safer. According to risk modeling firm Risk Management Solutions (RMS), potential insured losses from a terrorist attack rose 8 percent in 2008, based on the growing threat of chemical and biological attacks. (This doesn’t even take into account the threat of cyber-terrorism, which could wreak more havoc on the civilized world than a dozen 9/11s).

We live in a world that has been unalterably changed because of what happened on 9/11. Today’s children, many of whom can never know what things were like before the threat of global terrorism, can never comprehend the more carefree times we were lucky enough to have experienced. It’s pretty sad when you have to pity the young.

Texting while driving (TWD) has been in the news a lot lately — most recently because of a new gone-viral video on YouTube that dramatizes its dangers. Although it’s frequently lumped into the category of “distracted driving,” TWD is a far cry from just talking on a cell phone. Talking basically translates to a phone and a crunched-up shoulder, leaving one hand free for steering. For the unskilled among us, TWD frequently requires the use of both hands — one to hold the device and the other to text. It also involves translating abstract thought into written language, no matter how truncated that language may be. Most importantly, TWD requires a driver to take his eyes off the road, making it both mentally and physically distracting. 

While drunk driving is being driven into oblivion by a convergence of tougher policing and DUI laws and social pressure from groups like MADD and the general public, TWD doesn’t seem to have the same stigma. Drunk driving is bad in part because it suggests a lack of a self-control. Texting while driving frequently involves work — and in today’s neo-Puritanical society where people are working longer and harder than ever, what could possibly be wrong with working constantly, even behind the wheel?

And guess what? Your peers are not only doing it, but admitting to it.  We conduct a weekly “quick poll” on the AA&B Web site, with questions ranging from the silly (name your favorite fast food) to the serious (weighing in on the health insurance reform debate). The question that has gotten the biggest response so far was, “Have you ever texted while driving?” — and almost a third of the respondents admitted that they had. If TWD levels are that significant among insurance people – who should really know better – the numbers are probably much higher in the general population.

While unscientific, our survey suggests that TWD isn’t the exclusive domain of Gen Y-ers, who I don’t think comprise much of AA&B‘s readership. Text-intensive social networks like Twitter are peopled primarily by the 35-and-up demographic. Maybe it’s just me, but the thought of a horde of aging drivers texting and hurtling down the expressway at 85 mph in their 5,000-pound SUVs beats the hell out of any Stephen King novel for scare value.

But the tide may be turning. Some states are passing laws prohibiting TWD, and federal legislation is on the table as well. A recent survey by Nationwide Insurance found that 80 percent of Americans favor a ban on texting while driving, while two thirds favor a ban on cell phone calls, and more than half say they would support a ban on cell phone use altogether.

It’s unclear whether any laws will really stop the hard-core from texting while driving, but at least it might make them stop and think — even if they’re only thinking about avoiding a costly ticket or better yet, a jail sentence.

And for those of you who are proud of your TWD ways — please let me know when you plan on being on the road so I can stay home.