Ethics and Compliance

Abstract

George Washington, Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Jefferson and the other founding fathers of the United States were not inclined to comply with the law unless they had good reasons to do so, and those reasons are not provided by authoritarian declarations but by appeals to sound ethical principles. As we learned from the American Revolution, a demand for compliance without accompanying good reasons for complying creates resentment. I mention this because you need only attend one of my classes or workshops on the ethics of market conduct with insurance agents to see such resentment when the subject of compliance is brought up.