Ethical intelligence & Good decision-making Financial Counsellors Australia 2012 Conference

1. Ethical intelligence &Good decision-making Financial Counsellors Australia2012 Conference

2. What is ethics?

3. Ethics is about answering a very practical and far-reaching question: What ought one do? What is ethics?

4. Which is often connected with the question: What is a good life? And the question: What is a good society? What is ethics?

5. It’s about understanding (and pursuing) what’s important in a complex and choice laden world: • asking what’s important to me and what’s important to others and how they’re connected What is ethics?

6. Often ethics is in the grey zone • Competition between different: • values • stakeholders • Different decision making frameworks and perspectives What is ethics?

7. Reflection and discussion Ethics is about reflecting on and discussing ‘what ought one do?’; having a conversation about the right thing to do Ethical organisations foster an environment of open and productive reflection and discussion to enable good decision-making and action Diversity is crucial What is ethics?

8. Why ethics?

9. Yes, ethics is about looking beyond individual immediate self interest; about building a better society, a better world But also, ethics is about making better decisions which advance the long term, considered interests of individuals and organisations Why ethics?

11. Ethics and laws, rulesand customs

12. Ethicsand thelaw Just because something is legally permissible does not make it ethical Sometimes it may be ethical to break the law

13. Like society, organisations and professions need a basic structure of rules • But can’t regulate, supervise everything (cost; practicality) • Over-reliance on rules-based compliance systems can cause individuals to lose their capacity to make responsible decisions: • lose sense of personal responsibility • lose the skill • After ticking all the internal and external regulatory boxes, the question remains: Is this the right thing to do? Ethicsand (rulesbased) compliance, regulation

15. Ethics and professionals

16. What is a profession? • Professions enjoy privileges e.g.: • Preferential right of practice • Right to self-regulate • Community status • The bargain with society: the grant of privilege must be in the interests of society as a whole • Doctors to pursue social good in advancing health • Lawyers to pursue social good in advancing justice • Financial counsellors to pursue social goodin advancing ……………. Ethicsand professions

17. Ethicsand professional financial counsellors • How is this duty to society to be fulfilled? • Simply by observing the counsellor’s duty to their clients? • What about: • Facilitating client in achieving legal purpose, though generally harmful to society • Facilitating client in achieving legal and worthy purpose, though by unethical means • Can counsellors ethically suspend their judgement about the ethics of their clients’ plans?

18. Ethicsand professional financial counsellors • Client wants and needs • Diabetic approaches doctor, wanting to eat chocolate • Counsellor’s role beyond technician and facilitator: • as advisor, guide, leader • Bringing to bear your expertise and experience on the question ‘what ought one do’ • What are the client’s real interests? • Your role as a trusted advisor

19. St James Ethics Centre: Ethi-call www.ethics.org.au