This month I feature three previous articles dealing with ethics. The first addresses the low esteem consumers often have for the industry. The second asks the question, based in part on consumer perceptions, is insurance truly a profession? The third provides a practical examination of an ethical issue.
March is Ethics Awareness Month
Gallup recently released it’s annual Honesty/Ethics in Professions poll. The good news? The category “insurance salespeople” is not in last place. The bad news? The only “professions” that finished worse were car salespeople and members of Congress.
Insurance as a Profession
Ask this question among your staff or others in the industry that you deal with: Is insurance a profession? Is an insurance agent, broker, underwriter, adjuster, consultant, etc. a professional? How do we view ourselves?
Ethics: The Adjuster Says it’s Covered Though the Agent Knows It Isn’t
Adjusters in two different claims have said that a claim is covered and are prepared to cut checks, but the agent in each claim knows the adjuster has overlooked a relevant exclusion. What should the agents do? What would legendary claims detective, Ace Insura, do?
On another note, next month I will be publishing my fourth book, “7 Maxims of Time Management.” For the foreseeable future, it will only be available as an ebook on Amazon. As a result, I might miss a couple of weeks or so of blogging. We’ll see. The reason is that the Preface of the book explains how I ‘invented’ time management when I was in college. Telling that story has inspired me to write a book for college students about being successful in school that I’m tentatively titling “What Would Mungo Do?” I’m going to try to write this book by summer or at least late fall so I can get back to work on a new insurance-related book that examines the industry from the past to the future.
Bill Wilson
Latest posts by Bill Wilson (see all)
- The Invisible But Potentially Catastrophic Homeowners Exclusion That’s Not An Exclusion - September 19, 2023
- Revisiting the Illusory Coverage Assertion Following a Claim Denial - September 19, 2023
- FREE Webcast: How to Survive and Thrive in a Hard Market - August 1, 2023
Insurance is a poorly practice trade. The practitioners have about as much esteem in the eyes of the public as an aluminum siding salesman. This is the reputation that has been earned over the last decades. Most practitioners cannot even Define the word Insurance correctly. Insurance clients have learned that the only time the insurance industry realized is when one of its Representatives opens its mouth. Ethics? Are you serious? Don’t make me laugh!