As a self-development coach to financial advisors, I get excited when I'm figuring out how to help people make better personal decisions. Sometimes it just takes logic. Sometimes it takes hypnotherapy. Sometimes it takes a family intervention. Today, it takes an intense look at the Thing we call "your personal business ethics." What could be more personal than that?

Imagine that you've just been given the responsibility to make sure all in-coming advisors are ethical. What will you do? Remember, your reputation is on the line. If any of the new hires is found in breach of ethics, you're responsible for the failure.

You could be imaginative and blackmail them into making ethical decisions: "One false move and I'll publish this photo of you in the thong." Perhaps a more logical place to start is BEFORE they come into the business. Doesn't it seem logical that if you can reach them while they're still in college, you could have a head start on forming their professional character? Surely the elite universities are already doing this – right?

Maybe not. Enron's former chief executive Jeffrey Skilling earned an MBA from Harvard Business School. Enron's former Chief Financial Officer Andrew Fastow graduated from Kellogg. If two such respected schools can produce people with such abhorrent ethics, perhaps those universities are aren't doing it right. Let's fantisize for a minute.

If you were the new Dean of Ethics of Harvard Business School, what would you do to make sure your future grads didn't add more black eyes to your hallowed halls? See if you agree with any of these ideas:

1. Mandate that all business majors take at least one class in ethics – every semester.
2. Require an exit interview requiring all new grads to prove their knowledge of ethical behavior.
3. Make graduation dependent on satisfactorily completing a research paper on appropriate ethical behavior.
4. Require that all applicants to MBA programs complete 10 hours of community service working with sexual predators, drug/alcohol addicts, convicted felons and other groups with consistently dysfunctional ethics.

Our culture (and industry) has some serious problems at its core – behavior. Given a chance, we seem to make heinous decisions and act accordingly. We either don't know how to make an ethical decision, or we look the other way when we can benefit.

If a crime is committed in the forest, is the perpetrator still guilty?

Categorically, it is hypocritical to expect others to meet a standard that we cannot meet, as well. It's also a breach of ethics. When I taught equestrian arts, I never asked my students to do anything I couldn't do. That's how it should be, right? Coaching a self-development client, I never require my client to explore processes or techniques I have not already practiced on myself. Isn't that fair? What about you? If you're recommending these things to your clients, do you have your own financial plan? Estate plan? Disability or LTC insurance?

One "puzzle" I see a lot these days concerns consultive selling. You have a personal conversation with the prospect. He gets to know you as the expert and opens an account based on the trust you develop in that conversation. I discover that many advisors who use a consultive approach have not answered the questions for themselves. Isn't that a little bit manipulative?

Let's look at some specific situations and see how you rate. Remember, there's no gray here. It's either yes or no – and a "no" constitutes a breach of ethics.

• Scenario One. In the financial and insurance industry, the main focus is on production. Your employer hired you to sell products. You implied by accepting the job that you can and will sell products. So, when you find yourself in a typical sales situation, are you acting ethically by fulfilling your contract with your employer, or by taking care of the client?
• Scenario Two. The client has a problem and you have a product. Is your product the best solution for that client? Or is it less than best? Of course, less than best is a breach of ethics.
• Scenario Three. You recommend the client move money. You can suggest a product that gives you a commission or one that doesn't. How much influence does the commission exert? If any, isn't that a breach of ethics?
• Scenario Four. A vendor invites you to a golf outing at Pebble Beach. Do you then repay the favor by recommending that vendor's products? That could be a breach of ethics. In fact, the NASD suggests that it is. (Send me an email, and I'll send you the NASD ruling on gifts. I'll also offer an alternative.)

As I've combined different elements from different area of my training and experience, I think I've come up with a simple, logical way to determine if your actions are headed in an ethical direction. There are three ways to approach any situation:

1. One Point. This approach looks inward and satisfies only you. It indicates that you're probably operating from the perspective that we live in a world of scarcity and you need to get your share while you can. This self-serving approach is dysfunctional and destructive. Applying this ethic means that everyone loses. Obviously, this is the Enron approach to business behavior.

Many years ago, I was hired to interview the top sales people for a firm that marketed LTC. One of these people told me that he'd talk with the family, promise the moon, collect the check and never look back. He actually laughed when he described the process, knowing that the new policy holders would never receive service. In my mind, that is the floor of the bottom. It represents such a self-serving ethic that you have to wonder how abused that person was as a child in order to have turned out to be such a dismal adult.

Imagine your CPA says, "Let's not claim that trip to Maui as a business expense. It will invite an audit." She is operating from the ethic of satisfying three points – achieving the greatest good. When you advise a client to move money into a product, although it doesn't give you a commission, that's operating from the greatest good. Everyone wins. When you refuse to take action on a company directive that could place your client in an unfavorable position, that's operating from the greatest good.

One of the larger financial firms announced that its advisors were now consultive advisors. That means they would give objective advice focused solely on the client's best interest. That same month, they released a memo announcing that advisors had to move more product. What would you do in that situation?

In the course of reading this article, did you get the impression that I was preaching? I hope not; that's not my way. Did you get a glimpse of yourself in any of the examples? Again, I hope not, but I tried to find common situations in hopes that they would at least perplex you.