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February 11, 2015 at 12:00 AM
Shortly after the first test ever was created, someone found a way to cheat on it.
Cheating on a test. It’s bad enough when students do it, but when professionals do it, it speaks volumes about their ethics—or rather their lack thereof.
When a student cheats on a test the end result is he is cheating himself. But when a professional cheats on a test that allows him to earn or keep his insurance license, a particular type of product, or perhaps a professional designation, he is cheating not only himself, but also the people who put their trust in him. That would be all of his clients and prospects.
There are many stories about the occasional star athlete in college who finds a way to have another student take a test for them. The stand-in takes and passes the test, and the star athlete gets to stay on the field.
This happens in the business world, too. Here’s an example, courtesy of William K. “Bud” Bridgers, FLMI, CLTC, a financial services professional in Pleasant Grove, Utah, who has made ethics and compliance a priority throughout his four-plus decade career.
“Because I was deeply committed to long-term care insurance at the time and well-versed in it, and because all advisors had to take an 8-unit CE class every two years in order to continue to be authorized to sell long-term care insurance, I was asked by several investment advisors to take the exam for them, for which they would pay me $100,” Bridgers said.
“Of course, I refused. But, the reaction of the advisors is what really surprised me. They were offended,” he said. “One pointed out that he had bailed me out of a problem before and that I was forgetting about that in refusing to take the test for him.”
