Caitlyn McBride

FINA 3301 Section 1

Personal Ethics Statement
November 20, 2014

Nearly everyone strives to live their lives ethically, but everyone defines these ethics in a very
personal manner. For me, I choose to consider my decisions in context of the bigger picture. I feel as
though in order to be ethical you must acknowledge that there is a system and some actions must be
made for the good of the system, even at some personal cost. It is also my opinion that if the costs to
support a system are very large, questions must be raised as to the systems ethicality as a whole before
you can make your own decision. I also firmly believe in the Broken Window Theory as it applies to an
ethical code: once you make a single exception, no matter how small, your ability and likeliness of
rationalizing additional deviations greatly increases. I certainly do not wish to ever break a window.

I apply this viewpoint both personally and professionally as it is hypocritical to apply a double
standard to yourself. I ask myself how an action might affect my employer, coworkers, friends, society,
and me. This sounds large and lofty, but it simply means that I carefully consider the ramifications of my
decisions and take action based on more than personal consequences. Generally, interests are not in
conflict. However, ethical dilemmas are inevitable and often are defining moments in your life and
career. I have committed to myself that I will face each dilemma as objectively as possible with careful
consideration of the law and any parties involved. Loyalty, honesty, objectivity, empathy, and humility
will always be core to my character and my ethics. A company I worked for had a simple yet meaningful
rule of thumb for ethics that I have found very useful. It charges you to consider how your actions,
emails, and statements will look on the front page of the Wall Street Journal or New York Times.