Values Added: Making Ethical Decisions in the Financial Marketplace

Values Added is the first book about ethics that asks instead of answers and listens rather than lectures. It is a subjective, feisty, stimulating look at the mechanics of ethical decision-making. It introduces the reader to the ethical conflicts that have long troubled financial professionals, from the lure of sure-thing markets to the troubling pervasiveness of soft dollar benefits in the brokerage industry. Then, through raising questions (and inviting answers), it guides decision makers in the trenches to more sensitive, responsible, effective and ethical judgments in their daily work. The book spells out seven steps for making and executing deliberate and responsible decisions. The meat of the book is a collection of fictional case studies illustrating the intersection of generally recognized ethical principles with the details of each of the critical events. Each situation is followed by a personal space for the reader to preserve reaction to the story, its issues and alternatives. This is followed by the author’s analysis of the events and decisions.