Career Success and Your Personal Ethics

The other day this career success coach received an invitation to join the Experts Industry Association.  It’s a trade association for authors, speakers, coaches, consultants, seminar leaders, and online information marketers.  Since I am all of these things I figured I should join.  Unfortunately, I won’t be able to attend their first conference, but I plan on becoming a member.

The association’s code of ethics sealed the deal.  Tweet 62 in my career advice book Success Tweets says, “Your personal brand should be uniquely you, but built on integrity.  Integrity is doing the right thing when no one is looking.”  I have worked hard to build my Common Sense Guy brand on integrity.  That’s why I subscribe to the association’s code of ethics.  Check it out…

Experts Industry Association Code of Ethics

Section I: Transparency and Compliance

1. I will be transparent and truthful about my experience, expertise, results, credentials, and abilities with my customers, followers, peers, media, and the greater public.
2. I will make clear descriptions of any product or service I am offering for sale, including price points and any recurring billing, so that my customers always know what they are signing up for, purchasing, and receiving.
3. I will comply with the marketing guidelines of the CAN-SPAM Act in my electronic communications, including ensuring that recipients of my broadcast emails have opted-in to receive communications from me and that they have the option to unsubscribe or change their contact information at the bottom of all my emails.
4. I will comply with the marketing guidelines of the United States Federal Trade Commission, including refraining from making false claims, income or results guarantees, or misleading testimonials, income claims, or financial statements; I will only make claims which I can substantiate and I will also clearly post and articulate earning disclaimers on any webpage or correspondence that references income opportunities.
5. I will disclose to my audience that I am an affiliate of a third party should I anticipate receiving an affiliate commission or referral compensation for recommending their products or services to my audience.
6. I will not offer professional legal, financial, or medical advice unless I am qualified to do so, which in many cases require professional degrees or certifications by law, and when necessary I will refer my customers or followers to an appropriate certified advisors.
7. I will not promote any products, marketing campaigns, or services that (a) target children under the age of thirteen (13), (b) discriminates against others, (c) perpetuates hate or misinformation, (d) features paid actors pretending to be a fictional customer or client, (e) utilizes false scarcity techniques (for example, that claim a limited number of products exist when it is not true, or that a promotion expires at a certain time when it does not).

Section II: Customer Service Excellence

1. I will seek to overdeliver on my promises to my customers.
2. I will endeavor to understand my client and audience needs, problems, and ambitions in hopes of serving them with information that can help them achieve their goals.
3. I will provide a minimum of a 30-day money back guarantee on all of my products and programs, and I will not make my customers jump through hoops or endure hardships or humiliation in order to receive refunds.
4. I will provide customer support for all of my products and programs.
5. I will respect the privacy and confidential information of my clients and customers.
6. I will not participate in any forum or agreement that engages in illegal activity, marketplace collusion, or discrimination on the basis of age, race, creed, color, sex, sexual orientation, national origin, religion, or any other factor.
7. I will honor my customer’s financial situations and not seek to persuade them into spending money they do not have or that could lead to their financial ruin.
8. I will post contact information on all of my sales pages and in all of the receipts/confirmations that my customers receive so that they can always find a way to easily contact my office.

Section III: Community Collaboration

1. I will honor and engage my peers in the industry with respect and professionalism.
2. I will cite sources and give credit to others when I quote them in any format, and I will not misrepresent others’ works as my own.
3. I will not train from, distribute, or publish others’ works or content without permission from the author or originator of such work.
4. I will not misuse the name or likeness of others in the industry to create false associations of credibility.
5. I will pursue my profession, build my brand, and seek continuing education at the highest levels of excellence and refrain from practices that will discredit the community and industry.
6. I will not use the Experts Industry Association seal in any of my websites, materials, or communications until I have attended the Annual Conference, have agreed to further stringent guidelines, and have been given permission and certification to do so.
7. I will seek to leave a legacy of strong customer service, and focus my career on offering distinct and valuable information that helps others improve their lives.

I pledge to live up to this code in everything I do – personally and professionally.  I believe that if you want to become known as a person of high integrity – and I believe integrity is the cornerstone of any personal brand – act as a person of high integrity all the time – not just when it suits you, or when someone might notice.

The career success coach point here is simple common sense.  The ability to create positive personal impact is one of the competencies of all successful people.  You create positive personal impact by developing and nurturing your unique personal brand, being impeccable in your presentation of self, and knowing and following the basic rules of etiquette.  Your personal brand should be uniquely you, but it should be built on integrity.  Follow the career advice in Tweet 62 in Success Tweets.  “Your personal brand should be uniquely you, but built on integrity.  Integrity is doing the right thing when no one is looking.”  Recently I decided to join the Experts Industry Association – to build my brand, and to meet and work with like-minded people.  The association’s code of ethics was a big selling point for me.   I promise you, the readers of this career advice blog, that I will live up to that code every day and in everything I do.

That’s my career advice on integrity and personal branding – and my pledge to you.  What do you think?  Please take a minute to share our thoughts with us in a comment.  As always, thanks for reading my daily thoughts on life and career success.

Bud

PS: If you haven’t already done so, you can download a free copy of my latest career success book Success Tweets Explained.  It’s a whopping 390 + pages of career advice explaining each of the common sense tweets in Success Tweets in detail.  Go to http://budurl.com/STExp to claim your free copy.  You’ll also start receiving my daily life and career success quotes.

PPS: I opened my new corporate career success membership site on September 1.  It’s called My Corporate Climb and is devoted to helping people create career success inside large corporations.  To celebrate the grand opening, I’m giving away a new career advice book I’ve written called I Want YOU…To Succeed in Your Corporate Climb.  You can find out about the membership site and get your free copy of I Want YOU by going to http://www.mycorporateclimb.com.