My Code of Ethics

Being an ethical professional is something that is very important to my future career. I consider myself to be very ethically motivated so many of these attributes carry over into my personal life as well. I am a firm believer that one cannot completely separate personal and professional lives and the way you act personally will bleed over into your career as well. All of the attributes below are things that I strive to live by every day and with every person and in every situation I encounter. I consider them to be a part of my inner self and I should strive to make sure they are expressed outwardly too. I decided to make a graphic image of myself with my personal code of ethics making up half of my face. I did this to show that these qualities are a part of me. When you look at me and my actions you should be able to see my ethical beliefs. 

Accuracy- I believe that making sure every story or advertisement, press release, speech or any form of communication I perform should always be 100 percent accurate. I also believe that accurate facts should not be framed to mislead the public. 

Transparency- In the business and professional worlds in order to be successful you need to be trustworthy. Transparency is one of the best ways to achieve this. I don’t mean that you need to tell every person everything about your life. However, important or pertinent information needs to be disclosed  

Just- I think that in my personal life I would call this fairness but in a professional sense one should always consider laws and precedents when making business decisions. Because of this, I thought of justice and being a just person. 

Commitment- People have to make choices every day and sometimes even the small ones can shape your life so I think that in every decision you make you should stand behind it with all your being. Also the more committed you are to people or ventures the more likely they are to be successful. 

Empathetic- This is an integral part of being an ethical person in my opinion because a lot of times situational facts can get confusing and you need to understand a person’s emotions or feelings in order to make a good choice. It is also very useful to advertising and journalism because it can take you to a deeper level of both your target audience and public 

Tolerance- The world is always changing what is and isn’t socially acceptable. Many times large groups and individuals have been oppressed because of lack of tolerance. I am specifically talking about tolerance of opinions that differ from yours. You don’t have to best friends but you need to be able to get along with people that you know. 

Positivity- Remaining positive through hard times in your life or career is sometimes the difference between people who achieve their goals and people who do not. I believe that success is getting up one more time than you’ve fallen down and you cant get up again if you give up. It is also significant that through trials you handle it with positivity and grace. It speaks a lot about you as a person. People generally don’t like negative people. 

Loyalty- Being loyal is a key to maintaining trust just like transparency. People will catch on if you are not being loyal all the time. For instance, talking about someone differently when they are not there versus when they are will not inspire them to help you.

To be a voice for the voiceless- There are some people in this world that haven’t been given the opportunities that I have been given and so I feel it is my responsibility as a journalist, advertiser, public relations professional and most importantly, a member of the human race to stick up for others whenever I can