Everybody uses ethics

Many shy away from ethics - the subject can be painful to think about, or it can be overly academic, confusing, and, at times, downright boring.
Others believe that ethics are made for someone else, such as CEO's, corporate executives, politicians, philosophers, or people with lots of letters after their name.
Still yet, some think that ethics belongs in the area of philosophy, with Aristotle, Spinoza, Socrates, and others.
However, ethics are for everybody, everywhere. We all use ethical principles everyday.
What are ethics, anyway?
Simply put, ethics are the study of how we process and make the best choice for all involved parties. These choices need careful thought and attention in order to make our lives better, now and into the future.
There are many formal and academic definitions of ethics, and what they should mean to the majority. Most of these definitions categorize ethical decision making, and will make reference to right, wrong, morals, values, and the like, but will make little distinction with these terms. This lack of distinction adds to the confusion.
Many people compartmentalize ethics into a profession – political ethics, business ethics, professional ethics, legal ethics, medical ethics – the list goes on. Many believe that ethics are only to be dealt with at work. However, ethical choices are found in all areas of our lives.

Ethical practice comes in the form of questions, and analyses our decision making process. This decision making should be logical, rational, and intuitively comfortable when resolved. The types of questions can be categorized.
Questions of :

• Transparency – Is there something to hide?
• Consequence – What will happen if I do this?
• Opportunity – Is it fair and equitable to take advantage of a given situation?
• Expediency – Doing something the right way will take too long or be too difficult. Is it ok to cut corners?
• Narcissism – Is it ok to solely pursue my agenda in this situation?
• Obligation – Am I obligated to anyone else?
• Lesser of two evils – Given bad choices, what is the better choice to make?
• Better choices – Given good choices, what is the best choice to make?
• Values – What choice reflects what I value the most?