AAPL ETHICS PRESENTATIONSEPTEMBER 17, 2012

by Larry C. Ashlock, D.Min., Ph.D.

ETHICS, PROFESSIONALISM, AND THE LANDMAN

INTRODUCTION

“We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit.” Aristotle

“Make a habit of two things: to help; or at least to do no harm.” Hippocrates

Sometimes I lie awake at night, and I ask, ‘Where have I gone wrong?’ Then a voice says to me, ‘This is going to take more than one night.’” Charlie Brown

Our Objective

Whether its philosophy, the professions, politics, or life in general, ethics is involved in all that we are and do.

Virtually all professional associations recognize the importance of core values, virtues, and duties to shape what would be customary behavior for members. Sadly, many do not provide much guidance with how to apply these moral ideals and obligations practically.

The oil and gas industry is no different. Your own Code of Ethics and Standards of Practice are there to serve as guideposts for professional conduct in relationship to one another, to the community, and to the earth. They are based upon specific values, virtues, and duties that emerge from within those ideals.

Please allow me to explain my role today, lest you think that I am here to serve as your moral monitor. Someone has bemoaned people who wear their halos too tight and, I, for one, have choked on mine more times than I choose to tell. Therefore, I’d like to offer the following ethics presentation to you as a fellow struggler.

Key terms:

Land Professional: a person who derives a significant portion of his or her income as a result of performing landwork. (Bylaws, Article II)

What is Ethics? What Duties are Standard for AAPL Members?

Landwork: is the actual performance or supervision of: 1) negotiating the acquisition or divestiture of mineral rights; 2) negotiating business agreements that provide for the exploration for and/or development of minerals; 3) determining the ownership of minerals through research of public and private records; 4) reviewing the status of title, curing title defects, . . . and otherwise reducing title risk associated with ownership in minerals . . . ; 5) managing rights and/or obligations derived from ownership of interests in minerals; 6) utilizing or pooling of interests in minerals. (Bylaws, Article II)

Ethics: a branch of study that deals with values related to human conduct, with respect to the rightness and wrongness of certain actions and to the goodness and badness of the motives and ends of such actions.

Essentially, ethics encompasses our motives and our actions simply because who we are and what we do matters to others and ourselves.

Ethics means that we care about being good people AND about making decisions that lead to right moral action. Gula, Moral Discernment, 43.

AAPL ETHICS

AAPL CORE VALUES AND MEANINGS

Gula writes “If we let our muscles of ethical reflection get flabby by failing to exercise critical thinking about value, about what we do, and about who we are becoming, then we can easily turn into moral cripples and lose our capacity to recognize and to avoid moral evil.” Moral Discernment, 43-44.

Core values are worthy ideals and well worth preserving. Key ones include: life, family, friendship, work and play, knowledge, and integrity. (See Gomez-Lobo, Morality and the Human Goods, 6-25).

Integrity, truth, truthfulness, and trustworthiness: “It shall be the duty of the Land Professional at all times to promote and, in a fair and honest manner, represent the industry to the public at large with the view of establishing and maintaining goodwill between the industry and the public and among industry parties.” (AAPL Bylaws, Article XVI, Section 1)

Fairness . . .equity . . .justice: “The Land Professional, in dealings with landowners, industry parties and others outside the industry, shall conduct himself in a manner consistent with fairness and honesty, such as to maintain the respect of the public.” (AAPL Bylaws,

Article XVI, Section 1)

Dignity: Respect for the public and for oneself.

Stewardship of the land: “Under all is the land.” Without the earth and its minerals there would be no profession. Your livelihood and my material benefits are derived, in part, from the earth. (APPL, Standards of

Practice, Preamble)

“‘Mister!’ he said with a sawdusty sneeze, I am the Lorax. I speak for the trees. I speak for the trees, for the trees have no tongues. And I’m asking you sir at the top of my lungs . . .” Dr. Seuss, The Lorax

Right moral actions are those that affirm the value of persons. So when we say that something is right, we claim that persons are worth this kind of action. Gula, Moral Discernment, 45.

I’ve selected one proverbial tip of the ethical iceberg that relates to a common misstep in any form of business--conflict of interest.

Where is Ethics Evident in Land Professional Work?

Conflict of Interest

In the fictional movie, There Will Be Blood, Daniel Plainview replies, when his young son asks him what he will pay the Sunday family for their land and the minerals beneath the land, that he was going to pay them “quail money,” not oil money. (cf. AAPL, Code of Ethics, Article XVI, Section 2; Standards, #7 and # 8)

He clearly knew facts about their land that he withheld intentionally in order to profit personally from those facts.

Truth is Stranger Than Fiction

Of course, that was a movie, but the recent University of Arkansas coach’s scandal is not. The former coach bypassed the university’s normal hiring process to hire a young woman who was under-qualified for a position, but who was personally involved with the coach.

The coach knew facts about the employee that he withheld in order to benefit personally from those facts.

Conflict of Interest

Defined: “any situation in which a person has a private or personal interest sufficient to influence the objective exercise of his or her official duties as, say, a public official, employee, or a professional.” MacDonald, McDonald, and Norman “Charitable Conflicts of Interest,” Journal of Business Ethics, 39:1-2, 67-74, August 2002, p. 68

Conflicted Character

Whether a movie or real life, a core value of your profession is integrity and honesty. Daniel Plainview and the coach lacked a valuable personal mineral necessary for good relationships--integrity.

Aristotle once said, At his best, man is the noblest of all animals; separated from law and justice he is the worst.

In short, character counts for something personally and professionally as your Standards state (p. 9).

Two Aspects

Conscience: “the inner sense of what is right and wrong in one’s conduct or motives, impelling one toward right action.”

Conscious: “Conscience is a personal, self-conscious [Italics mine] activity, integrating reason, emotion, and will in self-committed decisions about right and wrong.”

This means that we conduct an inner dialogue--self-confrontations and deliberations--toward those values and goods that lead to self-committed action on behalf of the good and right. Callahan, In Good Conscience, 17, 24.

Why are These Significant?

Economic Reasons (work): Indeed, we are in business to make money. But we’re naive if we think that work (profit) is the only value in business.

Human Reasons (life, friendship): In healthcare we inform patients of all the facts (informed consent); in car sales we report the real condition of the car prior to a sale; and in this industry we practice integrity because we value highly human life and support human dignity because this is a higher value.

Your Code of Ethics and Standards aspire toward these values.

Brief Model for Moral Decision-Making

Very few decisions have to be made right now. Sadly, most of our decision-making is a reaction rather than a reflection.

“We go through the process of reflecting because we are not always clear about what best supports the value of persons.” Gula, Moral Discernment, 45.

Drilling a single hole straight down into the ground is no longer the best method for mineral recovery. Lateral drilling is much more useful. Likewise, lateral thinking is much more useful when making moral decisions.

Example

Stem Cell research was a major presidential issue for the newly elected president, George W. Bush, in 2001. One of his first policy decisions required him to decide whether the government should fund research on embryonic stem cells.

He used a process similar to the one I am presenting to you today: “I would clarify my guiding principles, listen to experts on all sides of the debate, reach a tentative conclusion, and run it past knowledgeable people. After finalizing a decision, I would explain it to the American people.” George W. Bush, Decision Points, 110-111.

Quick decisions are unsafe decisions.

Sophacles

Define: Decide upon the core principles, “goods,” and values involved in the decision that you will make. These ideals, principles, and rules for the road are foundational to life. It would help to review your Code of Ethics and Standards of Practice on an annual basis--or as often as needed.

Get the clear facts in a possible decision. Know the people and companies involved, the history of the land, and the legal facts surrounding the situation.

Stay Committed to your decisions, but stay flexible in your approach.

Tom Robbins

Deliberate: Seek wise counsel to determine the benefits/burdens, rights/responsibilities, present/future consequences of a decision BEFORE you make it. Brainstorm the moral elements of the decision you are making. Clarify in your mind a view of right/wrong, good/bad in the decision. Call to mind the basic principles of your profession that apply to the situation.

Be willing to make decisions. That’s the most important quality in a good leader.

Gen. George S. Patton

Decide/Act/Evaluate: Keep in mind that there will likely remain some uncertainty as to a correct course of action because we are indeed finite creatures. However, we can refer to core values, basic goods, and seek good counsel throughout the course of a decision. Once a decision is made, we can also evaluate the strength of that particular decision based upon others of a similar nature and success.

The AAPL exists to conduct honest and just business in your communities and beyond--this holds personal, corporate, community, and land implications.

Core values such as integrity, fairness, human dignity, and respect for the land reflect not only upon the industry as a whole, but also upon individuals. We are here for economic goods, but we must never forget that we are also here for human goods as well. I commend your organization both for being good and doing good.

Conclusion

“Ability will get you to the top, but it takes character to keep you there.” John Wooden, Former UCLA Head

Basketball Coach

Copyright, Larry C. Ashlock, D.Min., Ph.D.