"Every rule has an exception." I think that rule's exception is when it comes to ethics. Not to say that the ethical thing to do is always clear cut. But to seek to do the ethical thing is a responsibility without exception. Integrity, after all, is about consistency in values and action. The investment website ‘The Motley Fool’ published an article entitled 'Goldman Sachs: Ethics Optional', noting that Goldman and other companies had waiver clauses embedded in their corporate Ethical Codes of Conduct (see http://www2.goldmansachs.com/our-firm/investors/corporate-governance/corporate-governance-documents/bus-cond-ethics.pdf). Gregory Unruh explains, "Waivers will just cause problems -- a corporate code of ethics is created and designed to limit management decision options to only ethical choices" (see http://www.huffingtonpost.com/gregory-unruh/why-code-of-ethics-safety_b_645913.html). Make sure you don't allow for waivers - and make your ethics code truly exceptional.