08/18/2026
❇️Professional integrity and ✴️Professional Ethics are closely related, but they are NOT the same thing.
❇️ Professional integrity is about who you are and how you conduct yourself when no one is watching.
⭐️It means consistently acting with honesty, accountability, fairness, transparency, and personal responsibility, even when doing so may be difficult or disadvantageous.
Example: 🗓
A professional psychic advisor discovers that they made a significant mistake. They double booked a 2 o'clock appointment. The client who booked first requested a 30 minute session for $30. The second client requested a 90 minute session for $150.
👌How to respond with integrity:
Instead of hiding the mistake, acknowledge it, notify the second person, and even though their appointment pays more, the first booker should keep their appointment and the second double booker will need to be contacted, communicate the error and make it better for the client.
❇️Integrity = “I do the right thing because it is the right thing to do.”
✴️Professional Ethics
Professional ethics are the standards, rules, principles, and expectations that govern behavior within a profession or organization.
They may come from professional codes of conduct, laws, regulations, organizational policies, or accepted standards of practice.
Example:
A professional tarot card divinator maintains patient confidentiality because professional rules and ethical standards require them to protect private information.
Ethics = “I follow the standards and responsibilities expected of my profession.”
🚨The Key Difference⚠️
Professional Integrity🆚️Professional Ethics
❇️Internal character and values
✴️External standards and principles
❇️Focuses on who you are
✴️Focuses on how you are expected to behave
❇️Doing what is right even when nobody is watching
✴️Following professional rules and standards
❇️Driven largely by personal accountability
✴️Often established by a profession, organization, or governing body
❇️“I will be honest.”
✴️“My profession requires honesty and transparency.”
🏁 Simply Put...
✴️Ethics tells you what you should do.
❇️Integrity determines whether you actually do it—especially when nobody is watching.
The strongest professionals have both: they understand the ethical standards of their profession and have the integrity to uphold those standards consistently.
