Corporate leaders and executives like to mouth the words surrounding corporate culture.  It is part of the code they all use with each other.  Few of them, however, really know what the word means or even dare to understand the importance to their business. Let’s face it – corporate leaders and executives like to talk the talk but they rarely if ever understand what they...

Last week, I participated in an interesting webinar, sponsored by Clausematch, on Policy Management, Governance and Leveraging your Culture of Compliance. Joining me on the webinar was Willem Wellinghoff, Chief Compliance Officer, and Jeff Weiss, EVP at Clausematch. I hope you have a chance to listen to the replay. The discussion was interesting. The webinar replay is here. The slides can be downloaded here.

Webinar: Speak Up – How to Foster a Culture of Compliance September 17, 2020, 12 PM EST Sign Up Here. A Speak Up culture empowers everyone in the organization to be the “eyes and ears” of compliance, communicating important information on potential problems before they spiral out of control. This type of culture is an integral part of a best-in-class compliance program, however creating it...

All you need in this life is ignorance and confidence, and then success is sure. Mark Twain People are good at convincing themselves that everything is okay, despite troubling indications.  Sometimes it is easier to ignore warning signs than to face the harsh reality.  It is really a part of the human condition – we fail to intervene or take action unless required to do...

Jessica Sanderson, Senior Counsel at The Volkov Law Group, recently attended the Rocky Mountain Securities Conference in Denver, Colorado.  Jessica’s posting summarizes the major compliance themes from the conference.  Jessica can be reached at [email protected]. On Friday May 3, 2019, I attended the Rocky Mountain Securities Conference in Denver and heard from a number of regulators and industry experts, including SEC Commissioner Hester Peirce. SEC...

In the wake of ever-constant business scandals (e.g. ZTE, VW, Takata, Odebrecht), chief compliance officers have to refresh their approach and strategy. Everyone agrees, or at least I think they should agree, that a company’s most effective control is its culture. For CCOs, selling the board and senior executives on this point should not be very hard. The research and common sense often come together...

We often hear a chorus of criticism relating to the compliance function. How do you define success? Some of this is the result of a political backlash. Chief compliance officers are the darlings in the corporate governance world, and there are forces aligned to challenge the importance of the compliance function. There are a number of internal political forces that want to undermine the growth...

The messaging behind the need for companies to implement robust compliance programs continues to suffer from a narrow conception of the overall compliance function. It is easy to get lost in the weeds on compliance programs and focus on compliance tasks, policies, resources, assessments and audits. I have promoted a different messaging approach – one that gives full credit and priority to a robust compliance...

The compliance profession faces many challenges. Some are more important than others. When it comes to evaluating performance, or measuring compliance programs, the profession has a steep uphill climb. Unfortunately, measuring compliance programs and defining what an “effective” program is an issue that requires extensive research and analysis. Justice Potter Stewart’s famous words defining “obscenity” – “I know it when I see it,” just will...

Compliance officers are, by definition, goal driven. They are high achievers and expect to succeed. So what. You may say – we all know that. Compliance officers are not the most patient group of people. They want to see change, improvement and action. Patience is not in their blood, nor is it their middle name(s). Unless a CCO is directed by the board or the...