Section 2

Building Your Foundation

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Implement What You Know with Confidence

Discover action-based tools that provide simple steps for program improvement or robust plans for new ways of doing business. 

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Your ethics and compliance program is an ecosystem of moving parts. New laws and regulations, new lines of business, new geographies, mergers and acquisitions become part of a growing enterprise that your compliance ecosystem must support. 

Effective compliance programs are able to deftly navigate these complexities because they have built strong foundations that were developed with the nature of the compliance industry in mind.

This section will give you the expert advice and programmatic best practices to ensure the first steps you take to develop your program are in the right direction. Or if your program is more mature, these resources and insights will give you the necessary guidance to course correct and improve your program’s foundation at whichever stage it is in. 

 

How to Survive a Cult Leader

Chapter 3 of The Worst-Case Scenario Survival Guide for Compliance Professionals

A healthy tone from the top is a cornerstone of strong corporate culture. Typically, the tone trickles down from a team of executives, but sometimes the tone emanates from a single individual. This can be dangerous, particularly when that individual is setting the wrong tone. Learn how to survive with Tom Fox.

Tom Fox 07/19/2017

Chapter 3 of The Worst-Case Scenario Survival Guide for Compliance Professionals

A healthy tone from the top is a cornerstone of strong corporate culture. Typically, the tone trickles down from a team of executives, but sometimes the tone emanates from a single individual. This can be dangerous, particularly when that individual is setting the wrong tone. Learn how to survive with Tom Fox.

4. Speak Truth to Power

No one, no matter how brilliant or creative, is infallible. Granting Steve Jobs-like deference to a leader is dangerous; all companies need a system of checks and balances for people in power. The job of a compliance professional is sometimes to take positions that senior executives do not agree with. Yet you must have the courage of your convictions.

In Uber’s case, there was no CCO, compliance department or anyone charged with restraining organizational powers from undermining the culture with corrupt and unethical behavior. This kind of gap in leadership led to the development of the very toxic culture driven by Kalanick himself.
 

5. Go Public

There are many requirements put on a public company which are not required of a private company. Some requirements include comprehensive financial reporting, effective internal controls and many key corporate positions including a CCO. When a company goes public there are a new set of stakeholders involved, the shareholders and their representatives, and a board of directors. Get them involved. 

One of the reasons Uber was able to continue for so long in its ways was that it never became a public company. Today, boards and investors may well insist that a company go public to better protect their investments, in addition to being able to make a large pile of cash from the inevitable IPO of a successful startup.

 

Illustration by Dex Novak