Categories
Innovation in Compliance

The 100 Book Challenge: The Infinite Game by Simon Sinek


 
Tom and Nick Gallo discuss The Infinite Game by Simon Sinek. The author emphasizes that the game of business is not a short game but a long one, and leaders need to play the long game in order to be successful. Nick comments that making sure that your company is working together for the betterment of your employees – not just for profit – is crucial, and a vital part of playing the long game. Tom mentions Jeff Bezos as an example of a business leader who plays the long game.
 

 
Simon Sinek is an author, and inspirational speaker. He explores how leaders can inspire cooperation, trust and change.
Listeners can read Nick’s notes on each book at his LinkedIn page.
 
Resources
Tom Fox on LinkedIn | Twitter
CompliancePodcastNetwork.net
 
Nick Gallo on LinkedIn
ComplianceLine.com
The Infinite Game by Simon Sinek

Categories
This Week in FCPA

Episode 235 – the Impeachment edition


It is certainly a challenging time for the American Democarcy. For his high crimes and misdemeanors against the Constituion and American democary, President Trump has now been impeached for a second time. In the midst of the this, Tom and Jay are back to look at some of the top compliance articles and stories which caught their eye this week.

  1. Recidivist Deutsche Bank settles a second FCPA matter. Tom takes a 5-part deep dive on the FCPA Compliance and Ethics Blog. Matt Kelly looks at red flags and internal controls on Radical Compliance. Tom and Matt take a deep dive on Compliance into the Weeds.
  2. How the FCPA is big business. Harry Cassin explains in the FCPA Blog.
  3. Is an industry sweep headed your way? Dick Cassin explains in the FCPA Blog.
  4. Why you should welcome the NDAA? Matthew Stephenson in GAB. Jonathan Marks on Board and Fraud.
  5. How to use KPIs in your compliance program. Vera Cherapanova in the FCPA Blog.
  6. What are your Board resolutions for 2021? Steve Durbin in CCI.
  7. 2020 was a year of ethical challenges. Mike Volkov explains in Corruption Crime and Compliance.
  8. What are the C-Suite challenges brought on by Coivd-19? Shanil Williams in CCI.
  9. A new month is here and a new guest on The Compliance Life. Gwen Hassan- Director of Compliance at CNH Industrial. In this month’s second episode, In this second episode, we take up the tricky issue of balancing a role as a legal eagle for the company as well as her role in compliance. We also explore the different skill set needed for each of these careers and how it is possible to have both in one person. Check out the episode here.
  10. This month, on 31 Days to a More Effective Compliance Program, I look back over 2020 and set out some of the key enhancements you need to do for your compliance program in 2021. Day 9 | 360 Degrees of Compliance Communications; Day 10 | The Use of Social Media in Compliance; Day 11 | What is Effective Compliance Training?; Day 12 | Financial Incentives for Compliance; Day 13 | Institutional Justice and Fairness; Day 14 | Risk Assessments; and Day 15 | How do you evaluate a risk assessment?. Note 31 Days to a More Effective Compliance Program now has its own iTunes channel.
  11. Join Tom on the Convercent event, “Future-proof your compliance program for 2021”, on Wednesday, January 20th | 11:00 am -1:00 pm ET. For details and registration, click here.
  12. Join K2 Integrity on January 27 to hear Olivia Allison and Joanne Taylor discuss the latest E
    U regulatory developments in whistleblowing programs and investigations. Information and Registration here.
  13. Compliance Week is accepting nominations for its Excellence in Compliance Award. Submit your nominee here.

 
 
Tom Fox is the Compliance Evangelist and can be reached at tfox@tfoxlaw.com. Jay Rosen is Mr. Monitor and can be reached at jrosen@affiliatedmonitors.com.

Categories
Daily Compliance News

January 15, 2021, the Toyota Spanked edition


In today’s edition of Daily Compliance News:

  • Toyota spanked for emissions defect reporting. (WSJ)
  • NDAA expanded reporting from foreign banks. (WSJ)
  • FAA cracks down on unruly passengers. (NYT)
  • Has pandemic changed entertainment–forever? (WaPo)
Categories
31 Days to More Effective Compliance Programs

Day 14 | Risk Assessments


One cannot really say enough about risk assessments in the context of anti-corruption programs. This is because every corporate compliance program should be based upon a risk assessment, to understand your organization’s business from the commercial perspective, how your organization has identified, assessed, and defined its risk profile and, finally, the degree to which the program devotes appropriate scrutiny and resources to this range of risks. Yet the 2020 Update added a new emphasis that Risk Assessments should not be done not less than annually.
As far back as 1999, in the Metcalf & Eddy enforcement action, the DOJ has said that risk assessments that measure the likelihood and severity of possible FCPA violations should direct your resources to manage these risks. The 2012 FCPA Guidance stated it succinctly when it said, “Assessment of risk is fundamental to developing a strong compliance program and is another factor DOJ and SEC evaluate when assessing a company’s compliance program.
There are a number of ways you can slice and dice your basic inquiry. As with almost all FCPA compliance, it is important that your protocol be well thought out. If you use one, some or all of the above as your basic inquiries for your risk analysis, it should be acceptable for your starting point. 
Three key takeaways:

  1. Since at least 1999, the DOJ has pointed to the risk assessment as the start of an effective compliance program.
  2. The DOJ will now consider both your risk assessment methodology for identifying risks and gathered evidence.
  3. You should base your compliance program on your risk assessment.
Categories
Innovation in Compliance

The 100 Book Challenge: The Fearless Organization by Amy Edmondson


 
Tom Fox and Nick Gallo discuss cultivating psychological safety within the workplace and innovation and growth, from Amy Edmondson’s book, The Fearless Organization. Tom expresses that a main aspect of psychological safety is creating a speak-up culture. Once your employees believe that you want them to speak up, your company can move forward. 
 

Amy Edmondson is a scholar of leadership, teaming and organizational leading. She is currently the Novartis Professor of Leadership at Harvard Business School.
Listeners can read Nick’s notes on this book at his LinkedIn page.
Resources
Tom Fox on LinkedIn | Twitter
CompliancePodcastNetwork.net
 
Nick Gallo on LinkedIn
ComplianceLine.com
The Fearless Organization by Amy Edmondson

Categories
Everything Compliance

Episode 73, the Insurrection Edition


Welcome to the only roundtable podcast in compliance. Today, we have the quintet of Jonathan Armstrong, Jay Rosen, Jonathan Marks, Matt Kelly and Tom Fox for a deep dive into events surrounding the Donald Trump led insurrection at the US Capitol on January 6. We end with a veritable mélange of rants and shouts outs.

  1. Jonathan Armstrong joins us from London to consider the banning of Trump from social media platforms and the general view on things from across the pond. He has a melancholy shout out to the Capitol Police officer who was killed in the attack on the Capitol and the five UK police officers killed in the line of duty in 2020.
  1. Jay Rosen asks, where were the police? He wonders why police response was so abysmal and why it took the National Guard so long to be deployed. Jay shouts out to the Senate and House who went back to work after the attack and completed their Constitutional mandate to count the votes and report on the results. He also shouts out to Congressional aides who saved the physical votes from destruction.
  1. Matt Kelly considers the compliance response to these events as we move into 2021 and the Biden Administration. Matt has a dual shout out and rant. He shouts out to Simon & Schuster for cancelling the contract of insurrection leading Senator Josh Hawley and rants Hawley.
  1. Jonathan Marks looks the attack on the Capitol from a crisis management perspective in terms of a risk assessment and root cause analysis. In a very Philadelphia rant Marks excoriates now former Eagles coach Doug Peterson for tanking the final game of the season against Washington.
  1. Tom Fox looks at the business enablers of Donald Trump and the Trump Administration and wonders when they will be called to task. He gives a shout out to Texas Senator Ted Cruz who sent out fundraising emails during the insurrection asking donors to donate money to the continue his attacks and lies. Through his actions Cruz retains his standing as the No. 1 A-Hole in Congress. 

The members of the Everything Compliance are:

  • Jay Rosen– Jay is Vice President, Business Development Corporate Monitoring at Affiliated Monitors. Rosen can be reached at JRosen@affiliatedmonitors.com
  • Mike Volkov – One of the top FCPA commentators and practitioners around and the Chief Executive Officer of The Volkov Law Group, LLC. Volkov can be reached at mvolkov@volkovlawgroup.com
  • Matt Kelly – Founder and CEO of Radical Compliance. Kelly can be reached at mkelly@radicalcompliance.com
  • Jonathan Armstrong –is our UK colleague, who is an experienced data privacy/data protection lawyer with Cordery in London. Armstrong can be reached at armstrong@corderycompliance.com
  • Jonathan Marks is Partner, Firm Practice Leader – Global Forensic, Compliance & Integrity Services at Baker Tilly. Marks can be reached at marks@bakertilly.com

The host and producer (and sometime panelist) of Everything Compliance is Tom Fox the Voice of Compliance. He can be reached at tfox@tfoxlaw.com. Everything Compliance is a part of the Compliance Podcast Network.

Categories
12 O’Clock High-a podcast on business leadership

How to Brief Senior Leadership


Richard Lummis and I are back for another episode of 12 O’Clock High, a podcast on business leadership. Today, we take up the issue of how to brief senior leadership in an organization. This podcast is based upon a recent Harvard Business Review article How to Brief a Senior Executive by Grant T. Harris. Harris notes in his article, “Briefing a senior executive is an art and adept White House staffers do it every day under the most stressful of circumstances. They’re masters of compressing the right information into the right amount of time, no matter how complex the topic or short the briefing. The skills needed to brief the chief executive in the Oval Office are directly applicable to briefing any executive in the C-suite.”
Some of the highlights include:

  1. Before You Walk into the Room (or Log in)
  2. Identify the “crucial nodder.”
  3. Know your boss’s “tells.”
  4. Find out how the boss engages with the material.
  5. Plan for gradations of success and failure.
  6. Keep an idea alive to fight another day or, in the best-case scenario, go bigger and faster in implementation.
  7. In the Room (or on the Video Conference Call)
  8. Read the room, not your notes. Whether the briefing is in person or virtual, you need to read cues and body language. In short, “take cues, not notes.”
  9. Stay laser focused on your task.
  10. Practice the art of staying silent.
  11. What does it all mean?
Categories
Daily Compliance News

January 14, 2021, the Belichick’s Day off edition


In today’s edition of Daily Compliance News:

  • What motivated Elizabeth Holmes? (WSJ)
  • Steinmetz denies corruption. (Reuters)
  • Belichick has a day off. (WSJ)
  • Recidivist President Trump impeached (again). (Everywhere)
Categories
Fraud Eats Strategy

The Missing Private Banker: When Bank Fraud Takes a Dark Turn

The Carrasco case is a cross-border financial crime that is worth revisiting. Its lessons remain as relevant today as they were in 1998 when the fraud first erupted.

Join us each week as we take a deep dive into the various forms of fraud across the world and discuss crime families, penny stock boiler rooms, international money launderers, narco-traffickers, oligarchs, dictators, warlords, kleptocrats and more.

Scott Moritz is a leading authority on white-collar crime, anti-corruption, and in the evaluation, design, remediation, implementation, and administration of corporate compliance programs, codes of conduct. He is also considered an authority in the establishment, training, and oversight of the investigative protocols carried out by financial intelligence, corporate security, and internal audit units.
 

Categories
31 Days to More Effective Compliance Programs

Day 13 | Institutional Justice and Fairness


Companies have finally come to realize that institutional justice and fairness are perhaps the most basic tenet of any successful workplace. If employees believe they will be treated fairly, it will engender a level of trust that can work to not simply motivate employees but lead to a more successful workplace and, at the end of the day, a more profitable company. This encompasses the entire lifecycle of the employment relationship, from hiring through separation. It works in areas as seeming disparate as compensation and incentives, discipline, promotion and internal reporting.
On this final point, Kyle Welch and Stephen Stubben, in their 2019 paper entitled “Evidence on the Use and Efficacy of Internal Whistleblowing Systems”, noted that a robust whistleblower reporting system speaks to a functioning and ethical corporate culture. Employees who can report issues, in a fair manner, without fear of retaliation are more empowered to make the company run more efficiently and more profitably. Yet an equally interesting finding was where there was robust internal reporting, employees were more likely to speak up to improve overall business processes, thereby making the company more profitable.
An often-overlooked role of any CCO or compliance professional is to help provide employees with institutional justice. If your compliance function is seen to be fair in the way it treats employees, in areas as varied as financial incentives, to promotions, to appropriate and consistent discipline meted out across the globe; employees are more likely to inform the compliance department when something goes array. If employees believe they will be treated fairly, it will go a long way to more fully operationalizing your compliance program.
Three key takeaways:

  1. The DOJ and SEC have long called for appropriate and consistent application of both incentives and discipline.
  2. The Fair Process Doctrine will help set institutional justice as the norm in your organization.
  3. Inconsistent application of discipline will destroy your compliance program credibility.