Our next lesson on compliance communications comes from best-selling authors James Patterson and David Baldacci, and it is about your brand. I have always considered your brand the image customers have of your business. It should be strategic and intentional. For a corporate compliance function, it means doing business ethically and in compliance. It could mean creating an effective compliance program that enhances business efficiency that drives greater profitability. It could mean driving an ethical culture to the very heart of your business.
However, Patterson and Baldacci discussed brand in a manner that was very different from how I think about brand and branding. They said your brand is not an image but is about your relationship with your stakeholders. For an author, that means your readers. For these writers, it means that you deliver what your readers expect, and if you are going to go in a different direction, it is important to let your readers know that you are doing something different so that if you pick up a Baldacci or a Patterson, the book will be something other than the thriller or murder mystery you are expecting.
While there are other groups you may have a relationship with as a compliance professional, looking at this from the perspective of Baldacci and Patterson, you begin to see the corporate compliance brand and your personal brand in a very different light. It can help you be both more effective as a compliance professional and lead to more professional opportunities for you as well.
Three key takeaways:
- How do you define your compliance brand?
- What is your relationship with your stakeholders?
- As a CCO or compliance professional, you can draw lessons from various disciplines.
