Tag: The Casebook of Sherlock Holmes

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Adventures in Compliance

The Case-Book of Sherlock Holmes – Business Ethics Lessons in ‘The Adventure of the Blanched Soldier

In this new season of Adventures in Compliance, host Tom Fox delves into Arthur Conan Doyle’s Sherlock Holmes collection, The Case-Book of Sherlock Holmes. It is the final set of twelve Sherlock Holmes short stories, first published in the Strand Magazine between October 1921 and April 1927. In this episode, we consider another lesser-known of all the Holmes stories, The Adventure of the Blanched Soldier.

As part of ‘The Casebook of Sherlock Holmes,’ this episode examines business ethics and the ethical leadership of a corporate compliance function. The story offers a unique, Holmes-centric narrative that provides compelling lessons for compliance professionals and business leaders. This story, told from Holmes’ perspective, delves into themes of trust, transparency, and the consequences of concealing the truth—principles central to ethical business practices.

The Adventure of the Blanched Soldier reminds us that secrecy, fear, and miscommunication often compound ethical dilemmas. For compliance professionals, the story serves as a case study of the importance of transparency, compassion, and thorough investigation. By applying these lessons, businesses can build a culture of trust and accountability that stands the test of scrutiny—whether from Holmes or the Department of Justice.

Highlights include:

  • Introduction to The Adventure of the Blanched Soldier
  • Transparency in Compliance
  • Institutional Justice and Institutional Fairness
  • A Second Set of Eyes
  • Rebuilding Trust

Resources:

The New Annotated Sherlock Holmes

Sherlock Holmes FAQ by Dave Thompson

For more information on the Ethico Toolkit for Middle Managers, available at no charge, click here.

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Adventures in Compliance

The Veiled Lodger and Empathy in Compliance

Over this week’s podcast series in Adventures in Compliance, I have used stories from The Casebook of Sherlock Holmes, mining each story for themes and lessons related to the compliance professional, leadership and business ethics. In today’s offering, I consider The Veiled Lodger. It is one of the shortest stories in this volume and one of the clearest which shows the influence Holmes can bring to bear on the participants in the tale. The final problem solved informs today’s discussion of empathy in compliance.
 Holmes is visited by Mrs. Merrilow, a landlady from South Brixton who has an unusual lodger who never shows her face as it has been hideously mutilated. This woman, Mrs. Ronder, carries a terrible secret but will not involve the clergy or the police and will only talk to Holmes.
Holmes and Watson travel to see Mrs. Ronder and she is wearing her veil. The mutilation was caused by a planned murder gone awry. She and her lover, Leonardo, used a circus lion to murder her husband and the lion then turned on her, severely disfiguring her. Mrs. Ronder could not bring herself to implicate Leonardo in her husband’s murder at the inquest and is only now telling this story because she believes that she will soon die. Ever since the night of the incident, she has lived alone and veiled. Holmes can only offer advice in this situation; realizing that Mrs. Ronder is contemplating suicide, he reminds her that her life is worth something as an example of patient suffering in an impatient world. She responds to this by lifting her veil, and the sight is ghastly. However (and this is where the empathy comes in) Holmes see a bottle of prussic acid on her mantle and tells her “Keep your hands off it.” A few days later,  Holmes receives a bottle of prussic acid from Mrs. Ronder. In considering what Holmes told her, she apparently thought better of it.
Compliance Takeaways
  1. Empathy is an important habit for any CCO or compliance practitioner to not only practice but also master.
  2. Engaging in empathy does not mean shying away from difficult conversations.
  3. Do you look for empathy in the hiring process?
  4. One way that empathy manifests itself is courtesy.
  5. People rarely think of courtesy and respect as leadership skills but if you can bring these to bear in your compliance practice, you can garner greater influence as not only someone who cares but someone who cares and gets things accomplished.
I hope you have enjoyed another Holmes themed week as mu
Categories
Adventures in Compliance

The Veiled Lodger and Empathy in Compliance

Over this week’s podcast series in Adventures in Compliance, I have used stories from The Casebook of Sherlock Holmes, mining each story for themes and lessons related to the compliance professional, leadership and business ethics. In today’s offering, I consider The Veiled Lodger. It is one of the shortest stories in this volume and one of the clearest which shows the influence Holmes can bring to bear on the participants in the tale. The final problem solved informs today’s discussion of empathy in compliance.
Holmes is visited by Mrs. Merrilow, a landlady from South Brixton who has an unusual lodger who never shows her face as it has been hideously mutilated. This woman, Mrs. Ronder, carries a terrible secret but will not involve the clergy or the police and will only talk to Holmes. Holmes and Watson travel to see Mrs. Ronder and she is wearing her veil. The mutilation was caused by a planned murder gone awry. She and her lover, Leonardo, used a circus lion to murder her husband and the lion then turned on her, severely disfiguring her. Mrs. Ronder could not bring herself to implicate Leonardo in her husband’s murder at the inquest and is only now telling this story because she believes that she will soon die. Ever since the night of the incident, she has lived alone and veiled. Holmes can only offer advice in this situation; realizing that Mrs. Ronder is contemplating suicide, he reminds her that her life is worth something as an example of patient suffering in an impatient world. She responds to this by lifting her veil, and the sight is ghastly. However (and this is where the empathy comes in) Holmes see a bottle of prussic acid on her mantle and tells her “Keep your hands off it.” A few days later,  Holmes receives a bottle of prussic acid from Mrs. Ronder. In considering what Holmes told her, she apparently thought better of it.
Compliance Takeaways

  1. Empathy is an important habit for any CCO or compliance practitioner to not only practice but also master.
  1. Engaging in empathy does not mean shying away from difficult conversations.
  1. Do you look for empathy in the hiring process?
  2. One way that empathy manifests itself is courtesy.
  3. People rarely think of courtesy and respect as leadership skills but if you can bring these to bear in your compliance practice, you can garner greater influence as not only someone who cares but someone who cares and gets things accomplished.

I hope you have enjoyed another Holmes themed week as much as I have enjoyed rereading the stories and bringing the compliance and leadership insights to you.

Categories
Adventures in Compliance

Adventures in Compliance: The Lion’s Mane and Risk-Based Monitoring

Welcome back to another episode of Adventures in Compliance. This week, we are considering stories from The Casebook of Sherlock Holmes, mining each story for themes and lessons related to the compliance professional, leadership and business ethics. Today, we  The Lion’s Mane. This is one of two stories narrated by Holmes himself and not reported by Dr. Watson. The final problem solved informs today’s discussion that it is risk-based monitoring which allows a person (or company) to operate safely so that no injury occurs.
Yesterday, I considered The Creeping Man as an introduction to risk management and compliance at the very top of an organization. Today I want to discuss risk-based monitoring.
Compliance Takeaways
  1. What is Risk-based monitoring?It is really about continuous, ongoing monitoring for those things which provide the most potential future risk to you. By using risk-based monitoring to review issues on an ongoing basis, and the models that are behind the risk-based modeling, risk-based monitoring models, they’re continuously refined based on incoming data.
  2. Siloed Data.The problem for many companies is they are siloed in not only their data but also in the systems. Because of the disparity of data systems, many companies are not tracking rigorous, quantified information all the time. As data comes in you begin to note certain patterns, which might actually point towards a variety of red flags for more thorough investigation.
  3. See issues in real-time?Having access to information around sales, the sales process and corporate largess in areas from corporate social responsibility work, to gifts, travel and entertainment, to conferences for customers and end users. With such risked-based monitoring a compliance professional has the opportunity see trends developing which could allow an intervention for a prescriptive solution which could prevent an issue from becoming a Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) violation.
  4. Greater Profitability.Finally, the beauty of all these techniques is that they are tools that can make companies more efficient and, at the end of the day, more profitable. They also move compliance into the fabric and DNA of an organization or to use another well-worn phrase, operationalize compliance. The Department of Justice has made clear what it expects around the risk management process. You need to develop your response now.
Join us tomorrow as we mine the story of The Veiled Lodger for its compliance lessons.