Cross-examination with Laura Perkins: High-performing employees and ethical risk.

Welcome back to the Compliance Corner?? newsletter. And if we haven’t met yet, thank you for joining me! You can learn a little more about me and my work here, and by watching this short video.

As promised, I won’t top-off anyone’s inbox ?? more than once a month but wanted to thank everyone for all your support and hope everyone had a nice summer ?? since the last newsletter!

Before addressing the photo with Laura Perkins , a theme which has been running through both my client work and public speaking, including the conversation with Laura, is about the risks which we may encounter with high-performing personnel. Thus, after extensive research with co-authors (with thanks for their amazing support and encouragement) Ron Carucci and Dina Denham Smith , it’s a pleasure to share this article in Fast Company ,?about how high performing employees are more prone to ethical mistakes, which can be found here.?

And what we found was quite surprising ??.?

Do you think your high-performing employees are more prone to ethical risk ? If so, feel free to share why in the comments ?? We would love ?? to hear your thoughts?

As to the photo, with thanks and appreciation to Co-Chair’s? Luis Dantón Martínez Corres , Diego Sierra , and Diego Durán de la Vega , what an honor it was to share and exchange perspectives at the IVth International Anticorruption Congress? as part of the work of the Anticorruption Commission of the International Chamber of Commerce México (ICC México) , in Mexico City ????.

There was a spectacular lineup of speakers, including Barbara Llanes , Pedro Soto , Gustavo Morales Oliver , Maria Archimbal , Luz Elena Gómez-Haro , Sarah Wolf , Daniel Linsker , José Ramón Cossío Díaz , Ignacio Gabriel S. , Pablo Aguilar Albo , Rebeca Servin Lewis , Raul Escalante , Teresa Villarreal Torres , Daniela Ortega Sosa , Guillermo E. Larrea , Hugo Lopez Coll , Daniel Maldonado Alcantara , Berenice Villanueva Ruiz , Adriana Greaves , and Roberto Moreno , among many others.?

My panel was with Laura Perkins, the current Co-Chair of Hughes Hubbard & Reed LLP 's Anti-Corruption and Internal Investigations Practice Group. But back? in 2007 , she was at the U.S. Department of Justice , when I started cooperating with the DOJ and FBI, which included her taking my direct testimony as a cooperating witness.? So, it was a different kind of conversation in Mexico with Laura-? and even better? to be on the ‘same side of the table’? with her ?? During our conversation, with Luis Dantón Martínez Corres who provided such wonderful and thoughtful moderation,? we addressed and exchanged views on a number of topics, including:

???? Was the conduct that I disclosed to the DOJ in 2007 typical misconduct at the time?? Laura commented as to what she continued to see at the DOJ after my cooperation, and what she still sees now in terms of anti-bribery challenges in her law practice work.??

???? The effectiveness and measurement of compliance training. What does the government expect, and how can you ‘pressure test’ your training to make sure that it is having an impact. We discussed a number of innovative ways to measure such effectiveness.?

???? Where and why we see most often see commercial teams their ethical radar off ? , and how those perils can be mitigated. Hint: “What my third parties do with their profits, and how they conduct themselves, is none of my business.”?

???? The most stubborn challenges as to why people and organizations are still having anti-corruption failures.?

But most importantly, I shared how Laura and her team treated me with dignity and respect, even under the most difficult of circumstances. And that was a lesson we discussed in the context of internal investigations. If you treat potential wrong-doers with empathy and compassion over time, not only will they tell you the truth, they will want to tell you the truth. You just need to be patient- like peeling layers back on an onion. ?? That is an experience I will never forget, and continue to thank Laura and her peers by the way they treated me over an extended period of cooperation.?

If you want to find out? more about Laura’s work, I suggest signing up and taking a look at the Hughes Hubbard & Reed LLP “Month in a Minute ?: Developments in Anti?Corruption” alert which you can find ?here, along with their other insightful resources.??

And special thanks to Geert Aalbers , Daniel Linsker , and Ulla Pentinpuro , 关于化险咨询 (Control Risks) and Luis Danton and his team at LEC, Litigio Estratégico y Compliance for hosting such a lovely dinner the night before,? where we had the opportunity to share perspectives and experiences over incredible dinner ?? at Sobremesa????

?In addition, while in Mexico City ????, with thanks to Maria Archimbal , I had the honor to be a part of an interactive workshop with the legal and compliance team at Pemex . And every good compliance gathering deserves a good compliance selfie ??

After Mexico, I? had a chance to? virtually catch up (on October 17th ??)? with Dr. Bettina Palazzo ,? with thanks to the team at ECEC for the opportunity to be a part of their annual conference. It was a wonderful discussion with Bettina about “Performance under pressure - Moving from risk to responsibility,” with additional thanks to Jule Hiller for the invitation and all her support. And while there were so many take-aways from the discussion, Bettina shared something quite thought provocative ?? which I think is well worth pondering:

"Rules without relationships lead to rebellion." Any thoughts around that statement ? Please share ???? in the comment section ????

And as you can see, while the subject matter was quite serious, we did have time for a few smiles ??.?

P.S. For those who might be interested,? Bettina is running a?Compliance Influencer Program, which is an online group program that helps compliance professionals to create a winning compliance communication strategy to strengthen relationships with people and teams. She has curated tools ?? and methods including marketing, branding, communicating and the psychology of influence, customizing them all for compliance communications. There is also a two? day live masterclass in Rome ???? (bello????) on Nov 14-16 that is packed with interactive activities. If you would like more information feel free to email Bettina at [email protected]. (I will be in Toscana at the time if anyone wants to come by and flip pizzas ?? ??)

Now, time to look forward ??

It’s not every day when I can share that I am going to be visiting a new country, so I’m waaay excited to be traveling to Slovenia ???? next week for the EICE European Institute of Compliance and Ethics ?Conference on? October 26 – 27, 2023 in Lake Bled, Slovenia ????

With thanks to Andrijana Bergant, LLB, MBA, AICA for the invitation and to Alenka Tepina for all her support, I am looking forward to sharing and exchanging perspectives on “From corruption to compliance: Lessons learned for business and compliance leaders from the front-lines.” And the presentation will be followed by what I know will be an exciting and interactive panel with Ruth Steinholtz and Jela Zdolsek on “Making the right decision under pressure: The role of compliance, ethics and other leaders in challenging times.”??

The event is open for any compliance leader in Europe who would like to attend, and I understand Lake Bled is quite spectacular, so hope you can join us and the event link (including registration)?is ???? https://bcec.eu/schedule-bcec-2023/

From Slovenia it is off to Switzerland ???? for some client work, so if you are in Zurich or Geneva and have some time for a ‘compliance coffee’ ? feel free to email me at [email protected]. But no visit to Switzerland is complete without spending time with Guido Palazzo and Bettina Palazzo (this time in person), so can’t wait to ideate with them over a nice Sunday stroll ?? ????

From there, it’s over to London ???? for client work and the Association of Corporate Investigators Annual Meeting on November 2nd, where I will be interviewing a whistleblower on a very well known global corruption case (no spoiler alerts ??). If you are in London and would like to attend, this is going to be a fascinating discussion and the link is here.???

Plus, looking forward to discussions and presentations by Simon Scales , Steve Young , Mary E. , Ashu Sharma (CFE, CCEP-I, CFCS) and of course integrity all-stars ? Amanda Raad and Basha Galvin , among so many others!

After London it is off to Dusseldorf ???? for the Nielsonsmith Ltd. Compliance, Anti-Corruption and Ethics Conference on November 7th and 8th, with thanks to Michael Knowles and Nielsonsmith Ltd for the invitation and all their support. I can’t wait to share and exchange perspectives with speakers and attendees including? Martin Fuerle , Heike J. B?hme , Samantha Boel , and Dr. Kai Schumacher among so many others. And looking forward to my conversation with Michael on “The Anatomy of a Bribe.”?

The event link and registration can be found here.?

From Dusseldorf it’s off to Spain ???? where Anna Romberg has made the decision to take the Nordic Business Ethics Initiative south??????.?

So it’s a true honor and pleasure to be a part of this initiative? on November 9th, during an event titled “Compliance as a? Leadership Task: Moving From Risk to Responsibility” kindly hosted at the Barcelona Office of Baker McKenzie.?

During an afternoon interactive session, Anna and I will be joined by Larissa de Araújo - Governance, Risk & Compliance Director, HQ at Glovo as moderated by David Velázquez Vioque , Partner, 贝克?麦坚时 ,?where we will consider and discuss the following issues (among other topics and challenges):

???? The importance of “compliance as a leadership task” and how organizations can approach the topic.

???? How can “compliance as a leadership task” be sustainably implemented in an organization.?

???? What are best practices to help business leaders to appreciate that “compliance as a leadership task” is critical to setting ethics and compliance expectations in an organization.?

This promises to be a very engaging and unique opportunity for compliance and legal leaders from across Spain to meet and share perspectives!? The registration link is now live and hope you can join us here ???? ?? with special thanks? to the Baker McKenzie team for all their support and hard work including Georgina Teixido and Almudena Espinós Allendesalazar .

And? thanks to Amy Hanan , Chief Marketing Officer, LRN , for all her support in having LRN hosting a very? special dinner ?? after the event. As space is limited, if you can join us,? feel free to email me here ???? Rumor has it, the restaurant is wonderful ??.

Speaking of LRN, they just released their Ethics & Compliance Program Effectiveness Report – Global Standards Edition. This report identifies five ??? major differentiators between high-impact and less-effective E&C programs over the last four years and helps answer a critical question ↙?

Why do some programs succeed in shaping their organizations’ ethical culture while others are less impactful ??

These five pillars are now major discussion points in my in-house work, and well worth the read, but no spoiler alerts ?? needed when you can download the entire report here.

And a final note, as with my last newsletter, reflecting and ending on a NYC catch-up, with a way overdue reunion with Alison Taylor over an amazing dinner. We caught up on everything from ESG to Ethics and Compliance challenges, along with lots of fun conversation and random musings, including who are our integrity all-stars ? (don’t worry Forrest Deegan , you made the list ??). But more importantly, I tried to get a sneak preview of her upcoming book ?? Higher Ground: How Business Can Do the Right Thing in a Turbulent World, which promises to be an amazing work (to be released in February), but with no success. It looks like I will have to purchase it here (I have already pre-ordered) but no way will I miss the NYC ?? book launch party ?? ?????)

Thank you for reading this edition of the Compliance Corner ?? newsletter. I hope you found it helpful and engaging. Here are some ways to access further perspectives, tips, and resources:

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