Welcome to [in principle]!

Hello and welcome to the first edition of [in principle], our monthly newsletter focusing on ethics and compliance insights where we hope to ‘serve up’ our favorite E&C surveys, data, podcasts, blogs, and news. We’re committed to focusing on issues that we think are interesting from client insights, including thought-provoking data, and what we see E&C leaders sharing during our global ?? travels and events.

We appreciate that time is both limited and a precious resource, so we promise not to ‘top off’ your inbox ??? more than once a month, and if you would like to know more about LRN, feel free to link here.?

Speaking of data and surveys, LRN is proud to announce and publish The 2024 Ethics and Compliance Program Effectiveness Report, which can be found here.??

And we hope that you will be inspired by joining us for this video ??? here. ????:

In sum, the 2024 Ethics & Compliance Program Effectiveness Report validates a central lesson from over 10 years of primary research: that values-based programs are not only the most effective, but also correlate strongly with reduced risk and better business outcomes.

As new risks increase in severity and frequency around the world, we have focused our industry-leading analysis to provide the E&C community with a global view with specific and actionable insights.

Yet one of the stubborn challenges that we continue to see in the data is the ‘leadership divide.’

What is the leadership divide ?

Most organizations have wonderful ethical and purpose-based messages on their websites, often with quotes from CEOs on the organization’s commitment to sustainable business practices. But if those messages are not operationalized, they remain just that, aspirational. And who do people turn to when they face an ethical challenge or dilemma? As the research demonstrates (pioneered by Amy Edmondson in her iconic work The Fearless Organization), it's their supervisors: those are the people who can amplify those thoughtful 'tone at the top’ messages to those who face real-world risks in their work and roles.?

As shared in the LRN Report, middle-level managers “play a key role in balancing business goals and ethics.” They are uniquely qualified to help those on the front-lines to have a balanced mindset between ‘risk and success.’?Yet,?there is a gap between middle-management realities and leadership expectations.?

Is this an unsolvable dilemma? The short answer is? "no” ?? and we hope you will join us for this post here where we share three strategies to help organizations cope with this gap and organizational challenge.

Our Principled Podcast of the Month?

We were lucky enough to have Gernot T?lle , Head of Legal & Compliance at VITA34 AG as a panelist during our Munich Masterclass, so it was wonderful to have him join us for season 11, episode eight of our Principled Podcast ??, “Assessing Program Effectiveness Through Germany's Risk Perspective”?with LRN host Frances Ibekwe available?here.

And for our German ???? friends, the German edition of the 2024 Report is available here.?

Going Global?

The LRN team has been ‘on the move’ of late, sharing and exchanging perspectives on the 2024 Ethics & Compliance Program Effectiveness Report, including events in Tokyo, Munich, New York, and Chicago.?

Here’s a collage of photos from our Munich Masterclass, where we were joined by Gernot, Rolf Hünermann , Partner, McDermott Will & Emery , Thomas Fritzsche , Partner, 德勤 , Richard Bistrong , LRN Consultant and CEO, Front-Line Anti-Bribery LLC , as moderated by Tim Tyler , Vice President, International Compliance Association . It was a wonderful and engaging afternoon, with thanks to McDermott Will & Emery for hosting us, and to Stephan Lutz CAMS, CFE, for all the selfies ?? ??

And we also had the pleasure of both attending and having LRN speak at the Society of Corporate Compliance and Ethics (SCCE) European Ethics and Compliance Institute, with thanks to Gerry Zack , Adam Turteltaub CCEP, CHC and the entire SCCE team for such an engaging three days! If you would like to read more about our takeaways, feel free to read our post here where we dropped a few thoughts ??.

After Munich and Amsterdam, we had another Masterclass as part of the series, kindly hosted at 德勤 ’s iconic 30 Rock offices in NYC, with thanks to Deloitte Managing Director Vinnie D'Eramo . The event was moderated by LRN’s Chief Marketing Officer Amy Hanan , with panelists Catherine Muldoon (Global Ethics & Compliance Leader), Alison Hinds-Pearl , (Chief Compliance Officer, Revlon ) Anthony Campanelli (CEO & Chair at Deloitte Financial Advisory ), and Ted Diskant (Partner, White Collar & Securities Defense McDermott Will & Emery ).?

A few of our takeaways from the panel include:

• The importance of ‘pressure testing decision making’ before people are in the middle of risk, where they are most vulnerable.

• How it is critical not to evaluate even minor ethics and compliance infractions in the context of financial performance.?

• The importance of a continuous process to make certain that E&C initiatives and training are keeping up with the regulatory landscape, appreciating that the regulators are expanding the scope of their expectations.?

• And there was unanimous agreement, including the sharing of best practices, on how using data can not only help support E&C programs, but can also be a constructive tool in partnering with the business to help them make informed and better decisions by balancing risk and innovation. There were some great exchanges and discussions on how data has helped to target communications as well to mitigate potential ‘hot-spots’ ?? with supplemental training.?

Thank you once again to all of the organizers, partners, attendees and panelists during our world ?? tour ??

And speaking of world tour, for our friends and colleagues in London ????, LRN has partnered with the International Compliance Association and will host a Masterclass on How to Shape Effective Ethics & Compliance Programs on May 15 at 13:00. If you would like to join us feel free to register here and we hope to see you there?? Panelists include Emily Miner , Simon Airey, Karen Nightingale , and Luciane M. .

Well, that is all for now, and wishing everyone all the best. Thank you for reading this first edition of the [in principle] newsletter ??. We hope you found it helpful (fun) and engaging. Here are some ways to access further perspectives, tips, and resources:

★ Follow LRN on LinkedIn here to join the conversation on posts and feel free to share the newsletter for others who might find it interesting by forwarding this link.

★ Follow LRN on You-Tube here to check out our latest videos on ethics and compliance topics.

★ To stay up-to-date on our Principled Podcast series ??, which can be streamed wherever you listen to content, feel free to join us here.?

★ And always feel free to reach out to us directly, including suggestions for our next newsletter at [email protected].