Another Example of Weak Governance

wrestling

Brace yourselves, ethics and compliance officers! Today we revisit another  example of corporate leadership gone wrong: Vince McMahon, the long-time (and now former) CEO of World Wrestling Entertainment, accused sexual predator, and overall blowhard. McMahon agreed last week to pay $1.7 million to settle charges from the Securities and Exchange Commission that he failed to…

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Does Partisanship Breed Misconduct?

pcaob

Here’s a theory of corporate conduct that seems just too perfect for this year’s fraught political climate: what if companies are more likely to commit misconduct depending on the political fervor of their CEOs? So says a fascinating bit of research from two business professors, who developed a way to measure the political enthusiasm of…

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FDIC, Part III: How Leadership Fell Short

We have yet another thread to pull from the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp., and the corporate culture debacle there that led FDIC chairman Martin Gruenberg to announce his resignation last week. Specifically, what shortcomings in Gruenberg’s leadership style may have contributed to the FDIC’s culture going so far astray?  As we’ve explored in previous posts,…

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DFS Adopts Fitness and Character Guidance

ethics

Financial regulators in New York have introduced new guidance on the character and moral fitness they expect to see for senior executives at banks and other financial firms working in the state — a big step forward in the quest to be sure that corporate executives are, ya know, ethical and stuff. The New York…

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Corporate Culture & the Ted Lasso Way

Ted Lasso

There is a sub-culture of compliance professionals out there who adore “Ted Lasso,” the Apple TV drama about an American football coach leading a British soccer team. I have delightful news for this crowd: the most recent episode included a scene about Ted’s coaching style that speak perfectly to how a corporate culture should work.…

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A View on Corruption From Ukraine

Ukraine

Earlier this week I recorded our usual Compliance Into the Weeds podcast with my friend and colleague Tom Fox, plus a special guest: Timur Khasanov-Batirov, a compliance officer and anti-corruption officer in Ukraine. Given the importance of the war in Ukraine, our conversation with Khasanov-Batirov deserves its own written post as well. Several points are…

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Spotify, Part II: The Drama Continues

Spotify

Today I want to return to the ethical imbroglio at Spotify, because I saw an excellent analysis of the company’s internal operations that bears relevance here. Indeed, the crisis that Spotify is suffering with its star podcaster Joe Rogan is something that many companies could face in the modern world.  The analysis appeared in the…

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Pointers on Setting Compliance Goals

corporate culture

Today we return to the compliance officer bookshelf. I just began reading Get It Done, a newly released book by business professor Ayelet Fishbach, that examines how people can motivate themselves to change their behavior. The first chapter alone raises excellent points about how to set goals that people want to achieve — a subject…

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Culture and the Cuban Missile Crisis

culture

I am a bit of a history buff, so lately I’ve been reading Nuclear Folly, a new chronicle of the Cuban Missile Crisis written by Ukrainian history professor Serhii Plokhy. Little did I know when I began reading it, that a central lesson of good corporate governance would be a major theme of this book. …

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Corporate Ethics and Voter Suppression Laws

voter suppression

I’ve long said that the standard corporate response to looming new legislation or regulatory moves is first to do nothing; then scramble and panic once the legislation or regulation comes to pass. Now we see Corporate America has held true to that strategy yet again, in response to Georgia’s voter suppression law.  By now you…

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