We just finished up spring ethics and compliance season! I very much enjoy attending these events and hobnobbing with the community…however, I found this years events to be a bit puzzling. The vast majority of time was spent on things like AI, ESG, Data, etc, i.e. the shiny new objects du jour. It feels like we took our eye off the ball. There were almost no sessions focused on the most important thing…how to impact behaviors. Here are some of my observations.

Everyone loves a good story. Stories are a powerful way of communicating ideas. Our favorite comedians, TV shows, films, books, plays and podcasts are built on telling compelling stories that bring our humanity to life. And we eat it up! There is a lesson here for the Ethics & Compliance community who all too often focus on pushing policies using legal-speak instead of engaging our audiences with stories that educate, enlighten and even entertain. 

Entertainment increases our influence. In a noisy environment, if we’re interesting, entertaining and fun, we’ll get real estate and airtime on more communication channels, we’ll get increased frequency of our messaging and we’ll have a greater likelihood that others (Leaders, Ethics Ambassadors, etc.) will help carry these important messages forward on our behalf. Being entertaining with how we train and communicate will give us increased visibility, approachability and influence.