For those of you who missed the annual Society of Corporate Compliance and Ethics (SCCE) National conference in Nashville last week, this was great event (and so…so much walking through the gargantuan hotel and convention center!).
Never fear. Compliance Kristy is here to share with you three of my favorite tips from the conference.
The conference involved 1200 people with ten learning tracks going at any one time. While I couldn’t get to all of the sessions, three lessons really stuck out.
Tip One: Know What You’re Selling
Long ago when I became a Chief Compliance and Ethics Officer for the joint venture of Paramount Pictures and Universal Pictures, I realized that a big part of my job was selling the compliance program to everyone at the company. The company had never had a compliance program before, so this was a new idea for them.
I began to study sales. I realized that a clearly articulated value proposition was key to bringing people on the journey.
The great Hemma Lomax stated in her session that what we’re selling is “ease and peace of mind.” I loved that phrase. It encompasses so gracefully what we’re trying to do.
Doesn’t everyone want ease and peace of mind? I certainly do. If that’s what Compliance is selling, I’m buying – as will the business.
Tip Two: Find the Business’ Moral Humility
At lunch on day two of the conference, I was speaking with a fascinating compliance professional. He talked about the concept of “moral humility.” Moral humility is the idea that companies should consider the idea that not everyone does the right thing. The humility part comes from the dismissal of the wholehearted belief that the company can’t have any bad apples.
This sentiment rang true to me. So many leaders at companies we talk to at Spark Compliance, a Diligent brand, have the idea that “we hire good people, so nothing will go wrong.” Compliance professionals know that good people sometimes make bad decisions.
By introducing the company to the idea of moral humility, the company can better understand the risk of good people doing bad things, which can greatly improve support for the compliance program.
Tip Three: Ask AI How You Could Have Prompted it Better
This third tip comes from the terrific session lead by my Spark Compliance colleague Nicole Di Schino along with Kortney Nordrum of Deluxe, and Shaun Miller of Southwire on free and cheap AI tools to use in your compliance program.
During a discussion about prompt engineering, thought leader Asha Palmer raised her hand and told the audience that her top tip was to ask AI how she could have gotten to the right answer faster.
See – it sometimes takes four or five (or ten) tries to get AI to give you the answer you need or to create the right graphic. When you finally get to it, ask AI how you could have prompted it to get to the correct answer faster. Take the answer and copy it into a Word doc or Notes app to retrieve later to skip all the back and forth. Genius!
There were many more great moments at the conference, some of which I’ve shared in pictures and others that will come to you in videos on LinkedIn.
See You Next Year!
The SCCE announced that next year’s conference will be held in the Rosen Shingle Creek in Orlando, Florida (a much better sized hotel and conference center!) from Sept. 27 – 30, 2o26.
I, for one, already have my bags packed.