Most of us have an inner voice running through our heads constantly, spewing upwards of 4,000 words per minute. Because they’re with us all the time, these inescapable voices can systematically undermine our mental health, even causing us to make foolish career decisions. Have you ever heard yourself talk in your head? If you have,...

As winter seems to hold out longer than it should, we are faced with the hope of springtime. But spring cleaning can feel like a real chore, both in your personal and professional life. Nonetheless, giving this process a little time and energy can benefit you in multiple ways. Here are a few things to...

Regular fare for compliance professionals includes threats of regulatory enforcement, loss of resources, businesspeople who are intent on undermining the program, investigations into challenging areas, audits, ongoing remediations and many other situations. Ensuring that we are emotionally well and aligned with our purpose is important in an era of dwindling resources. Just as we conduct...

First responders, teachers and others who regularly are exposed to cases of violent or sexual crimes generally have dedicated resources to support their mental health and well-being—and rightly so. But what about compliance, ethics, legal, HR, security, privacy, audit and risk professionals? These guardians of integrity within an organization experience the emotional impact of interacting...

Change is an unavoidable part of life for most people, and when our lives change for the better, it can be a positive experience. But when change comes unexpectedly, such as in the form of a job loss due to consolidation, we are forced to grapple with sudden shifts. Those sudden changes don’t just force...

No one has surveyed the mental health and working conditions of compliance officers for 10 years. We decided that was long enough. The findings of a survey we conducted last year, discussed below, suggest that many COs work in a high-stakes environment where their progress is hard to measure, let alone recognize.

In the decade that Corporate Compliance Insights has covered the corporate compliance and risk management profession, we've heard a common refrain: Compliance is a stressful, demanding career that routinely has compliance professionals at odds with their colleagues. But we wanted to understand more about what exactly makes compliance roles so stressful and to what extent...

Compliance is an undeniably stressful profession. When you combine the typical challenges encountered in the corporate world with the task of managing uncertainty — and then compound this with the all-too frequent issues of limited resources and support — it’s no wonder so many dedicated compliance professionals find themselves dangerously close to burnout. Then top...

Mindset is the number one determinant of outcomes, particularly when faced with the unknown. As human beings, we are faced with uncertainty every day, but we try to provide ourselves with a sense of control by setting up activities that provide predictability and where we try to convince ourselves that we are having an impact....

Our individual well-being is a critical component within our lives. It is important that we check in on that well-being often and find ways to influence it. The definition of well-being is “the state of being comfortable, happy or healthy.” But becoming comfortable, happy and healthy doesn’t usually happen on its own. Like most things...

We all have bad days. And, as the past few years have shown, sometimes that bad day can become a bad month which can become a bad year. But even bad years can teach us, and perhaps the most important lesson we’ve learned over the course of the pandemic is the value of resilience. We...

Have you practiced any self-compassion lately? Showing ourselves compassion is strongly linked to our overall well-being. Compassion is when we recognize someone’s struggles and feel motivated to comfort or resolve those struggles. So, when we think of self-compassion, it is an introspective way to look at our own struggles and comfort ourselves. It really boils...

nomophobia – no–mobile-phone-phobia. The fear of not having your phone with you. Word of the year in 2018, according to a Cambridge dictionary poll. Over the summer, I took a four-day “hard reset” where I completely disconnected from the world. No internet, no phone, no computer, no fitness tracker — really no connection to electronics. Shockingly, the...

Does the thought of a cold snap make you grit your teeth? When temperatures plummet, do you find your mood plummeting as well? With a distinct chill in the air and diminishing hours of sunlight in the northern hemisphere, many people struggle with the cooler weather and the impact it has on their overall sense...

How many times have you gotten the "deer in headlights" look from others or experienced it yourself? Have you ever thought of the perfect comeback hours later that you wish you would have said in the moment? Have you ever been so angry you felt like you couldn't even speak? How often have you seen...

Mental health challenges experienced in the workplace are often, by default, suppressed. But patches of sunlight are shining through the cloud cover. Research suggests a supportive culture can elicit both higher employee engagement and greater productivity. The Olympics in Tokyo wrapped up a few weeks ago. What did you take away from the two weeks...

Integrity is priceless. We need leaders who model what they believe and who practice what they preach. Advocating for the company code is great, but trust is built when you live your values out. In a recent Compliance Career Connection event, focused on the art of the elevator pitch, I found myself on the receiving...

Is the compliance profession stressful? We suspect the answer to the question is ‘yes.’ But we don’t know for sure or to what extent. That's why we're launching a survey.

There are countless reasons to praise others. Most importantly: It’s just the right thing to do. Mary Shirley, co-host of the Great Women in Compliance Podcast, discusses how to be intentional about recognizing staff, even when you’re not in a position of authority. As the holiday season draws upon many of us, it's a time...

Changing your perceptions and your own behavior can be key to overcoming a challenge. Linda Henman encourages leaders to turn off behavior “autopilot” to make sure what they’re doing is really working. Too often discussions of attitudes, values and beliefs center on the person, making us blind to the power of the situation. Marketers advocate...

Every decision starts with a belief. That is, we base our decisions on what we know to be true — what we believe. As Linda Henman writes, sometimes, however, we believe something that isn’t true.  Both intellectual and emotional, beliefs influence our behavior when facts and reason alone don’t. How do we develop our beliefs?...

We are a nation divided, and not just by politics. When run-of-the-mill conflict has us viewing our opposition as the enemy, the business consequences can be dire. Linda Henman offers a way forward. During the Vietnam War, Americans experienced polarization that we had not felt since the Civil War. In 70s, 80s and 90s, we...

The world is in better shape than we might think – an encouraging thought at the outset of a new decade. Linda Henman asserts that worry and a victim mentality impair our ability to take necessary risks. When conducting research for his bestselling book, Factfulness, Dr. Hans Rosling asked simple questions about global trends and...

A CCO’s most valuable resource is time. But with high expectations and limited resources to do the job well, CCOs can quickly become overwhelmed. Michael Volkov provides a framework for dealing with some of the role’s greatest challenges. Chief compliance officers have a hard job. CCOs know that fact, and they fully embrace the challenges of...

By Sean Freidlin, Ethics and Compliance Marketing Manager at SAI Global In my interactions with compliance officers and the E&C community over the years, there has been one constant narrative that I’ve observed. The job of an ethics and compliance professional, while constantly evolving, is consistently difficult, stressful, risky, and often thankless. In fact, a...