During the short interval between our February issue and the time of writing, there have been events aplenty to concern us with. Failures of governance and leadership have beset celebrated, public institutions like the British National Health System[1] where the governing board of Stafford Hospital[2] appear to have lost all sight of their reason for being. Elsewhere, careers and egos have been broken or bruised at the top of the industry. At Swedish TeliaSonera[3], the simple lack of care and due diligence checks on third party associates led to suspicions of corruption and the resignation of their CEO. As the storm continues to rage around the link between corporate responsibility, greed and executive pay, EU and Swiss legislators have adjudged the compensation packages offered to captains of industry, for good or bad performance, to be such that greater shareholder scrutiny is required.
At the Journal we try to match these challenges with knowledge and inspiration to allow our readership to move ahead and across the obstacles they encounter. To help us do so, we are very pleased to welcome Nico Zwikker to our Editorial Board. A lawyer by background, a risk and compliance specialist by trade, a thought leader by nature, Nico brings his extensive experienced gained at the head of both highly competitive commercial ventures and most recently as Head of Group Compliance at ABN Amro to help the continuing strengthening of our Editorial Board.
In this issue, we dedicate some time and thought to addressing issues of leadership and governance at executive levels of our organisations. Torben Ballegaard Sørensen, a Director of Lego and previously CEO of Bang & Olufsen, shares with us his experiences of directorship in cutting edge firms, the lessons learned from the challenge of heading and guiding global companies, whose success is built on their ability to anticipate and react to constantly changing circumstances around them. To lead a company with a tone at the top that is infectious, passionate, and which inspires loyalty and dedication to the future success of the firm is the subject matter of “The Courage to Lead”, contributed by the business psychologist Fiona Beddoes-Jones.
The mission of ethics workers is not easy. Over the past year we have seen ethics workers suffer as a result of their inability to fulfill the expectations of their posts, either through lack of clarity of objective or the limitations of governance structures meant to support their task. Nicole Dando investigates the risks and dangers facing the ethics representative and provides some ideas on how to limit such risks.
We at the Journal, by way of the undersigned, have embarked on our first, if modest, benchmark review. If one of the greater obstacles facing ethics workers is the adequacy of resources placed at his/her disposition, then the communication of the value of ethics and compliance programmes becomes an essential skill. Yet, where value is largely a reflection of an intangible impact on organisational culture, and the costs of non-compliance avoided, this is far from a simple task. Hence we have reached out to peers amongst compliance heads and board directors to help us understand current methods used for this purpose, and tried to evaluate the effectiveness of such measures.
One of the many snippets of food for thought, is how to get the best out of our relationships with other departments within our organisations, such as Human Resources. Natalie Evenas seeks to raise awareness of the overlap of objectives between ethics and employee management initiatives and invites a dialogue, which we believe should surely be exploited. This practical approach to solution finding is followed up by the third part in our Siemens case study introduced in our inaugural 01/02-12 issue[4]. Rainer-Diethardt Buehrer and Antonie Wauschkuhn explain the post-crisis procedures of how Siemens handle concerns raised by staff, investigate and follow through effectively on disciplining any substantiated misconduct. We would reiterate our appreciation to Siemens for their candor and willingness to share their hard learnt lessons with the rest of the ethics community.
Finally – at a time when reflection is still rife on the outcome of the Cyprus crisis – Alexandria Carr considers the ebb and flow of the forces that push towards greater unity and communality of cause at the heart of the political establishments of the European Union, and yet the desire of local governments to further their national interest; thereby resisting the “siren call” of Brussels. At a point of EU and Euro history where capital controls have once again been called into use, it would seem an apt time to ask the question: Wither Europe?
We hope that this issue’s collection of articles will once again challenge our readers to consider and question if there are not areas within their sphere of responsibilities that might gain from applying knowledge shared in this Journal in the quest for greater effectiveness.
[1] http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-21357532
[2] http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-stoke-staffordshire-21228820
[3] http://t.co/LMGgdnV1
[4] Still available for free download at www.journalofbusinesscompliance.com