Line Drawing

One of the 3-point lines on the court used for the NCAA women’s basketball regionals was short of the regulation. In other words, a line drawn to apply a regulation did not comply with the regulation itself.

There’s a lesson here for Compliance professionals. Our role involves line drawing for our organizations, so we must be sure that were putting the guardrails in the right place.

Setting standards based on only benchmarking and experience can result in a collective drift (usually toward too restrictive!!) that can really mess with the game. In my career, I have seen too many instances of well-meaning Compliance Officers sharing sensitive information with email listservs looking for answer to their question du jour. And, in response, I’ve seen suggestions that are unduly burdensome or legally misdirected. There are no bonus points for forcing lost opportunities and there is no leniency for following a bad lead.

Know the rules, from the source.