Beyond Compliance
From Chapter 8 of What Matters Most
“A man’s got to know his limitations.” —Dirty Harry
Rules and regulations certainly have their place. They play an important role in restraining unethical and illegal behavior. Every financial services company has spent millions of dollars to ensure compliance by their producers and their teams, but the wave of scandals on Wall Street shows that rules are not enough. We need to go far beyond compliance. We need hearts that care for our clients and for our own integrity.
As I considered the need to go beyond compliance, I thought of another setting when rules weren’t enough. Best-selling author Philip Yancey has observed that the people who were most opposed to Jesus were the ones who were enslaved to God’s rules and regulations. The rules weren’t faulty, but they simply weren’t enough to change hearts. ** (Philip Yancey, The Jesus I Never Knew. (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan Publishing, 1995), p. 63.)
The Pharisees and Sadducees were sticklers for following every rule, every guideline, and every requirement. They even counted the seeds in their gardens to be sure they got it all right! But by focusing on compliance to the details, they missed the big picture. Jesus came speaking of love and grace. He spoke words of kindness and hope. The common people loved to hear him (most of the time), but the rules-mongers hated him because his message of freedom threatened their dominant role in Jewish society.
Ironically, Jesus never spoke against the rules and regulations the Pharisees and Sadducees held dear. In fact, he said not one of the rules would pass away. He also told them that he didn’t come to get rid of the rules and laws, but to fulfill them.
Wherever Jesus went in the streets ofJerusalem and the hillsides of Galilee, we find three types of people. We see religious rulers who only valued the regulations, the people who cowered in fear under their leaders’ threats of punishment, and those who realized that Jesus offered a new, thrilling way to live . . . beyond compliance. In a startling statement to a crowd of people, Jesus said, “Unless your compliance goes far beyond the Pharisees, you aren’t doing enough” (paraphrase of Matthew 5:20).
These words must have startled the crowd. Go beyond the ones who used rules as a club to keep people in line? Beyond the ones whose condemnation for any infraction could ruin a life and a family? I can imagine people scratching their heads at that statement. Jesus didn’t mean they should follow more rules than the Pharisees. That was impossible! Instead, he wanted his followers to go beyond simply avoiding wrong behavior out of fear of being punished. He wanted them to genuinely care for people.
Not the Enemy, Not the Answer
When you saw this chapter title, you may have thought, I wonder if Jim’s going to tell us how to get “beyond compliance” to all the regulations in the financial services industry. No, I’m not. In fact, I want to affirm that our guidelines and regulations are good and right. They are useful to restrain selfishness and punish unethical people who try to take advantage of others for personal gain.
In Chapter 2, we noted Daniel Yankelovich’s observation that our culture has moved from self-sacrifice to self-fulfillment, from service to greed, from Captain Miller in Saving Private Ryan to Gordon Gecko in Wall Street. The scandals at Enron, Tyco, WorldCom, and a host of other companies show us that we need those regulations now more than ever. The rules aren’t the enemy, but they aren’t the entire answer either.
A lack of integrity can be punished, but the presence of integrity can’t be legislated. It has to come from deeply held convictions where human greed is overcome by a powerful sense of honor and care for others. We see those caught lacking integrity on the news in handcuffs, but those who serve their clients and teams with honor don’t make the headlines. That’s too bad. They should.
The first stock I ever bought was Tyco. I saw Dennis Kozlowski on the PBS “Nightly Business Report,” and he seemed like a man of great vision. I was impressed, so I bought his company’s stock for $32 a share. Within eight months, the scandal was unfolding and the stock had plummeted to $5. Millions of people like me were hurt by his lack of integrity.
The compliance departments at every financial services company perform a noble task. The National Association of Securities Dealers does us all a service when it takes away the license from an unscrupulous broker or agent, and the SEC is on our side when it prosecutes people like Dennis Kozlowski. I appreciate the people in these organizations for their hard work and their desire to keep the system clean. But their work is simply not enough. The men and women who come to me deserve far more than someone who barely skirts the law. They deserve someone they can trust, someone who stays as far away from breaking the law as possible. In fact, they deserve someone whose ethical standards focus on exemplary service for clients, not just avoiding getting caught in some shady deal.
Continuing Education
All of us who have an insurance or securities licenses are required to take courses in continuing education each year to keep our licenses current. In most cases, these courses focus on rules, regulations, and compliance factors. Most of our companies have done an excellent job of bringing real-life scenarios to our CE training, as well as making these courses available online.
An ongoing goal should be developing courses on the principles and practices that help us build better relationships with clients. A good balance of training in compliance and relationships will give our industry a shot in the arm—or more accurately, in the heart. Such courses will teach financial advisors to add tremendous value to their relationships with clients because they will learn to draw out the clients’ hopes and dreams, and then relate their recommendations to what matters most. It may even be more powerful to weave the two aspects of compliance and relationships together in the same courses. It would show how we can build purpose-centered alliances while we comply with regulations. This kind of training would revolutionize our industry.
I used an illustration in Chapter 1 about my friend, Dr. James Boone. James is passionate about helping people. You can sense the depth of his heart for people the first time you meet him. When he was in medical school, he learned all the procedures and guidelines, and he stays current by studying the latest journals. His relationships with his patients go far, far beyond adhering to the rules he learned in medical school. Soon after he graduated, his heart and soul became focused on people. He uses all of his skills, all of his experience, and all of his training to help the person on the examining table in front of him. He knows the rules he must follow and would never jeopardize his professional life by risking malpractice. Yet he is a perfect example of someone who goes beyond compliance and lives to help others. And they know it.
Whether or not the powers-that-be ever advocate going beyond compliance, each of us can become mentors for one another and for our teams.