The Dentist and Volvo Mechanic

6
760
The Dentist and Volvo MechanicBy Adam Turteltaub
adam.turteltaub@corporatecompliance.org

I like my new dentist a lot more than the one I had before.  The old dentist and her hygienist seemed to operate under the belief that my sole purpose in life was to take care of my teeth.

I was already a good brusher and flosser, but then she started advocating doing more of both, plus gum stimulation, mouthwash, upgrading my fillings, and I can’t remember what else.  If I did all that she wanted I would have needed to dedicate an hour or more each day to dental care.

At one point I thought of fixing her up with my Volvo mechanic.  He seemed to take a similar view when it came to cars:   I didn’t so much as own a Volvo as I had assumed the mantle of preserving and protecting it from the demons that lurked on the streets of Los Angeles.  I’m not so sure he approved of me driving it all.  Maybe taking it around the block now and then, but probably not much more than that, other than on a Sunday, before 9:00 am,  when the road was dry, and with a sweeper truck in front of me removing any stray pieces of asphalt or roadside debris.

He gave me copious instructions as to how I was to care for it and insisted on oil changes that used pricey synthetic motor oil imported from Europe.

Eventually, I dumped him, then the Volvo and then the old dentist.

Both the mechanic and the dentist had lost perspective.  Rather than my car and teeth being there to serve me, I was there, they believed, to serve my dental and vehicular companions.

It’s an easy mistake to make.  We all get caught up in what we do, sometimes so much so that it tends to take on outsized proportions.  That’s true for virtually every job, and even our personal passions.  We’ve all had our ear talked off by someone who thinks that the key to living healthy is to eat this or not eat that.

The risk is that we lose track of the fact that people have other things to do.

Yes, we in compliance have to make sure that people follow the rules, but when we start making the purpose of the business to comply with the law, rather than making complying with the law a part of doing business, we tend to lose the people we want to win over.

So, by all means, do all you can to see to it that your colleagues follow the law, but don’t forget that they also have other things to do, like brush, floss and get the oil changed regularly.

[clickToTweet tweet=”The Dentist and Volvo Mechanic @AdamTurteltaub” quote=”The Dentist and Volvo Mechanic” theme=”style3″]

6 COMMENTS

  1. Adam,

    Bravo!
    Your posting touches on a very important aspect that way too many compliance professionals overlook.
    Compliance is our world…it is not a slice of the pie chart in what we do…it is the whole pie. However, for those who really are the drivers of the effectiveness of a compliance program, such as line staff and middle management simply by their sheer numbers…compliance may not be anywhere in their pie chart.
    Now there are ways to change this…but that’s another day and another cup of coffee.
    Many thanks for sharing.

  2. Great message and a fun read as well!
    Here’s to “not letting the perfect get in the way of the good” in 2017!
    Thanks for sharing,

  3. I’m all in! Similarly, many senior leaders need to remember that the end game is not simply to make more money–because that’s what much of business pushes for–but, rather, to provide something of value.

  4. Oh man… a thousand times this. So many times we are better served by taking a step back and seeing the bigger picture….keeping in mind the spirit of the law while you see how things fit within the letter of the law. Great post.

  5. So many times do people loose the perspective of the client. They aren’t in our industry, or speak our lingo. Its our responsibility to be sensitive to that and to help educate on the points that need education. Great post!

Comments are closed.