Compliance & Ethics Professional - Society of Corporate ...

Q & AFeatureAW: TAMKO has a saying, “100% compliance,100% of the time.” That’s more than justa goal or a slogan, isn’t it?DCH: That’s the minimum, so yeah. I mean,if we’re going to have compliance, we need tobe compliant. You can’t be partially complaint.AW: Can you explain the concept of operating“between the hash marks?”DCH: As I mentioned before, the concept ofoperating between the hash marks is a footballmetaphor based on the fact that if you playbetween the hash marks, that’s where the lightsare the brightest. Not only the referees, buteveryone in the stands can see where you are,and you know where you are as a team. Thecloser you get to the sidelines outside the hashmarks, the closer you come to the boundaries.And in football, if you step on the line, you’reout of bounds. In the world of compliance, if youstep on the line, you may have severe penalties.The other thing is that, in the businessworld, you can be running down the field ona breakaway for great success (a touchdownin football), but then find that, retroactively,the boundaries have been moved. Where youthought you’d been doing a great job, you’vebeen out of bounds the past 60 yards. And so,operating in a world where the boundaries canmove against you, it’s much safer to stay in themiddle of the field.In addition, in the world of business andregulatory compliance, you’re operating in aworld where the referees have a vested interest,in effect, a bias toward seeing you step outof bounds. It’s probably best to play where thelights are brightest and where everyone elsecan see where you are, so that if the referee callsyou out of bounds, it will ultimately be overturnedas a bad call, because everyone can seethat you were right in the middle of the field.AW: Can you explain TAMKO’s Rule ofBasic Honesty?DCH: The Rule of Basic Honesty is whatit says. We expect people to be honest in thenormal context of what honesty means, whichis: You tell the truth, you don’t lie; you comeforward when you see something that’s wrong.I would say it can be summed up as: You dothe right thing. Bob, can you add to that?RB: It means, along with complying withboth the letter and spirit of the law, it formsthe backbone of all our policies. It means morethan simply telling the truth. It includes doingyour job the way it should be done, not takingshort cuts that may save time but do notproduce the right result. It means that everyTAMKO employee has the right to rely onevery other employee to do their jobs. It meansour customers and vendors can rely on us.“The Rule of Basic Honesty iswhat it says. We expect people tobe honest in the normal contextof what honesty means, which is:You tell the truth, you don’t lie;you come forward when you seesomething that’s wrong.”AW: Bob, even though TAMKO has independentCompliance and Legal functions, wework together almost daily.RB: That’s true. Many of TAMKO’s policieswere in place before we had a ChiefCompliance and Ethics Officer. Since you cameon board, many of TAMKO’s policies havegone through revisions to clarify the messageand remove the “legalese.” The Legaldepartment has primary responsibility forinvestigating potential policy violations, butwe work with Compliance to apply our policiesto the facts and recommend responses.AW: David, you mentioned coming forwardin your discussion of the Rule of BasicHonesty. The Federal Sentencing Guidelinesrequire an anonymous system for reportingCompliance & Ethics Professional March/April 2012+1 952 933 4977 or 888 277 4977 | www.corporatecompliance.org 17