Safety Net
April 1, 2026
For so long, I felt like an outsider—the lone compliance voice carrying the weight of keeping everyone on track. But then the big boss pulled me aside and said, ‘You
There’s an old story about a man who offended the king and was sentenced to death. This man pleaded with his royal highness, asking he be spared. He told the king, that given a year he could teach the ruler’s favorite horse to sing. If successful, he should be released. With failure, he’d willingly go to the gallows. The king was both intrigued and amused (maybe he enjoyed the classic television show Mr. Ed and wanted a talking horse of his own), so he sent the prisoner to the stables on this mission. On his way to the barn, a guard questioned the inmate’s sanity. The prisoner replied, “A lot can happen in a year. The king might die. I might die. The horse might die, and who knows – maybe the horse will learn to sing.” Sometimes prisoners just want a little more time. Maybe they’ll come up with a solution. Perhaps circumstances will change. At least they’ll have another year.
Not all prisoners are as quick witted as the would-be horse whisperer. Many feel trapped by circumstances beyond their control. In the 1998 movie, Snake Eyes (Directed by Brian DiPalma), Nicholas Cage plays the semi-corrupt Atlantic City cop – Rick Santoro. Julia Costello (Carla Gugino) is a defense contractor turned whistleblower. She has just unburdened herself, by telling Santoro his best friend, Commander Kevin Dunne, (Gary Sinise) was the leader in a conspiracy to murder the Secretary of Defense. The newly burdened Santoro shrieks in his best Nick Cage “crazy eyes,” now “Snake Eyes” way,
Because I didn’t have to know! You decided to have this problem, not me! My world would’ve gone on turning just fine, but now, either way I look, I have to do something I don’t wanna do. Do you understand, I do not wanna to do this![i]
Instead of being informed but conflicted, he wished he’d stuck his fingers in his ears while screaming, “La, la, la, la, la. I can’t hear you.”
Perhaps politics can provide the answer to how prisoners should proceed. The 1973 Watergate hearings ran from dawn till dusk coverage, and even pre-empted afternoon soap operas. Senator Howard Baker kept asking Nixon’s aids, “What did the President know, and when did he know it?” Imagine being cross-examined by a zealous prosecutor, asking – “What did you know, and when did you know it?” The follow up to this question might be, “What did you do, once you knew it?” Values-based leaders (VBLs) can be a tolerant bunch. They don’t like mistakes, but over time these can be forgiven. What do VBLs hate? Cover-ups! Motivational speaker Simon Sinek says, “Trust has two dimensions: competence and integrity. We will forgive mistakes of competence. Mistakes of integrity are harder to overcome.”
Since the 1973 political conspiracy, there’s a new shorthand way of describing this type of behavior. Just add the four letters …”gate” to the end of the scandal, and the subject becomes a prisoner to the headlines. At least for the next news cycle, or two.
RECOMMENDATION: When an employee is alerted to a potential problem, assume VBLs will also find out about it. An employee’s initial response shouldn’t be looking for excuses or blaming someone else. Maybe they can bury the problem – at least for the time being, but plausible deniability won’t solve anything. When employees learn about these dilemmas, they should disclose it to the appropriate compliance office and cooperate with the investigation. Associates who caused part of the problem should accept responsibility, apologize, and learn from it. They should be transparent and keep the company informed about their actions. They need to explain why something happened, then what they’re doing to make sure it doesn’t happen again. VBLs understand that even prisoners can be pardoned with time off for good behavior.
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