In this COVID-19 World, Be realistic, But Optimistic.

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In this COVID-19 World, Be realistic, But Optimistic.

September 19th, 2020 Frank Orlowski Leave a comment

As business leaders, our goal is always to lead our teams to success. During these challenging COVID-19 times, it’s critical to strike the right adaptive mindset and not over- or under-react. We need to find a way not to be pessimistic, but also balance realism with optimism. As William Arthur Warn said: The pessimist complains about the wind; the optimist expects it to change; the realist adjusts the sails. The balance of optimism with realism during these challenging times is the way business leaders can win.

James Stockdale, the United States Navy Vice Admiral and aviator was awarded the Medal of Honor in the Vietnam War, during which he was a prisoner of war for over seven years and survived when so many others did not. Stockdale explained his significant insight as the following: “You must never confuse faith that you will prevail in the end—which you can never afford to lose—with the discipline to confront the most brutal facts of your current reality, whatever they might be.”

This is indeed a paradox. Although we’re not prisoners of war, we relate to Admiral Stockdale in not knowing how long we’ll be wrestling with the challenges brought on by the COVID-19 Pandemic. As business leaders, if we ignore the challenges on our teams, the leader will be naïve and out of touch. If the leader mires in the challenges, they risk creating a culture of pessimism that will demoralize and demotivate the team and undermine its effectiveness.

To promote Stockdale’s prevailing mindset as leaders of a team there are two helpful strategies.

The disruptive nature of working remotely 100% of the time while balancing personal and family challenges during COVID-19 requires a team to learn how to ruthlessly prioritize with more structure and pace without slowing the team down.

Rally team members around short-term goals to ensure “quick wins” and build morale.

Realistic business leaders will excel by keeping emotion out of the equation in business decision making. Adding optimism to realism allows leaders to see the brighter side of things demonstrating to team members that things will get better day by day. As Edwin Bliss stated: “Success doesn’t mean the absence of failures; it means the attainment of ultimate objectives. It means winning the war, not every battle”.

Winning leaders and teams make things happen, plan, and prepare instead of hunkering down and waiting. Winning leaders see potential were the less successful dwell on the past. Winning business leaders might not know “how” they will excel and achieve their goals, but they always believe that they will figure it out. They know that effort is the great equalizer. If they do not already know what to do, they will learn it and perfect it. Successful leaders during this COVID-19 pandemic understand that worry, fear, action, and gratitude are all choices you get to make and that apathy is the enemy of achieving something great. Use the difficult times to realize as a leader of a business, this is the second chance your team has always been asking for. It’s critical to make decisions quickly during this difficult time. However, a business decision that is easy or guaranteed is bound not to be highly successful in the long run.

Overly optimistic business leaders believe in their soul that nothing — absolutely nothing — is impossible. However, unrealistic optimism and accepting that you are more likely to experience pleasant events, and less likely than others to experience negative ones can lead to disengagement of a team and hamper trust. A team that is blinded by optimism will not be able to change course when trouble is encountered. Therefore, it’s critical to ensure realism keeps optimism in check.

Pessimist business leaders tend to believe that bad situations are the fault of others or the internal team, and that good business outcomes are not caused by anything they or others have done, and most likely cannot be repeated.

So, when it comes to optimism or pessimism, “hope for the best, prepare for the worst” is an ideal motto. To achieve that, you must be honest with yourself about your approach and outlook.

Whether you believe the world is conspiring against us, or if you believe that the world is conspiring in our favor, it doesn’t make it any more or less realistic.

A business leader can be optimistic or pessimistic, but there is a also third state of mind called, Being A Realistic Optimist. This means that in general and for most business situations, a leader is an optimistic thinker. However, in particularly challenging conditions (e.g., before and during very complicated negotiations with many unknown and unfavorable variables) a leader might apply a more conservative style.

Optimism balanced by realism shines when faced with extreme challenge. Optimists choose to look for positivity in the situation, and most importantly, they always take action towards a better outcome, regardless of the problem.

Let’s take a moment to define optimism:

A tendency to look on the more favorable side of events or conditions and expect the most favorable outcome.” -Courtesy of Dictionary.com

What’s so unrealistic (or unhealthy) about that? Optimistic leaders believe that things will work out because in their minds believing in the alternative makes absolutely no sense. No matter what a leader’s goal, they have no control over the future. There is no one reading these words which can predict the future. And because of that, we have a genuine choice that we need to make about our expectations.

Since none of us know what will happen next, wouldn’t it make sense to always focus our expectations on what we want to happen in our lives instead of what we do not want to happen?

The word “Optimism “is originally derived from the Latin optimum, meaning “best.” Being optimistic, in the typical sense of the word, ultimately means one expects the best possible outcome from any given situation.

There are only two ways to live your life. One is as though nothing is a miracle. The other is as though everything is a miracle (Albert Einstein).

Research has found that positive, i.e., optimistic thinking can aid in coping with stress, in becoming more resilient, in being more courageous, and plays a significant role in improving one’s health and well-being.

According to Martin Seligmann, people with a so-called optimistic explanatory style tend to give themselves credit when good things happen and typically blame outside forces for bad outcomes. They also look at adverse events as temporary and atypical.

Albert Bandura, one of the founding fathers of modern psychology, argued decades ago that optimism is the basis for creating and maintaining motivation to reach goals. And that an individual’s success is mostly based on the fact of whether they believe they will succeed. The results of his findings have yet to be proven wrong.

Unrealistic optimists (I also refer to them as naive realists), on the one hand, are convinced that success will happen to them almost automatically and that they will succeed effortlessly. Some of them even think (and hope) that only by sending out positive thoughts, the universe might reward them by transforming all of their wishes and aspirations into reality.

Realistic optimists are vigorously optimistic, too. They firmly believe that they make things happen and that they will succeed. They do not doubt it. Saying that, on the other hand, they perfectly know that in order of being successful, they have to plan well, to access all necessary resources, to stay focused and persistent, to evaluate different options, and to execute in excellence.

Being both optimistic and realistic, i.e., combining the two into one behavioral style of realistic optimism, creates a special breed of very successful people. Natural optimists stay positive and upbeat about the future, even – and especially – if and when they recognize the challenges ahead. As such, realism and optimism are not diametrically opposed. The contrary is true: They compellingly complement each other!

In case of doubt – and mostly if you want to achieve something very unique and impactful – the optimist in you should outwit your realist. Why? The realist might be too prone to anxiety. The optimist, however, if stimulated and guided well, will activate your fantasy, imagination, and boldness.

But there is an important caveat: to be successful, you need to understand the vital difference between believing you will succeed and believing you will succeed easily. Put another way, it’s the difference between being a realistic optimist and an unrealistic optimist.

Realistic optimists believe they will succeed, but also believe they have to make success happen — through things like effort, careful planning, persistence, and choosing the right strategies. They recognize the need for giving serious thought to how they will deal with obstacles. This preparation only increases their confidence in their ability to get things done.

Unrealistic optimists, on the other hand, believe that success will happen to them — that the universe will reward them for all their positive thinking, or that somehow they will be transformed overnight into the kind of person for whom obstacles cease to exist. (Forgetting that even Superman had Kryptonite. And a secret identity that took a lot of trouble to maintain and relationship issues.)

Believing that the road to success will be rocky leads to tremendous success because it forces you to take action. People who are confident that they will succeed, and equally confident that success won’t come easily, put in more effort, plan how they’ll deal with problems before they arise, and persist longer in the face of difficulty like the COVID-19 Pandemic.

Unrealistic optimists are only too happy to tell you that you are “being negative” when you dare to express concerns, harbor reservations, or dwell too long on obstacles that stand in the way of your goal. In truth, this kind of thinking is a necessary step in any successful endeavor, and it’s not at all antithetical to confident optimism. Focusing only on what we want, to the exclusion of everything else, is just the naïve and reckless thinking that has landed industry leaders (and at times, entire industries) in hot water during this difficult period.

Cultivate your realistic optimism by combining a positive attitude with an honest assessment of the challenges that await you. Don’t visualize success — visualize the steps you will take to make success happen.

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If you have any questions or would like help in the area of Compliance and Controls please do not hesitate to contact Frank at frank@ationadvisory.com or visit my website at www.ationadvisory.com. Ation Advisory Group has expert financial and operational experience in development, manufacturing, distribution, and sales spanning 55 countries and, six continents, delivering individualized, proven methods to build out and implement highly successful and sustainable country-specific goals. All executed with 100% FCPA (Foreign Corrupt Practices Act) compliance.

Archives, Global Logistics, Global Trade Daily

Team Leadership Behavior in a Post Coronavirus World

August 11th, 2020 Frank Orlowski Leave a comment

Human behavior throughout history tells us that when groups of people are suppressed or living in fear, they avoid making decisions dampening progress, and ingenuity. One only must look at our darkest time in history, such as the Black Plague, where one-quarter of the population of London died between 1665 and 1666. Isaac Newton may have thrived isolated away from Trinity College during his “Year of Wonder”, but group societal progress and development did not.

The human reasoning for this, which applied in the 1600s and now COVID-19 times, is instability and fear of the unknown. During these challenging times as leaders, it may seem more natural to “hunker down” and avoid making tough decisions. During a crisis in an effort not to upset others or lose status in the eyes of their followers, leaders tend to concoct sophisticated justifications for putting off difficult decisions, and the delay often does far more damage than whatever fallout they were trying to avoid.

Business leaders must understand that in fact, hard decisions often get more complicated when they are deferred especially during a crisis. The need for rapid decision making is critical, understanding that most decisions can be reversed, but nothing can be worse than an idea or a decision never put forward during a crisis.

The most significant consequences occur when a leader misses an opportunity to help his team build resilience in the face of a tough challenge. Instead of learning to rally together to find creative solutions, they feel demoralized, confused, and even scared by their leader’s deceit.

The consequence of this common rationalization is people learn the wrong lesson to avoid mistakes at all costs and that “looking right” during a crisis is more important than “doing right.” Further, if leaders end up backing themselves into a corner with fewer options sub-optimal decisions may be made. Too often in crisis leaders will continue to ask for more data or analysis (Analysis Paralysis) instead of taking the risk and making the best decision possible with limited data which can save an entire organization during these challenging times. Postponing decisions to wait for more information might make sense during business as usual. But when the environment is uncertain—and defined by urgency and imperfect information—waiting to decide is a decision in itself. As Bruce T Blythe, CEO of Crisis Management International wrote: Crisis decision making is located somewhere between analysis and intuition.

Amid uncertainty generated by a crisis, leaders often feel an urge to limit authority to those at the top, with a small team making the big decisions while huddled behind closed doors. They should reject the hierarchical model that they might be more comfortable within normal times and instead involve more people, encourage different views and debate fostering creativity and risk-taking. This approach can lead to smarter decisions without sacrificing speed. Some small choices that leaders make in the short run could loom exceptionally large over the long term as the crisis unfolds. They can be hard to spot, but leaders must look for them.

In the normal course of business, many “big-bet” decisions are obvious when there is a large cost or major impact, such as acquiring a company, marketing a product in a new geography, or shutting down a factory, with these decisions. But some decisions that seem small or routine at first can have large long-term strategic implications. In an example related to coronavirus, Netflix has gone to lower-resolution streaming in some locations to ease the data load on information networks. While most people won’t notice the difference in quality, the decision could mean that the internet doesn’t crash, which would be a big problem when so many are working from home and children are relying on the internet to do their schoolwork.

When choosing leaders to rise above the rest of the pack during these challenging times, identify colleagues who have done as many of the three following things as possible to increase the likelihood of them being successful in the current times of uncertainty:

-Lived through a crisis (personal or professional) and shown their mental and personal resilience. For Multinational organizations, many of these leaders may be outside the US leading their markets in Asia, Eastern Europe, Latin America, and The Middle East.

-Made tough, unpopular decisions because it was the right thing to do, even though they took heat for it and potentially burned bridges or spent social capital.

-Expert in: Straight Talk – Willingly able to give bad news up the chain of command to leaders who didn’t want to hear it.

Unprecedented crises demand unprecedented actions. Lessons from past crises suggest that leaders are more likely to underreact. What is necessary is to take bold and rapid actions that would feel too risky in normal times. I.e.: Being rewarded for Daring to Try.

As an executive during a crisis how difficult decisions are made in your truly define an organization’s decision-making culture over time. Whatever temporary pain you might incur from making a tough call should pale in comparison to the precedent set that it’s important to take chances, make quick decisions, and put the organization’s success first.

At the operational or emergency response level it is true that life and death decisions will be taken, the decision is binary and those who made the decision will know very quickly whether the decision is successful or not. Sometimes it is those who go against training and procedures that survive and the ones who do what they are told and stick to procedures suffer. But the trickiest are those we call “big bets”—unfamiliar, high-stakes decisions. When you have a crisis of uncertainty such as the COVID-19 pandemic, which arrived at overwhelming speed and enormous scale, organizations face a potentially paralyzing volume of these big-bet decisions.

Make smart decisions quickly to guide their organizations through this crisis. Embrace them and continue to learn as you go. As one business leader, I spoke with recently told me when I asked how he was doing with his business: “Our company reinvented itself three times this week alone. We will continue this path until we find what works. With the Chaos comes opportunity!”

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By Frank Orlowski, Founder and President Ation Advisory Group| frank@ationadvisory.com | New York, NY USA

Archives, Global Trade Daily, News, Special Reports

Team Leadership in the COVID-19 World

July 22nd, 2020 Frank Orlowski Leave a comment

In 1933, when FDR delivered his first inaugural address, U.S. unemployment stood at 25%, and 7,000 banks had folded in three years. Even as he cautioned his fellow Americans that “the only thing we have to fear is fear itself,” he also conceded that “only a foolish optimist can deny the dark realities of the moment.” The realities of that moment still appear at this instant to be grimmer than those of the current one. Yet with a staggering 26 Million American filing for unemployment over the last five weeks, it’s challenging to dismiss projections of jobless rates reaching or even eclipsing the Depression-era peak that confronted FDR on that very first day of his presidency.

Today’s Americans may not emerge from the coronavirus siege embracing anything approaching the extreme of those directly impacted by the Great Depression, and no reduction in federal responsibilities in the current situation is likely to take the country back to pre-New Deal mode. However, it would be unwise to assume that the severe jolt to our sense of physical as well as material well-being inflicted by this crisis will leave no mark on our human behaviors going forward.

Obvious ones that may never return include handshaking (a tradition long gone in Japan), full-service toll booths, buffets, and sadly free samples at Costco. However, as we dig deeper into the business world, there are less obvious ones that can transition into new ways of doing business. This article seeks to highlight letting go of the past and what to look for in the new COVID-19 World.

We have often heard two widely accepted quotes that seem to contradict each other. The first describes a stonecutter who strikes the rock 100 times with no result. However, on the 101st blow, he sees the rock split. In short, it was not the 101st blow alone that split the stone, but the 100 that went before reinforcing the message of persistence and “staying the course.”

However, the second quote is that the definition of insanity is continuing to do the same thing again and again and expecting different results. The message here is if what you are doing is not working, change what you are doing.

In this COVID-19 World, the question the entrepreneur faces is when to persist and when to change course. The answer depends on the circumstances. To be successful in business in today’s world or any other endeavor, you must be willing to persist when times are tough.

Like the stonecutter, you must be willing to continue working hard through patches where there are no visible results. At the same time, success also requires that you be ready to change course when the current path is not getting you where you want to go, especially during a pandemic. Pivoting now and reinventing yourself may help you thrive later.

Depending on the type of business, we see shifts and pivots in commercialization strategies to help organizations recapture, maintain, and ultimately grow revenue. Obvious ones include storefronts to Direct to Consumer or “you come to us” vs. “we come to you,” adding guaranteed supply of hard to get essentials into unique offerings. Less visible but impactful pivots for CFOs include choosing profitability overgrowth. Government Subsidies, forgivable loans, and grants are the preferred option during these times vs. dilutive funding, and traditional bank business loans or lines of credit.

Looking inside and redefining, your organization should include using this crisis to define a new mission. Instead of ducking from the crisis, refine your company, and embrace it. Externally getting to know your clients better and looking at your client’s challenges from an outside perspective is essential. From a business development standpoint, look ahead at tomorrow’s needs. Ask the question: “What’s my unique selling proposition, and what should it be?” This will allow your organization to pivot and redefine itself appropriately.

Most importantly, believe in your business! See the light at the end of the tunnel. The changes you make to your business model will eventually add to the bottom line and improve profitability. When you believe your business can make it now, you will be a stronger, more resilient, less vulnerable company for the future.

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By Frank Orlowski, Founder and President Ation Advisory Group| frank@ationadvisory.com | New York, NY USA

Archives, Global Trade Daily, International Banking

B20 Saudi Arabia – Leadership in Challenging Times through Integrity and Compliance

June 17th, 2020 Frank Orlowski Leave a comment

As countries around the globe push to reopen in the face of the COVID-19 pandemic, the business community is struggling with the decision to relax compliance standards as a means to remain agile and navigate a pressing shortage of goods and services. Yet these times necessitate an even greater commitment to integrity.

B20 Saudi Arabia, the voice of the global business community to the G20, recognizes the ethical challenge posed by the COVID-19 health and economic crisis to both businesses and governments and has committed to addressing the issue of corruption by recognizing Integrity & Compliance as one of its key priority areas.

Corruption remains a significant risk for businesses across the world. The cost of corruption is estimated to be five percent of the annual global GDP, i.e. US$3.6 trillion, a price we cannot afford in these times. We have also seen corruption is a key barrier to achieving the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), such as the elimination of poverty and hunger, promoting a peaceful and inclusive society, improving education, quality of life, and the infrastructure of each state. The B20 Integrity & Compliance Taskforce’s work, therefore, aims to advance the global anti-corruption agenda, touching upon key relevant topics such as responsible business conduct, consumer protection, the fight against corruption, and other efforts at the foundation of a healthy business environment.

Recently I had the opportunity to interview Mathad Al-ajmi, Vice President and General Counsel at Saudi Telecom Company (stc) and Chair of the B20 Saudi Arabia Integrity & Compliance Taskforce. As a prominent attorney and business leader, Mr. Al-ajmi has been influential to the Pearl Initiative, a global coalition of business leaders from the Gulf Region aimed at fostering a corporate culture of accountability and transparency to ensure all applicable international laws and frameworks are upheld within Saudi Arabia, throughout the Middle East, and across the globe.

During my interview with Mr. Al-ajmi, he reinforced that integrity is not merely anti-bribery, but rather something much broader. He believes that to create an open, transparent and legitimate world economy, the members of the global marketplace must be in alignment with the terms and conditions of participating in that economy, both for developing and developed countries. The goal of the B20 Integrity & Compliance Taskforce is to ensure a robust compliance and controls program that is sustainable, globally successful across languages, and able to be implemented proactively.

Mr. Al-ajmi also spoke about how developing economies and micro, small and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs) will bear the brunt of business loss from the pandemic, making it doubly important they are able to access monetary government support through legitimate channels. The most vulnerable populations, most often coming from developing markets, are those who are disproportionately impacted by corruption – corruption costs developing countries US$1.26 trillion every year and represents a major obstacle to investment, further negatively impacting economic growth and job prospects for these markets in the long term.

MSMEs, Mr. Al-ajmi noted, play a pivotal role in jump-starting the economy in that they account for more than half of most countries’ GDP and are responsible for almost seven in every 10 jobs. Often operating in difficult economic environments, MSMEs are highly vulnerable to corruption, although they may be less likely than large companies to be involved in large-scale influence-peddling scandals, which is why they are one of the B20’s cross-cutting focuses. Simultaneously, MSMEs typically lack the resources, knowledge, and experience to implement effective anti-corruption measures and conduct their business in compliance with international standards and the applicable international laws and frameworks, making their engagement a cornerstone of the B20’s Integrity & Compliance taskforce work.

The B20 will present its policy recommendations to the G20 during the B20 Summit scheduled for October in the form of policy papers to be drafted by each taskforce, including Integrity & Compliance. While the recommendations and priorities in those papers are not yet published, Mr. Al-ajmi outlined a number of key themes in our discussion that he and his task force feel are an integral part of supporting transparency in the global business community:

-Leveraging new technologies with regards to the management of corruption and fraud-related risks.

-Proposing an anti-corruption technology roadmap to both the private and public sector as a strategic vision by adopting technological solutions for identified risk areas.

-Developing digital identities and public national registers to reduce anonymity and increase both transparency and accountability of beneficial owners and third parties. The adoption of these solutions will further enable addressing the challenges of cross-border quality data sharing.

-Ensuring heightened integrity and transparency in public procurement through open bidding processes from multiple vendors, with specific certification criteria to ensure compliance with applicable international laws and frameworks.

-Collectively pursuing and legislating the implementation of responsible business on a global basis in each country, leveraging the applicable international laws and frameworks.

-Supporting code-of-conduct compliance programs to monitor capital spending as emerging market infrastructure projects continue.

-Continuing to align government officials with private industrial programs through compliant lobbying programs and monitoring.

-Protecting whistleblowers by adopting mechanisms and practices in line with leading global practices.

-Strengthening corporate governance in public and private sector companies, such as through yearly certifications for all employees to understand governance regulations.

-Widely and publicly prosecuting bribery to set examples.

-Partnering with and leveraging the expertise of global institutions to improve national anti-corruption plans.

-Actively empowering women across the supply chain by promoting their participation in a wide range of public, economic and political spheres in combating corruption.

As Mr. Al-ajmi reinforced to me, none of these efforts will succeed if we are not operating in a transparent, integrity-driven business environment. Ultimately, this is what the B20 hopes to accomplish through the work of this critical taskforce, ensuring integrity is part of the global business community and society writ large. I am confident the B20 and specifically its Integrity & Compliance Taskforce will have a positive influence on the G20 Summit and look forward to the release of the policy recommendations during the B20 Summit scheduled for October.

_________________________________________________________________

If you have any questions or would like help in the area of Compliance and Controls please do not hesitate to contact me at frank@ationadvisory.com or visit my website at www.ationadvisory.com

Frank and his team at Ation Advisory Group have successfully remediated clients from FCPA and British Anti-Bribery investigations. His team has implemented over 45 global FCPA Certification Programs and Compliance and Controls improvement projects which prevented violations and Improved Goodwill and overall value for a domestic or international organizations seeking to sell, partner with a JV or obtain contracts or new business with government officials and private enterprise.

Archives, Global Trade Daily, In The News, International Trade

B20 Saudi Arabia – Positively Changing Integrity & Compliance Behaviors Across the Global Business Community

June 12th, 2020 Frank Orlowski Leave a comment

As countries around the globe push to reopen in the face of the COVID-19 pandemic, the business community is struggling with a temptation to relax compliance standards as a means to remaining agile and navigate a pressing shortage of goods and services. And yet these times necessitate an even greater commitment to integrity, one of the priorities the global private sector has set for itself.

The B20 Saudi Arabia, the voice of the global business community to the G20, recognizes the challenge posed by the COVID-19 health and economic crisis to both businesses and governments and has committed to addressing the issue of corruption by recognizing Integrity & Compliance as one of its key priority areas.

We already know the global economy loses US$3.6 trillion to impropriety yearly, a price we cannot afford in these times. We have also seen corruption is a key barrier to achieving the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), such as the elimination of poverty and hunger, improving education, quality of life, and the infrastructure of each state. The B20 Integrity & Compliance Taskforce’s work, therefore, aims to advance the global anti-corruption agenda, touching upon key relevant topics such as responsible business conduct, consumer protection, the fight against corruption, and other efforts at the foundation of a healthy business environment.

Recently I had the opportunity to interview Mathad Al-ajami, Vice President and General Counsel at Saudi Telecommunication Company (STC) and Chair of the B20 Saudi Arabia Integrity & Compliance Taskforce. As a prominent attorney and business leader, Mr. Al-ajmi has been influential to the Pearl Initiative, a global coalition of business leaders from the Gulf Region aimed at fostering a corporate culture of accountability and transparency, to ensure FCPA and UK Foreign Bribery Compliance are upheld within Saudi Arabia, throughout the Middle East, and across the globe.

During my interview with Mr. Al-ajmi, he reinforced that integrity is not merely anti-bribery, but rather something much broader. He believes that to create an open, transparent and legitimate world economy, the members of the global marketplace must be in alignment with the terms and conditions of participating in that economy, both for developing and developed countries. The goal of the B20 Integrity & Compliance Taskforce is to ensure a robust Compliance and Controls program that is repeatable, successful globally across languages, and able to be implemented proactively.

MSMEs, Mr. Al-ajmi noted, play a pivotal role in jump-starting the economy in that they account for more than half of most countries’ GDP and are responsible for almost seven in every 10 jobs. Often operating in difficult economic environments, MSMEs are highly vulnerable to corruption, although they may be less likely than large companies to be involved in large-scale influence-peddling scandals, which is why they are one of the B20’s cross-cutting focuses. Simultaneously, MSMEs typically lack the resources, knowledge, and experience to implement effective anti-corruption measures and conduct their business in compliance with international standards and the applicable legal rules, making their engagement a cornerstone of the B20’s integrity & compliance work.

The B20 will release its policy recommendations to the G20 in July in the form of policy papers to be drafted by each taskforce, including Integrity & Compliance. While the recommendations and priorities in those papers are not yet published, Mr. Al-ajmi outlined a number of key themes in our discussion that he and his task force feel are an integral part of supporting transparency in the global business community:

-Leveraging new technologies in managing the risk of corruption and fraud – this includes computer-based training and certifications in all languages using “real world” case studies that are language and market-specific.

-Leveraging Artificial Intelligence programs to monitor large amounts of data for specific corruption and integrity violations.

-Collectively pursuing and legislating the implementation of responsible business on a global basis in each country, leveraging the frameworks provided by FCPA and the UK’s Bribery Act.

-Supporting code-of-conduct compliance programs to monitor capital spending as emerging market infrastructure projects continue.

-Continuing to align government officials with private industrial programs through compliant lobbying programs and monitoring.

-Protecting and encouraging whistleblowers but protecting businesses by ensuring disgruntled workers cannot destroy shareholder value through false claims.

-Strengthening corporate governance centrally and in global subsidiaries, such as through yearly certifications for all employees to understand governance regulations.

-Widely and publicly prosecuting bribery to set examples.

As Mr. Al-Ajmi reinforced to me, none of these efforts will succeed if we are not operating in a transparent, integrity-driven business environment. Ultimately, this is what the B20 hopes to accomplish through the work of this critical taskforce, ensuring integrity is part of the global business community and society writ large. I am confident the B20 and specifically its Integrity & Compliance Taskforce will have a positive influence on the G20 Summit and look forward to the release of the policy recommendations in July.

___________________________________________________________________

If you have any questions or would like help in the area of Compliance and Controls please do not hesitate to contact me at frank@ationadvisory.com or visit his website at www.ationadvisory.com

Frank and his team at Ation Advisory Group have successfully remediated clients from FCPA and British Anti-Bribery investigations. His team has implemented over 45 global FCPA Certification Programs and Compliance and Controls improvement projects which prevented violations and Improved Goodwill and overall value for domestic or international organizations seeking to sell, partner with a JV, or obtain contracts or new business with government officials and private enterprise.

Frank Orlowski is an accomplished Senior Finance Executive and Board Member with more than 25 years of success in the pharmaceutical, medical devices, contract manufacturing, and healthcare industries. Leveraging extensive experience leading manufacturing, operational, and financial strategies across 35 countries. Frank has also implemented over 30 FCPA Compliance/ Controls Remediation and Certification Programs across 25 countries.

Archives, Global Trade Daily, In The News, The Big Idea

A Human Perspective – Global Business in the Post COVID-19 World and The New Norm

April 16th, 2020 Frank Orlowski Leave a comment

There is little doubt that our economy will not be the same in the post novel coronavirus world. American businesses long have shown the scars of national trauma: Devastating fires, for example, spawned major factory regulations. World War II hastened the entrance of women into the workforce. September 11^th drastically heightened security protocols. Analysts say the novel coronavirus pandemic could push broad societal shifts and human behavior. There will essentially be a “new norm” where new businesses will start, others will thrive, and many will disappear. As human beings in this New Era, this article will identify how the human perspective will influence business and consumer trends.

One of the most apparent human factors consumer impacts from the coronavirus outbreak is a shortage of toilet paper stemming from panic buying originating from video’s that went viral such as this one from Australia.

However, upon a human perspective evaluation, there is a supply chain shortage of toilet paper, not an inventory shortage. Consumers are now buying for their homes as the toilet paper supply in offices, restaurants, airports, hotels, and schools go unused.

Other observed human factor trends are a shortage of Viagra where Pfizer is allegedly at full production capacity of Sildenafil at its Amboise France Facility (Now managed by Fereva). Lastly, figuratively related, in Food Science, packets of yeast are also at shortage levels as homebound bakers now have more time on their hands to take the time required to bake fresh bread.

Lastly, the best performing commodity during this epidemic has been frozen concentrated orange juice rising over 20% (Akin to the 1983 film Trading Places)

The most significant impact economists say will likely be dramatic losses in local retail and dining options, with millions of jobs disappearing as the most prominent and wealthiest companies — especially those that do much of their business online — extend their gains. Giants such as Amazon, Walmart, Target, and Costco — and the rest of the industry. Companies selling groceries and staples are thriving, while the rest are barely hanging on.

Telework, online education, and streaming video services have grown sharply, while movie theaters, schools, and traditional workplaces close their doors. Some will never reopen in a world where the shift from real to virtual suddenly has gone into overdrive. In the entertainment industry, Universal Pictures announced this week that its animated adventure “Trolls World Tour,” due for release in April, instead will be available for streaming. Such shifts, if they take hold long term, could imperil movie theaters, especially small and independent ones that run on narrow margins based heavily on concession revenue.

Virtually any business practices, such as remote work and the online medical visits or telehealth, which were slow to win widespread adoption because of behavioral inertia, will now speed adoption of such unfamiliar ways of doing business. Any traditional face-to-face encounter — going to an accountant’s office, sending children to class, traveling for a business meeting — will seem less necessary as more remote options become publicly acceptable and widespread.

An economic silver lining will emerge for janitors, child-care workers, grocery store clerks, and servers who will be able to demand higher pay and better working conditions in the post-coronavirus world, some analysts predict. Many have called these workers “heroes” in the crisis.

It’s impossible to say what ripple effects these massive disruptions could cause. One analyst pointed to groceries: When few people opted for home delivery, the scale of the enterprise ensured the costs were high, and availability was low. But as crowds of people opt for delivery, the route drivers will grow denser, and customers will expect everything is dropped off at home. Deliveries of items that were generally in-store purchases — fresh foods, prescription drugs — could usher in new economies of scale.

Businesses dependent on prime real estate and bringing people together could be especially vulnerable as people opt against public gatherings, including shopping at malls. That could have other impacts, too: One analyst said he suspected conspicuous consumption — high fashion, expensive sneakers, sparkling jewelry — might suffer when people “don’t have anywhere to parade.”

Other firms may become winners, too. Blue Apron, the food-delivery service, struggled for months to convince investors that people would pay $60 a box for all of the ingredients they need to make home-cooked meals. But the firm saw its stock price skyrocket more than 500 percent last week amid a flurry of new interest. The company said it is hiring workers at its fulfillment centers in California and New Jersey to meet demand.

But as surgical masks become desperately desired items, schools from Japan to Ireland sit closed, airlines scrap flights, trade shows are canceled, and stock markets plunge, the pandemic seems likely to alter the contours of globalization and human behavior. However, one thing we all can agree is human beings will prevail over the virus. As the Great Winston Churchill said: “If you are going through hell, keep going.”

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Contact:

Email: frank@ationadvisory.com

Website: www.ationadvisory.com

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The Human Factor of the Novel Coronavirus (COVID-19) and Corruption

April 5th, 2020 Frank Orlowski Leave a comment

With the explosive spread of Coronavirus (COVID-19) hospitals, healthcare providers and all citizens are finding a shortage of goods and services and employees are under increased pressure to preserve and excel in their current roles.

Unfortunately, in this time of crisis corruption is thriving and some aim to profit from others’ misfortune and push companies to the brink to maintain profits.

Around the world, countries are reporting shortages in both medicines and medical supplies due to COVID-19. All of these factors put additional strain on already fragile procurement processes and increases the risk that suppliers, knowing that government and individuals have little choice but to pay, demand higher prices.

In these challenging times having open and transparent contracting processes in place helps mitigate these risks. With nowhere to hide, corrupt actors are unable to practice price gouging and must charge governments and individuals reasonable prices.

The stockpiling of supplies such as masks, gloves, and hand sanitizers are also contributing to shortages in medical supplies. In attempts to profit from public panic, some traders have been inflating prices for ordinary consumers.

After pressure from the Department of Justice, Amazon has implemented an effort to remove tens of thousands of deals from merchants that it said attempted to price-gouge customers. The world’s largest online retailer has faced scrutiny over the health-related offers on its platform, and earlier this week, Italy launched a probe into surging prices around the internet for sanitizing gels and hygiene masks. At the same time, Italy battles the biggest outbreak in Europe.

There are lessons to be learned in health-sector Corruption elsewhere from prior epidemics such as Ebola and SARS where procurement and contracting wrongdoing led to deadly consequences. In prior epidemics, Corruption compromised containment efforts, when corrupt actors used petty bribes and other favors to avoid quarantines, roadblocks, and safe body collection procedures. Even ventilators and other medical oxygen-related equipment have been the subject of bribes and kickbacks, sometimes leading to the tragic deaths of patients. These examples demonstrate the worst case of what can happen without resilient anti-corruption policies.

In the first federal action against fraud involving the coronavirus outbreak, the DOJ obtained a temporary restraining order against a website selling a bogus vaccine.

The DOJ said Sunday, March 21^st, that operators of the website “coronavirusmedicalkit.com” were engaging in an alleged wire fraud scheme to profit from the confusion and fear surrounding COVID-19.

The website claimed to offer customers access to the World Health Organization (WHO) vaccine kits in exchange for a shipping charge of $4.95. There are currently no legitimate COVID-19 vaccines, and the WHO is not distributing any such vaccine.

Besides compliance issues with third party business practices with goods and services, companies are experiencing enormous business pressure. Many companies have salespeople who cannot travel due to precautions taken, canceled flights, or, worse, quarantines. They cannot visit customers or partners, leading to slower sales. Global supply chains are disrupted, with shortages of parts and products. Company events and conferences are being canceled, resulting in fewer opportunities to build relationships with customers and market products. Customer demand for company products may be falling, and companies may be declining to make revenue projections during this time of uncertainty about the spread and effects of the coronavirus.

These disruptions can increase the pressure on salespeople to meet their sales targets. Salespeople may feel additional pressure now, when sales may be sluggish, and again when business gets back to normal, and they want to make up for the time lost. That pressure can lead some people to make the wrong choices—to engage in bribery or other misconduct—to generate business. Besides, the heightened emphasis on business priorities due to the losses from the coronavirus can push anti-corruption compliance further down on the priority list.

If/when the DOJ and SEC discover bribery or Corruption, they assuredly will not be accepting a “coronavirus defense” from companies. Compliance officers should be aware of situations like the coronavirus that could raise corruption risks and try to guard against them. Compliance officers should refer explicitly to the disruption caused by the coronavirus and emphasize that the company is committed to complying with anti-corruption laws. The communications must be to the employees who need to see them, such as salespeople who interact with customers, or “gatekeeper” functions like finance who review financial transactions.

Most importantly, senior executives and the board, if appropriate, need to make sure that the business pressures resulting from the coronavirus do not overshadow the company’s commitment to compliance and that values and ethics are maintained.

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For more information or questions, please contact Frank Orlowski at frank@ationadvisory.com or +1917-821-2147 and please visit our website at www.ationadvisory.com

Archives, Global Trade Daily, News

The Corruption Index: How it Relates to FCPA

January 8th, 2020 Frank Orlowski Leave a comment

The Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI) is an index published annually by Transparency International since 1995, which ranks countries “by their perceived levels of corruption, as determined by “expert assessments” and opinion surveys.

The CPI currently ranks 176 countries “on a scale from 100 (very clean) to 0 (highly corrupt)”. Denmark and New Zealand are perceived as the least corrupt countries in the world, ranking consistently high among international financial transparency, while the most perceived corrupt country in the world is Somalia, ranking at 9–10 out of 100 since 2017.

The estimated cost of corruption from Transparency International is over One Trillion Dollars or 2% of GDP. This represents an amount larger than most of the world’s economies

The top 10 least corrupt countries in the latest publication are:

-New Zealand

-Denmark

-Finland

-Norway

-Switzerland

-Singapore

-Sweden

-Canada

-Netherlands

-United Kingdom

It should also be noted that the top five on the list have some of the smallest populations on the planet potentially skewing the results as the index is not weighted. Additional smaller countries like Syria, South Sudan and Somalia are at the bottom of the list (178-180). However, they are considered war tourn countries. Larger population countries like China is ranked 77, and India is 81

Emerging Markets like Brazil is ranked 96, and Russia is 135. It is estimated that one in four people in Asian and Eastern European Societies have paid what is classified as a bribe multiple times in a year. It has also been estimated that law enforcement officers and government officials were most likely to receive a bribe where young people (under the age of 25) were most likely to pay a bribe. However, bribing is not limited to Emerging Markets. It is estimated that 13% of European Public Works Projects include the cost of bribing. This includes major infrastructure projects such as airport and rail construction, roads and government hospital or administrative buildings

One could argue that there could be a direct correlation between the number of FCPA Violations and how high a country rank on the Corruption Perception Index (CPI). Upon analysis, there is no such association and therefore the reliance by Chief Compliance Officers on the CPI as published each year by Transparency International comes into question

Upon further investigation of the survey developers – Transparency International (TI) based in Berlin Germany, it becomes clearer why the survey cannot be relied upon

The Corruption Perceptions Index has received criticism over the years. The main one stems from the difficulty in measuring corruption, which happens behind the scenes. The Corruption Perceptions Index, therefore, needs to rely on the third-party survey which has been criticized as potentially unreliable. Data can vary widely depending on the public perception of a country, the completeness of the surveys and the methodology used. The second issue is that data cannot be compared from year to year because Transparency International uses different methods and samples every year. This makes it difficult to evaluate the result.

Another issue is historically funded since its inception in 1993 by large multinationals – Exxon/ Mobil, Shell, and Hedge Fund KKR being the most significant donors. One cannot help but question the objectivity of the survey with large private donors.

TI’s International Board of Directors reacted to this conflict of interest by stripping its US affiliate – Transparency International USA – of its accreditation as the National Chapter in the United States.

TI Headquarters reported that TI-USA came to be seen in the United States as a corporate front group, funded by multinational corporations given the large donor base.

Secondly, the surveys themselves are conducted by organizations such as Freedom House, which have known biases. In August 2019 whistleblower accounts from seven current and former TI Secretariat staff emerged, describing a “toxic” workplace culture under the current Managing Director, Patricia Moreira. Reported in The Guardian, the misconduct reported ranged from gagging orders in termination agreements to bullying and harassment of critical internal voices.

Although the Corruption Perception Index remains popular with its audience as it is unveiled each year, it becomes more clear after digging deeper into Transparency International why there’s not a more robust correlation between FCPA Violations as identified by the SEC and DOJ and the faltered Corruption Perception Index. In addition, the index is not relied on by any public or private enforcement agency for compliance purposes. If anything it brings to light an unconscious or conscious bias against certain developing countries. One can argue its prejudice.

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Frank is an accomplished Senior Finance Executive and Board Member with more than 25 years of success in the pharmaceutical, medical devices, contract manufacturing, and healthcare industries. Leveraging extensive experience leading manufacturing, operational, and financial strategies across 35 countries. Frank has also implemented over 30 FCPA Compliance/ Controls Remediation and Certification Programs across 25 countries.

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The Corruption Index: An In-Depth Look at What it Means & How it Relates to FCPA

December 14th, 2019 Frank Orlowski Leave a comment

The Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI) is an index published annually by Transparency International since 1995 which ranks countries “by their perceived levels of corruption, as determined by “expert assessments” and opinion surveys.

The CPI currently ranks 176 countries “on a scale from 100 (very clean) to 0 (highly corrupt).” Denmark and New Zealand are perceived as the least corrupt countries in the world, ranking consistently high among international financial transparency, while the most perceived corrupt country in the world is Somalia, ranking at 9–10 out of 100 since 2017.

This short video link below provides an overview of the Corruption Perception Index.

One could argue that there could be a direct correlation between the number of FCPA Violations and how high a country ranks on the Corruption Perception Index (CPI). Upon analysis, there is no such correlation and therefore the reliance by Chief Compliance Officers on the CPI as published each year by Transparency International comes into question

Upon further investigation of the survey developers – Transparency International (TI) based in Berlin Germany, it becomes clearer why the survey cannot be relied on.

The Corruption Perceptions Index has received criticism over the years. The main one stems from the difficulty in measuring corruption, which by definition happens behind the scenes. The Corruption Perceptions Index, therefore, needs to rely on third-party surveys which have been criticized as potentially unreliable. Data can vary widely depending on the public perception of a country, the completeness of the surveys and the methodology used. The second issue is that data cannot be compared from year to year because Transparency International uses different methodologies and samples every year. This makes it difficult to evaluate the result of the new policies.

Another issue is historically been funded since its inception in 1993 by large multinationals – Exxon/ Mobil, Shell, and Hedge Fund KKR being the largest donors. One cannot help but question the objectivity of the survey with large private donors. TI’s International Board of Directors reacted to this conflict of interest by stripping its US affiliate – Transparency International USA – of its accreditation as the National Chapter in the United States and it was reported by TI Headquarters that TI-USA came to be seen in the United States as a corporate front group, funded by multinational corporation given the large donor base.

Secondly, the surveys themselves are conducted by organizations such as Freedom House, which have known biases. In August 2019 whistleblower accounts from seven current and former TI Secretariat staff emerged describing a “toxic” workplace culture under the current Managing Director, Patricia Moreira. Reported in The Guardian, the misconduct reported ranged from gagging orders in termination agreements to bullying and harassment of critical internal voices

Archives, Commentary, Global Trade Daily

How You can Certify 100% FCPA Compliance Based on New SEC/DOJ Requirements

December 3rd, 2019 Frank Orlowski Leave a comment

Now that the SEC has gotten involved with FCPA along with the DOJ they have interpreted the FPCA statute to mean that a company must maintain a system of internal accounting controls that monitors FCPA Compliance not only internally within the organization, but for all its third parties including customers and suppliers

With the average Fortune 50 company having over 75,000 suppliers and 300,000 large customers the enforcement is nearly impossible and deemed as “sneaky.”

Even former DOJ Leadership acknowledges the incredible challenge around FCPA Compliance, especially now that the SEC is stepped up its enforcement (See video like below at around the 14:40 mark).

https://youtu.be/xpo9d4CbHG0

However, there is a solution to avoid or mitigate FCPA fines/actions as well as damaging public press-releases by the DOJ/SEC due to third party violations. A robust but straightforward certification program can significantly mitigate this risk.

A Certification Program is primarily an attestation or assertion document that is acknowledged or signed by an employee/and all third parties delivered by email, a simple workflow software or even post mail. It is generally language-specific but is translators are not available English only works. The attestation or assertion document is asking an individual/entity/official to certify that they are Understand FCPA, Are FCPA Compliant, and Unaware of any violations.

You might be asking yourself that there is no way that all of my hundreds of thousands of suppliers/customers/colleagues will comply, and we will have with exposure?

In the case of colleagues, its a more straightforward answer as the certification process should be mandatory using internal email or workflow tools driven from the top of the organization. In the case of third parties where there is less control, the recommendation is to send the certification communication (via email/post) up to three times in 90 days. If there is no response, this is OK!

The key to this entire process is a robust documentation and controls process over the certifications – this includes the third parties that have not responded despite three attempts.

Essential elements to an FCPA Certification process are:

-How the Certification is written ensuring that there is an emphasis on full disclosure and awareness and understanding of the FCPA Statute and any potential violations

-Process for Disseminating to third parties and internal employees

-Tracking and reporting

-Frequency

It is proven that a robust Certification Program implemented in advance of a certification program has lead to reduced penalties and even eliminated penalties as well as damaging Public Relations from the announcement of an SEC/DOJ Investigation.

A robust FCPA certification program may be the most significant cost avoidance and reputation damaging you can implement within your organization.

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For more information and learning more please contact Ation Advisory Group (www.ationadvisory.com) or at (917) 821-2147.

In this COVID-19 World, Be realistic, But Optimistic.

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