Chief Compliance Officer Skills: Data, AI, and Leadership Capability

Speaker A: M the chief compliance officer role is often defined by technical expertise. General Gary and Natalie McManus take a different view. They explain that technical knowledge is necessary, but it does not determine how effective a compliance leader will be in practice. That distinction reshapes how leaders think about compliance leadership, decision making and the future of the chief compliance officer role. Welcome back. You're listening to a download where I share bite size insights from our latest interview. This highlight comes from a conversation with Jennifer Gehry and Natalie McManus where we explore one of the closing ideas from the episode. Uh, we break down what capabilities will define high performing chief compliance officers and why compliance leadership is evolving beyond technical expertise toward data, AI and human judgment. Here is Jennifer and Natalie and before we get to a close, I'd like to ask one last question around the cco. Uh, what capabilities will define a high performing compliance leaders over the next three to five years? Two, three max. Just for the sake of time.

Speaker B: Um, so, uh, I'm going to say two things. Um, the one that you would expect me to say is data and AI, right? So having the capability to understand, map, think about data and apply the best of the nascent capability that we have, I think, let's face it, is going to be the thing, uh, that changes and improves how we run compliance. The answer you may not expect from me and the word that I had in my mind as I heard Natalie explain the CCO role and the way that she does was flair. And it's not a word that you would ever think of applying to comply. Sorry Natalie, no, no offense intended, but flair, you know, you can apply flair to how you interpret rules, to how you embed things in an organization, to how you bring things to life. And I think that for me was the huge learning about this book.

Speaker C: Nathalie, one, two, more curiosity, uh, empathy and technical brilliance. Um, too often I think technical brilliance is considered necessary. Uh, but it is not sufficient. Without curiosity, don't ask the right question. And without empathy, you don't build the right relationships and nudge things in the right way.

Speaker A: And with that I'd like to take the discussion to a close and ask a few again, running around the edges of the cco, um, what is the one capability leaders consistently underestimate in compliance? What is the thing they don't get right? So almost a reverse question that what I just asked you.

Speaker B: Oh, I'm going to slightly repeat myself I think and kind of say, you know, I came into this project thinking that this was quite, quite a black and white role to Take and actually how much nuance and humanity that there is in this role. I think for me that was the surprise. And in terms of these books, all of the C suite books are about helping people to be more able and more capable and so on. And this book does, uh, inform you as to what the role entails. But what it brought to life for me was how multidimensional and complex and interconnected the role really is.

Speaker C: And I think for me it's, uh, a blend of humility and rigidity. So sometimes compliance officers think being right is enough, and it's not. You have to read the room and you have to work really, really hard to influence it. And that is wearing. It is wearing when you are the least important meeting of someone's week. Um, and it's your most important meeting and you've prepped for two weeks to influence someone and they've literally taken your meeting agenda. So from like 10 minutes down to 30 seconds, you're like, I'm not going to swear, but I want to swear. And it happens to me time and time again and you cannot wear it on your face. And I am a very emotive thinker and speaker, so when I am angry or annoyed, I wear it. And having to mask that in a room, because it's all about everybody else, it's about them, not about you. That, that is, that is very, very hard to do. And I think people who go into the CCO role sometimes underestimate just how wearing that Is. Especially because CCOs are by their very nature very law abiding, very frank, honest people. And so to be faced with a room where you have to be in their mind, sometimes a little bit duplicitous to get them a better outcome and just feel like the wrong thing today, um, um, and sometimes it's polished, but sometimes it goes too far. And so when you try and overcompensate, then sometimes you do, as I say, go native. And that creates really bad compliance outcomes. So being in the middle lane of those pressures is really, really hard. Um, and it can take a lifetime to get right. But, and this is the shameless plug. Hopefully if you read the book, it will give you some guidance as to how you navigate that really tricky path.