OS
By stu lehR
HE OTHER SIDE
Compliance Humor?
Is “coMPliance huMoR” an oxyMoRon? More on that later, but first let me welcome you to my inaugural “the other side” column for ABA Bank Compliance magazine. My purpose will be to highlight and remark on the more humorous aspects of our lives as compliance professionals—whether meant to be funny or not. and if (purely by coincidence) there happen to be any kind of actual regulatory insights or
helpful ideas about compliance management as well … well some things
just can’t be avoided.
ence. However, when you only think
it in your head, or share it with your
trusted compliance friends, it can be a
lot of fun and therapeutic as well (at
no extra charge).
So back to my initial question,
is “compliance humor” an oxymoron (a seemingly contradictory pair)?
You know, like “jumbo-shrimp,”
“cruel-kindness,” “regulatory-relief”
or “executive-management”? Is compliance humor seemingly contradictory like those? I think the answer is
“no”—there’s humor in just about
anything—even in a job where you
read obtuse government regulations,
interpret them for ungrateful business
managers, and then have to defend
yourself with your regulator (who is
under pressure by Congress to quit
being so “easy” on the banks). What’s
not funny about that?
It’s all in how you look at things.
Sometimes you just have to view it
from the “Other Side of the Compli-
ance Rainbow.” Those who know me
well know that I think the story of the
Wizard of Oz truly is a one-size-fits-all
analogy, and most certainly applies to
our life as compliance professionals.
I think we’ve all got a bit of Dorothy
in us as we venture into the land of
regulatory risk. We have some good
witches to help show us a way, some
wicked witches who get in our way,
and luckily some helpful colleagues
we meet along the way. (That girl from
Kansas showed us a great example of
the power of networking.)
About the Author
VICKY FRANCIS / SHUTTERSTOCK
What kind of humor? Well, you
have your basic joke telling (probably
not too much of that will happen), as
well as your wry observations (and as
compliance professionals we do observe a lot of goofy things). There’s also
hyperbole, sarcasm, and spoofing (all
personal favorites). There’s also what I
call “fantasy humor,” which is like the
outrageous things you’d really like to
say to your boss/marketing director/
commercial lender/out-of-control-examiner—but while your compliance
friends think it would be hysterically
funny—you have enough common
sense to never, ever actually say those
things out loud to the intended audi-
Stu Lehr is still trying to figure out
what he wants to be if he grows up—
he’s kept busy for twenty-some years
developing and leading compliance
programs for a number of kind-of-big
banks, and even an online payments
provider. In addition, since 1993 Stu
can’t seem to end his dependence on
ABA activities, from the Compliance
Executive Committee, to Conference
Planning, to still being on the
faculty for the ABA Compliance
Schools. Even after receiving 2002’s
ABA Distinguished Service Award,
he won’t go away. He did manage
to get a couple of degrees, from
Nebraska Wesleyan University and
the University of Nebraska, College
of Law, and prior to discovering the
thrill that is regulatory compliance,
he tried his hand at a number
of things from practicing law to
corporate marketing. You can contact
him at stu.lehr@gmail.com (he’ll
respond if he could just remember his
password).
