Compliance lessons from a US Border Control experience

Lots of people are sharing stories about border controls. Here’s mine, complete with a 𝗖𝗼𝗺𝗽𝗹𝗶𝗮𝗻𝗰𝗲 𝗹𝗲𝘀𝘀𝗼𝗻.

I have Global Entry and a Visa, so being let into the US is normally a formality. But there’s still that moment when Officers are required to exercise human judgement and where they ask unexpected questions to which the '𝘳𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵' answer isn’t always obvious.

This time, the discussion went like this:

'𝗪𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗮𝗿𝗲 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝗵𝗲𝗿𝗲 𝗳𝗼𝗿?'

 '𝗔 𝗰𝗼𝗻𝗳𝗲𝗿𝗲𝗻𝗰𝗲.' 

'𝗪𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗸𝗶𝗻𝗱 𝗼𝗳 𝗰𝗼𝗻𝗳𝗲𝗿𝗲𝗻𝗰𝗲?' 

[𝘏𝘦𝘴𝘪𝘵𝘢𝘯𝘵𝘭𝘺] '…𝗔 𝗖𝗼𝗺𝗽𝗹𝗶𝗮𝗻𝗰𝗲 𝗰𝗼𝗻𝗳𝗲𝗿𝗲𝗻𝗰𝗲.' 

[𝘑𝘰𝘺𝘧𝘶𝘭𝘭𝘺] '𝗪𝗵𝗼𝗼𝗽! 𝗪𝗵𝗼𝗼𝗽!' 🙌 🎉 

'𝗧𝗵𝗮𝘁’𝘀 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗯𝗲𝘀𝘁 𝗿𝗲𝘀𝗽𝗼𝗻𝘀𝗲 𝘁𝗼 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝘄𝗼𝗿𝗱 𝗖𝗼𝗺𝗽𝗹𝗶𝗮𝗻𝗰𝗲 𝗜’𝘃𝗲 𝗲𝘃𝗲𝗿 𝗵𝗲𝗮𝗿𝗱!”

'𝗜 𝘄𝗮𝘀 𝗯𝗲𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗶𝗿𝗼𝗻𝗶𝗰!' 

'𝗜 𝗸𝗻𝗼𝘄.' 

'𝗜𝗻 𝘄𝗵𝗶𝗰𝗵 𝗰𝗮𝘀𝗲, 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝗮𝗿𝗲 𝗺𝗼𝘀𝘁 𝘄𝗲𝗹𝗰𝗼𝗺𝗲 𝗶𝗻 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗨𝗻𝗶𝘁𝗲𝗱 𝗦𝘁𝗮𝘁𝗲𝘀, 𝗦𝗶𝗿.'

And just like that, I was in. 

Not just because of the paperwork or the visa; but because I got the joke.

A Compliance professional, in a very serious environment, made a joke about compliance, and waved me through because I got the irony.

I’ve written recently about how bad '𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘱𝘭𝘪𝘢𝘯𝘤𝘦' is as a brand; this might well be the ultimate illustration.

When even people working in Compliance joke about it — not just privately, but on duty, in uniform — we've clearly got a challenge.

Which is why I’m so pleased to be at ComplianceNet an academic conference full of brilliant, thoughtful people doing the hard yards to understand and solve the very problem this story illustrates. 

The way we change perceptions isn't by re-branding or telling people they're wrong to think of it that way. It's to get the joke and then think more about the humans whose behaviour we're seeking to influence.