Creativity and Compliance

Tom Fox and co-host Ronnie Feldman interview Lauren Thal, VP of Compliance at mid-size pharma company Tolmar, about building an in-house compliance program after external partners previously ran it.

Lauren describes her background in healthcare compliance and earlier consulting at Ernst & Young and Navigant and explains why Tolmar’s legal/compliance team used improv training at a retreat to strengthen soft skills, bonding, and collaboration in a remote, cross-location environment. They discuss how exercises like “Red Ball” and role-playing highlight communication styles, active listening, adaptability, and managing competing priorities, helping compliance partner with the business without appearing “finger-waggy” or like the “police.” Lauren also explains her training/communications strategy using short, playful compliance videos on topics such as Speak Up and Code of Conduct to disarm fear, increase attention and recall, and encourage engagement, offering practical ideas for deployment and emphasizing that humor reinforces rather than undermines compliance messages.

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Creativity and Compliance is a multiple-award-winning podcast and was recently honored as one of the Top 35 Podcasts on Creativity by Feedspot.

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Tom Fox and Ronnie Feldman host Caveni Wong on Creativity and Compliance to discuss how change management principles align with ethics and compliance by focusing on influencing behavior rather than prioritizing “defensibility” alone.

Wong describes her 20-year compliance career across consulting, service providers, and in-house roles, plus change management work at Ernst & Young and IBM. The group emphasizes stakeholder involvement, relationship-building, and user experience (UX) across the full risk management lifecycle, arguing that engaging, creative, and appropriately short training and communication improve attention, retention, approachability, and trust. Wong shares examples like creative visuals, World Cup goalie analogies, and “two truths and a lie” during M&A integration to humanize compliance and build credibility with leaders. They discuss measuring effectiveness via evaluations, recall questions, engagement, increased speak-ups, and more HR/compliance inquiries, concluding that compliance success depends on not forgetting people.

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Creativity and Compliance is a multiple podcast award-winning show and was recently honored as one of the Top 35 Podcasts on Creativity by Feedspot.

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Tom and Ronnie conclude their six-part series highlighting the role of improv in compliance. This series links improv lessons to corporate compliance and some of the key tools and strategies Ronnie has brought from his former world of improv to the corporate compliance communications realm. In today’s Improv & Compliance Lesson 6, Tom and Ronnie conclude their series on improv lessons for compliance with “make your partner look good, and they’ll make you look good.”

Ronnie explains that improv succeeds as an ensemble art by focusing on teammates rather than competing for attention, which reduces anxiety and increases creativity; he illustrates this with a workshop exercise where legal and compliance professionals become more willing to participate once the goal is to “help your friend” in the middle. Tom connects the concept to persuasion as a key tool for chief compliance officers: adding business value and helping colleagues succeed makes compliance influence more effective. Ronnie applies this to compliance by engaging business leaders with short, simple, entertaining training and tools that make it easy to cascade ethics messages in the flow of work, increasing adoption and visibility. The episode notes that a downloadable white paper summarizing the six lessons is available.

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Creativity and Compliance is a multiple-award-winning podcast and was recently honored as one of the Top 35 Podcasts on Creativity by Feedspot.

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Tom and Ronnie continue their six-part series highlighting the role of improv in compliance. This series links improv lessons to corporate compliance and some of the key tools and strategies Ronnie has brought from his former world of improv to the corporate compliance communications realm. In today’s Improv & Compliance Lesson 5, the lesson focuses on “Truth in Comedy,” linking improv and comedy to ethics and compliance.

Tom and Ronnie begin with Gilda Radner’s quote, “Humor is just truth only faster.” Feldman argues comedy works because it exposes shared truths, and compliance programs build credibility by being authentic about real issues rather than pretending everything is fine. He recommends sharing speak-up and reporting trends, anonymized investigation outcomes, culture survey results, and what happens after reports to build trust. Feldman suggests using true stories—internal case studies or news examples—told in engaging formats (newsletters, podcasts, interviews, videos, reenactments) to create teachable moments, stressing “don’t be boring.” They conclude that truthful, interesting communication and authenticity increase engagement, strengthen training, and improve psychological safety and speak-up culture.

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Creativity and Compliance is a multiple-award-winning podcast and was recently honored as one of the Top 35 Podcasts on Creativity by Feedspot.

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Tom and Ronnie continue their six part series highlighting the role of improv in compliance.  This series links improv lessons to corporate compliance, and some of the key tools and strategies Ronnie has brought from his former world of improv to the corporate compliance communications realm. In today’s Improv & Compliance Lesson 3, they focus Using “Yes, And” to Shift Compliance from the Office of No to a Collaborative Advisor. 

 Tom and Ronnie discuss the improv principle “Yes, and,” described as agreeing to the reality presented, dropping one’s agenda, and adding a new piece of information to build collaboratively. They explain how this mindset helps compliance move beyond the “office of no” by affirming and acknowledging business requests, then bridging to relevant risks, laws, and policies (e.g., gifts and entertainment, conflicts of interest) to problem-solve together without immediately shutting ideas down. Ronnie emphasizes “Yes, and” as both a personal communication technique and an organizational philosophy: learn the business, speak its language, and design simple, action-oriented, accessible policies and training that provide timely, embedded guidance. The episode ends with a preview of the next lesson on truth in comedy.

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Creativity and Compliance is a multiple podcast award winner show and was recently honored as one of the Top 35 Podcasts on Creativity by Feedspot. 

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Tom and Ronnie continue their six-part series highlighting the role of improv in compliance.  This series links improv lessons to corporate compliance and some of the key tools and strategies Ronnie has brought from his former world of improv to the corporate compliance communications realm. In today’s Improv & Compliance Lesson 3, they focus on ” an attitude of gratitude,” which means being grateful for information shared, postponing judgment, and dropping personal agendas to fully commit to what others contribute.

Ronnie explains how judgment on stage (of oneself or a scene partner) harms listening, support, and collaboration, while a silent “thank you” helps create openness and leads to more thoughtful responses. They connect this to corporate compliance, urging teams to resist judging employees who ask repeated questions (e.g., gifts and entertainment) and instead be welcoming, even when the ultimate answer is no. Feldman notes improv skills are practicable, references Viola Spolin’s action-driven approach to building intention, and recommends institutionalizing gratitude in reporting channels by thanking reporters, clarifying next steps, and reinforcing psychological safety.

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Ronnie

Tom

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Creativity and Compliance is a multiple-award-winning podcast and was recently honored as one of the Top 35 Podcasts on Creativity by Feedspot.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Tom and Ronnie continue their six-part series highlighting the role of improv in compliance. This series links improv lessons to corporate compliance and some of the key tools and strategies Ronnie has brought from his former world of improv to the corporate compliance communications realm. In today’s Improv & Compliance Lesson 2, they focus on “listen like a thief” as a core active-listening skill for leaders and compliance professionals.

Ronnie explains that when authority figures formulate answers too quickly, they miss verbal and nonverbal cues and critical late-breaking “doorknob comments,” undermining trust when people perceive inattentiveness. He recommends listening with the whole body, avoiding interruptions, using a “last word” silent repeat to create a pause, silently saying thank you, and asking clarifying questions before responding. They extend the concept to organizational listening through ethics ambassador/compliance champion networks, a tracking hotline, consultative questions, and surveys that assess speak-up awareness, perceived safety, organizational justice, and trust. They emphasize closing the loop by communicating outcomes through anonymized stories and metrics, so employees know they were heard.

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Creativity and Compliance is a multiple podcast award-winning show and was recently honored as one of the Top 35 Podcasts on Creativity by Feedspot.

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Tom and Ronnie begin a six-part series highlighting the role of improv in compliance and the key tools and strategies Ronnie has brought from his former improv world into the corporate compliance communications realm. In today’s Improv & Compliance Lesson 1: “Got Your Back” and Psychological Safety.

Ronnie defines psychological safety as the belief that employees won’t be punished for raising ideas, questions, mistakes, or concerns, and explains how improv teams deliberately practice support—often physically telling one another “I’ve got your back”—to enable creative freedom. They draw parallels to compliance programs by emphasizing proactive, frequent promotion of reporting channels, anti-retaliation messaging, and the use of short, interesting, creative formats (e.g., stories, songs, commercials) to avoid message fatigue. Tom adds that organizations must “walk the walk” by preventing retaliation and reinforcing the message throughout investigations. Ronnie also emphasizes humanizing the ethics and compliance team to create an “ensemble” feel.

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Creativity and Compliance is a multiple podcast award-winning show and was recently honored as one of the Top 35 Podcasts on Creativity by Feedspot.

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Where does creativity fit into compliance? In more places than you think. Problem-solving, accountability, communication, and connection all require creativity. Join Tom Fox and Ronnie Feldman on the award-winning Creativity and Compliance. Ronnie’s company, Learning and Entertainment, uses the entertainment devices people use to consume information in their everyday, non-work lives and applies them to important topics in compliance and ethics. It is not only about being funny. It is about changing the tone of your compliance communications and messaging to make your compliance program, policies, and resources more accessible.

Tom and Ronnie are back with their first episode for 2026. They visit with Sven Peterson, VP of Compliance, Ethics, and Regulatory Services at Premera Blue Cross, to discuss using creativity and humor to make compliance more approachable and strengthen the speak-up culture in a highly regulated industry. Peterson explains why his team created “Captain Compliance,” a superhero-style character he plays, in both live and animated versions, to deliver ethical guidance through short skits, training sessions, meetings, and employee events; the program also includes an “Ethics League” and a contrasting character, Professor Pitfall. He emphasizes that ethics is a team sport supported by compliance champions across the company, and advises establishing credibility, gaining leadership buy-in, involving others as co-authors, and aligning with company culture. Reported results include strong employee awareness survey feedback and Ethisphere’s Compliance Leader Verification.

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Sven Peterson on LinkedIn

Premera Blue Cross

Captain Compliance

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Creativity and Compliance is a multiple podcast award-winning show and was recently honored as one of the Top 35 Podcasts on Creativity by Feedspot.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Where does creativity fit into compliance? In more places than you think. Problem-solving, accountability, communication, and connection – they all take creativity. Join Tom Fox and Ronnie Feldman on the award-winning Creativity and Compliance. Ronnie’s company, Learning and Entertainment, leverages the entertainment devices people use to consume information in their everyday, non-work lives and applies them to important topics related to compliance and ethics. It is not only about being funny. It is about changing the tone of your compliance communications and messaging to make your compliance program, policies, and resources more accessible.

Today, Tom and Ronnie discuss the importance of addressing the marketing and PR issues in ethics and compliance programs in this episode of 'Creativity and Compliance.' Ronnie introduces his new white paper titled 'Ethics and Compliance has a Marketing and PR Problem,' emphasizing the need to revamp compliance programs by adopting marketing strategies. Key strategies discussed include creating a positive brand identity, gaining and maintaining attention, building and nurturing relationships, leveraging influencer status, and measuring the right metrics. Examples and anecdotes illustrate these concepts and practical applications.

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Creativity and Compliance was recently honored as one of the Top 35 Podcasts on Creativity by Feedspot.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices