Philippa Hann on the Ethico article arguing that most misconduct is committed by ordinary people, not calculating bad actors.
This week on The Responsible Edge, why good people know when they are crossing a line and rationalise it anyway, why ethics training misses the moments that matter, and how Paradigm Norton is building an emotionally healthy firm to catch problems early.
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Most compliance programmes assume misconduct is the work of calculating bad actors. Philippa Hann spent 20 years suing financial advisers, wealth managers and banks. She found something else. "This isn't a bad person problem. This is a good person problem."
Philippa is now chief executive of Paradigm Norton Financial Planning and co-author of The Fault Lines of Finance. On this episode of The Responsible Edge, she joins Charlie Martin to discuss an Ethico article on behavioural science and ethical failure.
She agrees that wrongdoing usually starts small. She disagrees that people do not know they are doing wrong. "We do. It's just that we clock that and we justify and we rationalise."
The conversation covers why ethics training rarely reaches the moments that matter, and the four stages of ethical decision making. It includes the story of a junior adviser who deleted a client's email and lost his job. It also looks at how hierarchy can shut down a difficult conversation before it starts.
Philippa explains how Paradigm Norton runs 15-minute weekly training sessions, a weekly 30-minute one-to-one for every member of staff, and an anonymous survey asking whether people see colleagues getting away with things. She is candid about the power a chief executive holds. "I control people's wages and whether they keep their job."
Her one change for the commercial world is simple. "Your emotions are neither good nor bad, but they are telling you something."
Listen to the full conversation on The Responsible Edge.
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