The Rude Dude

A bit on network etiquette that stems from the culture of deviants.  One of the requirement s in Night Hawk networking 101 is to be courteous and ask permission to utilize resources in yours or other networks.  I think that people that barge in and start erecting network structures and using resources without express permission is rude and creates disaster for the network host.  A bit on express permission, which is oral or written permission.  I think it is mandatory in networks because it helps protect your resources.  This is exactly why LinkedIn exists, to facilitate express permissions for resources.  Now a bit on networks, fraud and nefarious individuals.  Think about how destructive drugs are in a network.  Think about the above where valuable resources are stored for professional and personal use.  How about wise guys using drugs barging into your network and advertising “Coke” the soda as a inappropriate joke to avoid recognition for their involvement with the drug.  This type of deviant horseplay if you will must be restricted from personal and professional networks in all of it’s destructive forms.  Remember that in the new era of cannabis legalization.  Its movement is still developing and you can bet that those networks will harbor corruption somewhere, somehow someway.   

When Pillars Fail 2

Pillars are the most important part of a communities professional structure.  

As i mentioned in a previous blog, pillars maintain important aspects of a community's

ability to function properly.  The impact of a failing pillar is certainly noticeable.  It’s impact

is felt around surrounding communities.  What is worse is when the multiple systems in

pillars fail.  It can be very worrisome to the community.  The blowback of such a

catastrophe can be felt throughout the professional structure of the pillars network affecting

many other professionals.  It is noticeable that the impact not only affects the community

as a whole civil structure, but also can reverberate through a specific internal structure

hat can create a problematic core of values.  Depending on how the problems were avoided

and how long, one can see the importance of the ethical discharge in this example.  

By avoiding it and allowing the problem to take root in pillars and potentially spread you can

see the size and scope of how a community disaster grows.  It is important for us as a

community to maintain resilience in the matters pertaining to fraud and white collar crime

to maintain a stable community and avoid a potential collapse or worse a corrupt system

of pillars and professionals.   

      

Integrity of Pillars

Integrity of Pillars

Think of the pillars in your community.  Which ones stand out as being the most important?  Businessman, judges, politicians all have their place in the community with its own sphere of influence.  Do your pillars have integrity?  What about the integrity of handshake transactions being available to you.  What do handshake transactions sound like to you?  They are simply put transactions without contracts. They are your word.  In today's business world that does not sound like a secure arms length business transaction or a securely bound legal agreement.  There are companies out there that have the integrity to generate that trust. They complete every business transaction on a handshake only.  When is the last time you did business with one of your community pillars and relied on a handshake only?  What was the outcome?  It speaks of your pillars integrity if he or she does what they know they should do and you know it too.  If they fail that is a failure at the tone of the top in the community and is unhealthy.  Does this result in a leadership vacuum if no one responds to the problem?  It may corrupt and certainly cause that problem.  Be aware of what you can do for your community to keep a healthy tone at the top and keep leadership functional.

Modern Law and Reverse Mentoring

In my community, I have noticed ways to help.  One of the best ways to help your community is through volunteer work.  As a volunteer Associate for the ACFE in understand the importance of the people.  I am sworn to protect them from white collar crime and fraud because of my membership ethics requirements.  Thus, it is very rewarding to volunteer.  I cam across the concept of reverse mentoring not to long ago, which is pairing older employees with younger employees in it’s simplest form.  Although this mentoring primarily deals with trends, technology and social processes I think it can be used in volunteer work as well.  I have thought about the many different ways I can reverse mentor in my community as a volunteer Associate for the ACFE and found some delightful avenues.  One of them that is super cool is assisting the Justice Department with social media processes through technology in the time of modern laws.  One example that is beginning to unfold is the popularity of recreational consumption of cannabis in our country. The young are certainly adept at social media processes with technology and older generations trying to grasp the movement can have a blast on social media with the youth who can use wisdom coming down the ladder for thier future of safe and fun recreational use of cannabis.  I think by exercising this method that other ways to assist with reverse mentoring as a volunteer will become apparent to us all and we should implement them for the best benefits of our community!!  

Your Sneakers Part Two

Your Sneakers Part Two

When one is faced as an employer or whistleblower in the scenario in my first You Sneakers blog, one should not act with haste but should show care.  Try to remember that the people can benefit from your actions and they double duty as good PR.  One certainty is community impact based on actions you take to combat fraud.  We all live in a community with others so once again it is best for the people it is good for the community.  Perpetrators that commit fraud should be fired and administered by a judge.  This is important because the community does not need a perpetrator moving to the next target in the community and causing more damage.  Remember that there are peers in your community that have valuable insight and can be relied upon as pillars of the community.  This presents great networking opportunities for the future and when you are a network facilitator and engineer like I am, it is gravy.  Last but not least be aware that a community thrives with connections, good and bad.  Try to remember keep your eyes open for impairment of judgement for you and your networks behalf because even though Sarbanes Oxley covers accountancy, it’s ethics can save the day for everyone!!

Your Sneakers

A con artist is a person who cheats or tricks others by persuading them to believe something that is not true.  Con artists are bad news.  Especially when they are into business that is worse than lame snake oil.  I can think of some cons off the top of my head.  Deception is certainly one of the reasons why the problem sticks out.  Deception with a twist makes it more of an art for the perpetrator.  Let's take a fraud involving race tracking for example.  The bet this resolves around is tear off instant win tickets.  Let us think of the fraud triangle at this juncture.  Pressure, Opportunity and Realization are the elements of the triangle.  So, the administrator of the gaming tips off friends which bin the winning tickets are in.  He does not grant this intuition to common customers.  The inside scoop gives his friends a better chance to hit than the common customer.    Back to the fraud triangle.  The pressure is that the behavior is appealing because it puts me ahead of the rest of the crowd socially making me popular, which grants me psychological amenities that the others are deprived of.  The opportunity here is to please a friend for social and other types of behavior in a reward structure.  Realization is the justification of the corrupt action as permissible.  In this example, “it’s just being cool with my friend”, while this person would never purport to being a part of a fraud for god sakes man.  Please take away from this that a con is a fraud and con artists are people that are criminals. Do not let strangers act in your best interests and keep an eye on family and friends to make sure they are safe.

Stigmata

The stigma of whistleblowing hits hard.  As a young accountant in school I always knew that there were enormous responsibilities pertaining to the security of money.  I was not prepared to understand that this also included information.  Thejournal entries and financial statements were the substance of the field but with the passage of Sarbanes Oxley and it’s brainstorming requirement, secure information could drive the brainstorming in the right direction.  As far as my fraud studies go, I have read some books on the topic to learn that fraud not only hits hard at home, that it can come from the most unexpected sources.  Individuals that have been with a company for 3 years and are impeccable perpetrate frauds that bankrupt companies before it is too late.  That can mean a less favorable future for those in the small town that are employed by the company.  Now, everything has changed in the future for the family.  It hits home unpredictably in such a manner.  One reason anonymity in whistle blowing is so important is the ability to minimize stigma associated with the act of whistleblowing, making a more responsible and educated community along with security for a whistleblower that emerge as a whole effectively and in order.  So remember to say thanks to your fraud fighters in your community and give them your support because it is greatly appreciated and welcome.  

Further on the topic is the need to make sure whistle blowers have support.  Forfeiting a career, in my opinion is not an attractive result to blowing the whistle.  All this does is make the whistle blower more vulnerable by potentially placing them in poverty and open to attacks from groups that may be angry about the exposure of the crime in question.  So... if you are aware of a whistle blower that can use a hand, be a hero too and help them out.  They will appreciate it.