A long term mantra of mine is:

Go beyond compliance, but don’t neglect compliance.

As the fall out from the VW emissions cheat continues, the car behemoth has set aside an initial $7.3 billion to cover the costs of the scandal, 30% has been wiped off the company’s value and criminal investigations have begun. But the wider damage to the brand’s reputation (which was built on dependability, after all) is much, much bigger. As one board member put it “The damage done cannot be measured.”

Compliance underpins sustainability. If you get compliance wrong, it doesn’t matter what absolutely fantastic things you do, the whole pyramid comes tumbling down. As my schoolteacher (and no doubt yours too) used to put it “You’re only cheating yourself.”