This post about industry regulations was written by Robert Pochadt, Director of Sales for InstantGMP
“Things done well and with care exempt themselves from fear”
There’s a friend you have that I bet you didn’t know existed as such. That friend is all but invisible, embedded in orderly coded texts that lack the endearing wit and narrative of the quoted author; it is a friend that reveals a valuable presence only to those who take the effort to understand just why it should exist in the first place.
I’m talking about industry regulations.
Not those hard-to-interpret, intimidating, intrusive, voluminous edicts from our charged bureaucrats, you say?
There are always extreme examples, but the bottom line is this: they protect. And protection is needed. Rules, guidelines, and the like are necessary to ensure that safety is maximized when people put food on their plates or take medicine for an illness. Like any designed product, regulations sometimes stop short of the best possible effectiveness at a given moment, and while they are not ethically malleable, they are (and should remain) amendable to keep up with the pace of change in the industries they intend to regulate, as well as doing a better job themselves.
It turns out that this friend is also a savvy business partner too. Knowing and following your industry’s regulations well not only keeps costly (in every sense) risks in check but also quietly generates a complimentary, compliant business strategy backbone with solid economic grounding. And you win political capital everywhere your company name shows for “doing the right thing.” But no one in a regulated industry is alone in facing mandates, and there is a whole catalog of capabilities at one’s disposal, ready to decipher them and make them more commercially digestible. Your bull-by-the-horns instinct will be well rewarded.
I often see this played out right now, wrong and right. I’ve had exhaustive conversations with many who have been publicly cited for deficiencies, sometimes repeatedly, only to hear that even reasonable remedies are not economic to them. On the other hand, I have had equally long discussions around industry compliance—what it really is, what it means, and how to get there—from those who care, even from some who are not yet mandated but do not wish to be left behind as regulatory scrutiny increases.
Guess which of the groups I see in continuous business expansion mode?
The choice is yours. There will always be corner cutters, some of whom will see different the second time around. They will then likely have to catch up to those who did it right the first time. It’s all business… and the regulatory costs of doing it right can also prove to be the most strategic investments.