Published Articles
Down to the last drop
Set in a desert, surrounded by hostile neighbors, and home to a literal Dead Sea, Israel faces one of the most precarious water situations in the world. But because the natural resource is so scarce, Israel has learned to make the most of every d...
Is Your Company Ready for a Supply Chain Compliance Alert?
Everyone has a plan until they get punched in the mouth. It's a nugget of wisdom (courtesy of heavyweight boxing great Mike Tyson) that companies would do well to heed when it comes to international compliance risks.
While many larg...
Why we need a fire code approach to cybersecurity
Let's face it: The private sector isn't getting the job done when it comes to cybersecurity. How many more Colonial Pipeline- and JBS-type incidents really need to occur to drive that point home?
The crescendo is building for a na...
What Your Company Gets Wrong About Compliance
Leaks of customer data, corrupt practices by foreign agents, IT breaches. These are just some of the biggest risks that companies face with their third-party relationships. Despite the known dangers, few get it right when it comes to budgeting fo...
Crumbling Water Facilities Need Central Role in Infrastructure Proposals
Headlines for President Biden's $2 trillion infrastructure bill are mainly about roads and bridges, but the most pressing public health need is buried underground and out of sight.
America's network of drinking water plants, wast...
American companies resemble a bunch of preschoolers running with pointy scissors when it comes to cybersecurity
Right now, the people in charge of very important pieces of our national infrastructure are bearing an uncomfortable resemblance to a room full of preschoolers wandering around with sharp, pointy scissors.
The SolarWinds breach earli...
What Your GC Isn't Telling You About Compliance Risks
General counsels have evolved to become far more than just corporate lawyers. They are now a core part of executive teams, expected to show expertise in a range of financial and business areas, plus oversee legal and compliance matters. And thatâ...
Recycling water has to become the norm, because it is too scarce and too valuable to waste
Like millions of teens around the world, my daughter enjoys long showers. Unlike many fathers of teens, however, I see a bright side to the family water bill.
We're not just taking showers. We're growing grapes.
Our f...
With deepening drought in the West, farmers could make a bigger difference
The American West is suffering from the worst drought of our lifetimes - a two-decade dearth of precipitation, perhaps the most punishing megadrought of the past 1,200 years - and much attention is focused on water waste at home.
...
5 Compliance Questions Your Sales Team Should Be Asking New Channel Partners
Your sales team has identified and engaged with a promising new overseas distributor. The group is thrilled. They show you how the relationship could improve access to customers and boost company growth. But are you informed as to whether the pot...
Is Your Company at Risk Due to New International Sanctions?
Every now and then the geopolitical pendulum makes a decisive swing and the effects reverberate through economies as well as manufacturers and their supply chains. This feels like one of those moments as a new U.S. administration takes office wit...
4 signs your compliance program is out of date
Life sciences companies tend to consider themselves leaders when it comes to compliance policies.
In one sense they're right. The close sales relations between their distribution agents and state-linked doctors and hospitals have lo...
When the compliance gold standard still isn't enough
Sometimes even the gold standard still isn't enough. Since 1995, company leaders and their corporate counsel have leaned on a single, well-respected measure to gauge vulnerability to bribery and corruption risks around th...
Robots Aren't Stealing Jobs -- They're Making Them Better
Not that long ago, the process for filling orders or assembling a product involved mind-numbing tasks done over and over again, to the point the worker really didn't have to think.
Building a car, for instance, was essentially a han...
Knowing when your firm should take action against third-party risk
Typically, working with higher-risk third parties can creep up on a company that is either high growth or in a more regulated industry.
In the earlier part of their growth stories, most companies essentially wing it when it comes to...
The Hidden Trapdoor In M&A Deals
As global M&A activity surges again after a brief Covid-19-related slump, it's a sure bet some acquiring companies will be inheriting unpleasant surprises along with their new partners.
One of the most underrated acquisition per...
I Believe In Free Markets. Big Tech Is Censoring Them
For the past eight months, my company has been on the receiving end of a different kind of censorship from America's Big Tech companies. But not for any of the headline-generating reasons Donald Trump or Parler have been shut down. We've been...