Trekking Through Compliance

Trekking Through Compliance

In this podcast series Tom Fox explores compliance through the lens of Star Trek - The Original Series in a 79-episode offering, movies and contemporary television shows. Each podcast reviews the episode creative team, story synopsis and three key lessons learned on compliance, leadership and governance. If you love Star Trek, this is the podcast series for you. So, listen over the next 79 episodes, revisit one of television’s great achievements and learn how you can use Star Trek to improve your corporate compliance program, as well as yourself as a compliance professional. We are going to have some fun.

Episodes

Episode 79 - Beneath the Surface: Turnabout Intruder and the Hunt for Root Causes

August 18, 2025 • 12 mins
One of the Department of Justice’s most consistent themes in its 2024 ⁠Update to the Evaluation of Corporate Compliance Programs⁠ (ECCP) is the need for companies to conduct effective root cause analysis following misconduct or control failures. It’s not enough to identify what went wrong; you must understand why it happened and implement measures to prevent it from happening again. For compliance professionals, the episode is a s...
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Episode 77 - Through the Atavachron: Risk Management Insights from All Our Yesterdays

August 17, 2025 • 12 mins
When you think of Star Trek: The Original Series, certain episodes stand out for their moral clarity, exploration of ethics, and leadership lessons. Others, like All Our Yesterdays, are more subtle but no less rich in compliance and risk management insights. As the story unfolds, the episode reveals more than just a sci-fi adventure; it presents a compelling case study in the importance of preparation, situational awareness, adapt...
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Episode 76 - Compliance Lessons from The Savage Curtain

August 16, 2025 • 10 mins
“Risk is our business.” That famous Star Trek line could have been the mission statement for the crew of the USS Enterprise, but in The Savage Curtain, the stakes go beyond exploration. In this third-season episode, Captain Kirk and Mr. Spock find themselves on an alien world where the inhabitants are exceedingly powerful rock-like beings called the Excalbians. They wish to understand the human concept of “good” versus “evil.” Fo...
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Episode 75 - Bridging the Gap: Compliance Lessons on Justice and Fairness from “The Cloud Minders”

August 15, 2025 • 11 mins
Institutional justice and institutional fairness are not abstract ideals. They are operational requirements in a corporate compliance program. They define how policies are enforced, how decisions are made, and how employees perceive the integrity of their workplace. One of the most vivid illustrations of the dangers of systemic injustice and perceived unfairness comes from Star Trek: The Original Series in “The Cloud Minders.” Fro...
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Episode 74 - Keeping the Crew Safe: Compliance Leadership Lessons from “The Way to Eden”

August 14, 2025 • 11 mins
Few Star Trek episodes illustrate the complexity of leadership in the face of ideological fervor as vividly as “The Way to Eden.” In this story, the Enterprise encounters a group of spacefaring counterculture idealists led by Dr. Sevrin, a brilliant but unstable scientist. The trouble? Sevrin is a carrier of a deadly bacterium, and his quest puts both his followers and the Enterprise crew at risk. Captain Kirk, Spock, and McCoy mus...
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Episode 73 - Power, Secrecy, and Responsibility: Business Ethics Lessons from Requiem for Methuselah

August 13, 2025 • 12 mins
In corporate life, ethical decision-making is not only a question of right and wrong. It is also a test of leadership, trust, and long-term vision. Missteps in ethics erode corporate culture, destroy reputations, and invite regulatory and shareholder scrutiny. Few Star Trek episodes present an ethical crucible as layered as Requiem for Methuselah. The story unfolds into a complex web of secrecy, autonomy, manipulation, and uninten...
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Episode 72 - From Zetar to the C-Suite: Why Expertise Matters in Internal Investigations from the Lights of Zetar

August 12, 2025 • 12 mins
In the corporate compliance world, an internal investigation is often the moment of truth. Whether triggered by a whistleblower complaint, a regulatory inquiry, or a suspicious transaction, the investigation’s quality can determine whether the organization resolves the matter cleanly or faces prolonged legal, financial, and reputational damage. Star Trek: The Original Series’ “The Lights of Zetar” offers a surprisingly apt allegor...
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Episode 71 - Surviving the Unknown: Risk Management Lessons from “That Which Survives”

August 11, 2025 • 11 mins
In compliance, risk management is more than a checklist. It is the ongoing discipline of identifying threats, assessing their potential impact, and implementing measures to mitigate or neutralize them before they cause harm. Few Star Trek episodes illustrate the escalating consequences of underestimated risks as effectively as That Which Survives. In it, the Enterprise crew encounters a seemingly lifeless planet guarded by Losira,...
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Episode 70 - Beaming Down Blind: Compliance Lessons on Third-Party Due Diligence from “The Mark of Gideon”

August 10, 2025 • 11 mins
Few pop culture moments capture the risks of blind engagement as vividly as Star Trek: The Original Series’ “The Mark of Gideon.” In this episode, Captain Kirk beams down to what he believes is the planet Gideon for diplomatic talks—only to find himself aboard what appears to be an empty Enterprise. What follows is a masterclass in the dangers of walking into a deal without verifying the facts. For compliance professionals, Gideon’...
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Episode 69 - Lessons from Let That Be Your Last Battlefield: Building Justice and Fairness into Corporate Culture

August 9, 2025 • 10 mins
Few episodes capture the destructive power of bias, systemic injustice, and the refusal to see common humanity as vividly as Star Trek: The Original Series’ “Let That Be Your Last Battlefield.” From a compliance perspective, the episode provides an unflinching mirror: organizations that fail to ensure fairness in their systems—whether in investigations, promotions, whistleblower treatment, or discipline—risk breeding internal hosti...
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Episode 68 - Deception in the Asylum: 5 Compliance Investigation Insights from “Whom Gods Destroy

August 8, 2025 • 11 mins
Today, we take a journey to one of Star Trek: The Original Series’ most intense psychological dramas: “Whom Gods Destroy.” On its surface, this episode is a tale of madness, manipulation, and peril. But for the vigilant compliance professional, it’s a trove of investigative lessons on dealing with deception, managing risk, and safeguarding your organization in an unpredictable world. Let’s beam down to Elba II, a remote asylum for ...
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Episode 67 - The Dangers of Assumption: How Star Trek’s “Elaan of Troyius” Proves Due Diligence Is Essential

August 7, 2025 • 11 mins
Today, let’s set our phasers to “analyze” and travel back to one of Star Trek: The Original Series’ most underrated diplomatic dramas: “Elaan of Troyius.” This episode is not just a space opera of culture clashes, hidden agendas, and diplomatic peril; it is a near-perfect parable for compliance professionals wrestling with the eternal question: Why is due diligence absolutely mandatory when considering a new business partner? Let’...
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Episode 66 - The Human Element in Compliance: CCO Takeaways from ‘The Empath’

August 6, 2025 • 12 mins
Today we set a course for one of Star Trek: The Original Series’ most underrated yet profound episodes: “The Empath.” As compliance professionals, we know that the heart of any effective compliance program is its leadership. The Hallmarks of an Effective Compliance Program, from the ⁠FCPA Resource Guide, 2nd edition,⁠ require that the CCO possess the “appropriate expertise” to do the job. But what does that mean, and how does a lea...
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Episode 65 - Warp-Speed M&A Risks: Hidden Compliance Lessons from “Wink of an Eye”

August 5, 2025 • 10 mins
Today, we’re setting our sensors on one of Star Trek: The Original Series’ most thought-provoking episodes—“Wink of an Eye.” While this story may not feature the grand courtrooms or battlefields you might expect for compliance lessons, it’s a goldmine for any compliance officer, in-house counsel, or business leader navigating the perilous and rapidly accelerating world of mergers and acquisitions. In the world of M&A, deals can go...
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Episode 64 - Breaking the Silence: Navigating Difficult Conversations with Wisdom from ‘Plato’s Step-Children’

August 4, 2025 • 9 mins
There is no substitute for courage and candor in the world of corporate compliance. Some of the most vital and uncomfortable moments we encounter come when we must have conversations on difficult topics. It can be about misconduct, bias, bullying, or toxic behavior that threatens our organization’s culture and integrity. Yet, all too often, leaders and compliance professionals look for a way around these tough talks, hoping problem...
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Episode 63 - Untangling the Unknown: Investigative Excellence from ‘The Tholian Web’”

August 3, 2025 • 11 mins
If you ask any veteran compliance professional what separates the ordinary from the extraordinary, the answer is almost always the same: the ability to investigate under pressure. In a world of shifting facts, unseen dangers, and cross-functional confusion, true investigative skill is what keeps organizations ethical, transparent, and resilient. Few stories illustrate this as vividly as “The Tholian Web,” an iconic episode from Sta...
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Episode 62 - Awakening Compliance: How ‘For the World is Hollow and I Have Touched the Sky’ Illuminates Training Best Practices

August 2, 2025 • 10 mins
The episode, “For the World is Hollow and I Have Touched the Sky,” offers a wealth of insights for designing and delivering effective compliance training. This is more than just an adventure; it is a story about the perils of ignorance, the need for transparency, and the transformative power of knowledge, all core tenets of modern compliance. Lesson 1: Question Dogma—Don’t Train to the Test Illustrated By: The Yonadan society fol...
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Episode 61 - Unity on the Final Frontier: Cross-Cultural Compliance Insights from ‘Day of the Dove'

August 1, 2025 • 11 mins
Modern compliance officers grapple with complexities arising from international business relationships, mergers, acquisitions, and partnerships, navigating disparate cultural expectations and norms. The Star Trek TOS, especially the episode "Day of the Dove," provides a surprisingly rich source of compliance insights into these challenges. Let’s distill five critical compliance lessons from "Day of the Dove," offering practical gu...
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Episode 60 - Gunsmoke and Gaps: How ‘Spectre of the Gun’ Informs Modern Compliance Investigations

July 31, 2025 • 12 mins
The compliance world may not often resemble the Wild West, but the best compliance investigators know that the strange and surreal are not always fiction. Misunderstandings, missing evidence, and “unwritten rules” can make the truth as elusive as any Melkotian illusion. “Spectre of the Gun” provides a powerful lens through which to examine the investigative process. Today, we saddle up and explore five essential investigative lesso...
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Episode 59 - Unmasking Compliance Blind Spots: Training and Communication Lessons from ‘Is There in Truth No Beauty?’

July 30, 2025 • 10 mins
No TOS episode is more apt for compliance professionals seeking to elevate their training and communications program than the third season gem, “Is There in Truth No Beauty?” As compliance professionals, we can mine “Is There in Truth No Beauty?” for powerful lessons on how to build a culture of effective training and communications that prepares our teams for the uncharted territory of tomorrow’s risks. Today, we set our phasers ...
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