Ten years. A full decade. It seems like it was just yesterday that Broadcat burst onto the scene to revolutionize compliance training. 

You know that feeling when you find an old photo and it all comes rushing back? That was me last month. I was doing a little research for this blog post and stumbled upon a time capsule of sorts: an interview our founder, Ricardo Pellafone, did with the Society of Corporate Compliance & Ethics (SCCE) way back in 2016, not long after Broadcat was born.

See, there’s proof! | Source: SCCE Compliance & Ethics Professional Magazine, March 2016

A lot has changed in the compliance world since then, but reading about his original vision re-oriented me to the core beliefs that sparked the whole adventure that is Broadcat, and served as a powerful reminder that our foundation remains as solid as ever. It’s one thing to have a mission, but it’s another to see those founding principles hold true a decade later—not to mention the enormous sense of pride and responsibility derived from being a part of it!

Let's take a look back at the ideas from that interview that continue to guide us today. 🌟

Compliance is 10% knowing stuff and 90% leadership. 

This was true then, and it’s even truer now. From the very beginning, Ricardo recognized that compliance isn’t just about being a subject-matter expert who can recite regulations. Real impact comes from leadership—the ability to connect with people and inspire them to change their behavior. That’s a philosophy we’ve woven into everything we do, from our emphasis on leader-led training to our belief that compliance professionals are coaches for their organizations. 

I wanted the name to reflect what we’re trying to accomplish in making these concepts both accessible and interesting...

Ever wonder where the name "Broadcat" came from? It's a play on "broadcast 📺," meaning that we create compliance communications that are both engaging and easy to understand. The goal was then, and still is today, to create materials that guide employees without them having to learn the complex "language" of regulations first. Just like navigating an airport with well-designed and thoughtfully placed icons, compliance should be intuitive. That drive to make compliance accessible has been our North Star, ensuring our work is not just informative, but genuinely useful.

You have to communicate relentlessly.

This is a big one. Ricardo said that building an ethical culture is like maintaining a healthy marriage; you can't just assume the other person knows you care. You have to show it regularly and through a multitude of actions. 🫶 That's why we’ve always advocated for continuous and varied communication. It’s not about just one big training module each year; it’s about the constant small touchpoints that reinforce the company’s commitment to ethics and keep culture top-of-mind. 

We need compliance people that are ... able to connect with employees in a practical, warm, human way.

Your expertise doesn't matter if no one is listening; this has been a core belief for us from day one. We’ve always pushed for a more human approach to compliance, moving away from the back-office stereotype of a rules-focused department. The goal for any compliance department should be to serve as a trusted partner to your org. When employees see you as a practical and warm human, they’re more likely to come to you for guidance—making your expertise infinitely more valuable.

It’s about time | Source: The Big Bang Theory, CBS via giphy.com

Our Four-Step Process: The "How" Behind the "Why"

So, how do we make this “broadcasting” happen? In that early interview, Ricardo laid out the four-step process we still use to this day:

1. Master the material 🤓: You can't simplify what you don't deeply understand, both in theory and in practice. We Broadcats master the material. (And here’s a blog post and infographic to show you how we do it.) 
2.  
3. Sort it 📦: We organize the information into the fewest possible categories to make it easier for the brain to process. 
4.  
5. Find the most efficient format 💾: We figure out the quickest way for someone to grasp the data, which often means using visuals, but not always. The goal is comprehension, not just adding pictures to “make it pretty.” 
6.  
7. Create a narrative 📖: We arrange everything into a story that someone can look at and understand in under a minute. If we don’t hit that goal, we refine the content until we do.

This simple, disciplined approach has been the engine behind everything we’ve created for the past ten years. It’s how we ensure that our tools aren’t just "fun stuff," but also truly operational and drivers of real-world behavior change. 

It wouldn't be a celebration without a retrospective!

It’s been an incredible decade, and it’s humbling to see how Ricardo’s once-radical ideas shaped all of our journeys. In the spirit of compliance being a “group project,” 🤝 here are some popular pieces from Design Club that you, Team Broadcat, have been using to drive your programs. 

• If it’s disclosed, it can be managed
• We Play Fair: Anticorruption Basics
• Conflicts of Interest
• Has an employee come to you with a concern?
• Why should I care about compliance?
• Policy Overview Template
• Starting a side gig or second job?
• Simple G&E clickthrough guide
• Video: What concerns should I report to the helpline?
• The Power of Ethics Ambassadors 

And here are our favorites!  

Jaycee*: What happens when I make a disclosure? AND How we protect you from retaliation, because I love pulling the curtain back on processes that are usually opaque to employees…

AND

The Avoiding the appearance of retaliation mini-module, because touting your anti-retaliation policy doesn't do any good if your managers aren't trained on the nuances of what can be construed as retaliation.

*yeah, she couldn’t pick just one! 😉

Brianna: Ethics Ambassador Onboarding, because having everything your ambassadors need to know completely laid out for you is an absolute lifesaver. 

Kitty: Going on a business trip?, because this checklist changed the way I thought about making compliance more understandable to employees. An oldie, but an absolute goodie!  

Joey**: Your how-to how-to guide to unpacking new regulations, because of the nature of the content and how neatly organized it all is, and the colors and design are cohesive and balanced (and bonus—it’s a FREEBIE)! 

AND

Careful virtual communications, because the information is dense but very organized, and the theme is consistent while still using four colors and several shades of gray.

**Another Broadcat who couldn’t pick just one! Can you tell Joey’s our designer? 🧑‍🎨

Jennifer: Keep, move, or discard it?, because I love a good decision tree! This one takes me back to my healthcare days… Ah, memories!  

Here’s to many more!  🥂

To those of you who’ve been on this journey with us: THANK YOU! We absolutely love what we do and wouldn’t be here without you. 

Cheers to the next ten years of making compliance work for everyone! 

*****

If you’re not already plugged in, welcome, and we’d love to have you as part of Team Broadcat! Sign up for our newsletter, connect with us on LinkedIn, and reach out whenever you have a tough problem and need a village!