This spring, I posted an article called “Compliance is its own discipline.” Built off years of observation and frustration, I figured it might pick up a few likes.
It didn't. It went “ComplianceTok” viral—or whatever we call that over here on LinkedIn—and the reason had nothing to do with me. It resonated because so many of us have lived it. Overlooked, or replaced by someone who knew less about how compliance actually works. Passed over at a ceiling we hit because we didn't pay for a particular degree or certification. Looked down on for an approach that was practical and built on the floor, not handed down from the ivory tower.
So I built the thing I wish had been waiting on the other side of those filters.
Today I'm releasing The Ultimate Compliance Job Description. It's a toolkit for writing compliance roles around what the work actually requires—the capabilities, across four levels from early career to executive, structured as who you are, what you'll do, and what success looks like. Pick-and-mix to the role you're filling. Start from a blank page or drop the language into the template your company already uses—either way, you end up with a description that works for everyone at the table. Capabilities-first, credentials only where they’re actually needed. And it includes a note telling qualified people not to screen themselves out. (I’m looking at you—because I know you’ve stopped yourself from applying for your dream role at least once.)
It's pay-what-you-can. Free if you need it, or fund the next one if you can.
But the toolkit is only the start. Here's how we actually move this: the next time you're hiring, describe the work before you list the requirements. Then hire the person who can do it—for their abilities, not their credentials. That's the whole thing. Every job description written that way, every candidate judged on what they can build instead of what they paid for, is the field correcting itself one decision at a time.
All of this is part of a bigger change.
This comes from PliAbilities, the practice I've built around the abilities compliance actually runs on, in the people who do the work and the programs they run. Same work I've always done: program advisory, Code of Conduct writing, and honest program assessments that tell you what to keep, what to change, and what to stop. The name is new. The way I work isn't.
You deserve something different. Something that works. Something honest. Something that helps you do the job better.
And the next person coming up behind you deserves a door that opens on what they can do. You're the one who gets to open it.
It's all at PliAbilities.com.
