If 2020 goes down in history as the year the world shut down, 2021 should be remembered as the year when we came back to life. But did we do enough in 2021 and are we prepared for 2022?
2021 was, in its own right, a whirlwind. Headlines were filled with stories of ethics failures and whistleblowers at companies like Activision Blizzard, Theranos, McDonald’s, and Meta (Facebook), and in sports organizations like the U.S. National Women’s Soccer League. There has been little rest for the weary, including ethics and compliance (E&C) professionals, but also for the U.S. Securities & Exchange Commission (SEC), which has received over 12,000 whistleblower tips to date—an approximate 76 percent increase over FY 2020 and a 300 percent increase since 2012. Ongoing pandemic worries, a continuous parade of leaders falling from grace, and natural and man-made disasters too many to count have kept all of us up at night this year.
But 2021 has also given us reason to celebrate. Progress, albeit slow, has been made by environmental and social movements; ESG has moved to center stage for all stakeholders; Juneteenth National Independence was designated a U.S. federal holiday; misogyny was defined as a hate crime by England and Wales; and mental health is now in its rightful place at the top of the headlines….
