My family has been re-watching the Star Wars movies in anticipation of this week’s premiere of Episode VII. While watching Episodes I-III, I wondered if the Jedi could have used some compliance strategies to help prevent their downfall.
Two of the goals of compliance are (1) to deter people in your organization from doing bad things and (2) to identify a fed flag that could indicate something bad has happened or is about to happen.
Obviously, going to the dark side is a bad thing. You can tell, because they wear black. The Jedi needed to takes steps to prevent its members from being tempted by the power of the dark side of the force.
The obvious first steps in compliance are periodic certifications:
- I have not been tempted by the dark side this quarter.
- I am not interested in galactic domination
- I am not experiencing any of negative emotions: fear, anger, hatred and rage
- I am not in a romantic relationship
I suppose having Mace Windu sit down and fill out a form would be kind of silly.But it could be a deterrent.
The Jedi Master seem to able to detect variations in the force.Maybe a periodic review with the Jedi Council would be a good way to see if anyone is being tempted by the dark side.
The Jedi knew that Anakin Skywalker was having troubles. He was at risk of being a rogue Jedi.
The Jedi Council had a compliance failure form the beginning. Young Anakin was older than what was allowed by the Jedi code to become a padawan and begin Jedi training. The Jedi violated their own policies and procedures.
The Jedi Council failed to take actions to discipline Mr. Skywalker. They saw his small digressions, but took no actions to discipline him for his mistakes.
The result was a rogue member of the organization destroyed the entire organization. In this case, that also meant dissolving the Galactic Senate, the rise of an evil galactic empire and the loss of billions of lives.
Maybe a Jedi compliance warrior could have helped prevent the downfall.
If you want more Star Wars and compliance mash-ups, check out Tom Fox’s posts this week:
- Star Wars Week Part II – The Empire Strikes Back – Levels of Due Diligence
- Star Wars Week Part I – How do You Evaluate a Risk Assessment?
If you like the image at the beginning, you can get it on a T-Shirt at Woot!. (My son has one.)