Writing in the Financial Times, Gillian Tett laments the fact that the Dodd-Frank bill now runs to 2,600 pages and that this is but the peak of a paper mountain:
‘— since then, lawmakers have decided that they will need to make some 243 new rules to turn that bill into law, and conduct 65 studies. That has necessitated the formation of 100-odd committees, each of which is now spewing out consultation documents, which typically run to several hundred pages. Those consultation documents, in turn, generate endless private sector legal memos. And the agencies are receiving more “feedback”.’
Undeniable was developed so that organizations could escape the mode of purely being reactive to specific pieces of legislation, focus on identifying the consolidated requirements of all legislation and regulation, and develop practical solutions to that consolidated requirement. In doing so, organizations tend to implement lasting solutions and capture considerable cost savings.
Though the late Steve Jobs was alluding to solving technological conundrums, his comment, reported by Steven Levy in his book ‘Insanely Great’, is highly pertinent:
‘When you start looking at a problem and it seems really simple, you don’t really understand the complexity of the problem. Then you get into the problem, and you see that it’s really complicated, and you come up with all these convoluted solutions. That’s sort of the middle, and that’s where most people stop…. But the really great person will keep on going and find the key, the underlying principle of the problem – and come up with an elegant, really beautiful solution that works.’*
There is no reason why you cannot find elegant and beautiful solutions to regulatory problems. It just takes time and focus.