I’m a chief compliance officer, and I want to respond to Dylan Trent, who wrote here that he has this role too and that he can’t stand it.
Dylan – I’ve read your article. It’s less a piece on compliance and more a cry for help. What comes through isn’t wisdom, but sadness – the voice of someone who’s reduced the whole discipline of compliance to “no”, because “yes, if” is just too complex for them.
I’ve been a general counsel at a bleeding-edge prop trading firm for 15 years. Every day I get to help brilliant traders push limits, within the rules, at speed. It’s hard work, but it’s exhilarating. And I can tell you this: if your approach to compliance is simply to clutch the rulebook like a comfort blanket and repeat “not allowed,” then you’ve already admitted defeat.
Formula 1 is the perfect metaphor. The teams that win don’t treat the FIA rulebook as kryptonite. They treat it as a design space. The compliance-minded engineers find ways to make the car legal and unbeatable. Imagine turning up in the Mercedes garage and telling Toto Wolff: “Sorry boss, it’s all too complicated, best not to race.” That’s the intellectual level of your article.
Or take a fighter jet. The pilot can’t drop payloads if the jet never leaves the runway. Your brand of compliance grounds the plane, pats itself on the back for being “safe,” and then wonders why everyone else is in the sky, racking up missions.
And let’s be blunt: if you’re in a prop firm, and you think your compensation is capped, that isn’t a market problem – it’s a you problem. Your bosses know exactly what you’re worth. If you were creating value – navigating complexity, unlocking opportunities – you’d be paid like it. If you’re not, it’s because they know you’re replaceable. Salary is the cleanest feedback loop in this industry: when you whine that the ceiling is low, what you’re really saying is, “my contribution is.”
The truth is, Dylan, good compliance officers prove their worth by enabling the business. They add value by showing their bosses how to navigate complexity, not by hiding behind it. If you can’t master the rules well enough to find solutions, and can’t convince leadership you’re commercially relevant, then yes, you’ll be sad. Because you’re not just a failed trader paying the bills, you’re also a failed compliance officer, mistaking paralysis for professionalism.
Some of us go to work every day excited – because we know our role is to help the machine fly, not to stand on the tarmac waving a clipboard. My firm runs on a Top Gun ethos: we don’t send our people up just to say “no,” we send them up to win. And if anyone in your team is tired of being stuck in the hangar with you, tell them: they can be my wingman any day.
– A CCO who still loves his job (Robert Stone is a pseudonym)
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