Storytelling Your Way Through Trade Compliance

Hosts: Lalo Solorzano & Andy Shiles Guest: Belinda Sissom, MBA, LCB – LinkedIn Published: September 25, 2025 Length: ~41 minutes Presented by: Global Training Center 📚 From Regulations to Stories — A Fresh Take on Compliance In this episode, Andy and Lalo sit down with Belinda Sissom, a compliance leader who has worked across industries from food and pharma. She shares how she uses storytelling, creativity, and simple communication tools to bring trade compliance to life for colleagues and executives. Instead of long manuals and jargon-heavy training, Belinda leans on Wednesday Quizzes, Friday Quotes, and storytelling to make compliance approachable, relatable, and memorable. She also explains how to position your trade function as a “small business inside a big business” to build credibility, trust, and influence across departments. This conversation is all about showing how trade compliance can move from the back office to the front lines — by speaking in the language people actually understand. What You’ll Learn in This Episode: Why storytelling can transform compliance from boring to engaging How to use current events and relatable examples to explain trade issues Different approaches for executives vs. operational teams Why treating compliance like a small business inside a big company drives results Creative engagement tools like quizzes and quotes that get people paying attention 🔑 Key Takeaways: Storytelling makes compliance stick better than technical explanations. Positioning compliance as a partner (not a “police force”) builds cross-department trust. Creativity and humor are powerful tools for engagement and retention. Leaders need to adapt their messaging: high-level vision for executives, practical context for teams. Compliance is most effective when it feels like part of the business, not a silo. 📌 Resources & Mentions: Lead With a Story – Paul Smith – The book referenced by Lalo on using storytelling in business Global Training Center – Accredited trade education provider Simply Trade Podcast Archive CBP – Informed Compliance Publications – Free CBP compliance guidance Harvard Business Review – The Irresistible Power of Storytelling as a Strategic Business Tool ICPA – International Compliance Professionals Association 🎧 Credits Hosts: Lalo Solorzano – LinkedIn Andy Shiles – LinkedIn Guest: Belinda Sissom, MBA, LCB – LinkedIn | Trade Compliance Leader Producer: Lalo Solorzano 📢 Subscribe & Follow New episodes every week. Presented by: Global Training Center — providing education, consulting, workshops, and compliance resources for trade professionals. 👉 www.GlobalTrainingCenter.com Connect with us: Simply Trade Podcast on LinkedIn Global Training Center on LinkedIn YouTube Spotify Apple Podcasts Trade Geeks Community Don’t forget to rate, review, and share with your fellow trade geeks!