By Elaine Mullan
for the 2025 Risky Women Writing Competition, presented in partnership with Ocorian
Orwell’s Animal Farm is often noted for its sharp political satire, but who knew it also serves as a quaint case study in failed governance? While the rest of us navigate corporate mazes, let’s take comfort in knowing that even pigs can teach us a thing or two about compliance—if only we listen!
Animal Farm, a story of failed governance, risks ignored and compliance corrupted
The first time I read George Orwell’s classic book, Animal Farm, I was at school. It was a prescribed text. Recently I was listening to a programme on BBC Radio 4 looking at this book, but it not as the political satire we know it as but looking at Orwell’s lesser-known commitment to agricultural debates and the life of smallholders. So, looking at is as the agricultural story within.
Failed governance
Animal Farm, is a razor-sharp political satire about power and corruption. However, it also reads like a case study in failed governance, risk and compliance.
The story tells of how the animals overthrow Farmer Jones. They draw up their Seven Commandments, and set out clear, simple rules such as: no animal shall sleep in a bed, no animal shall drink alcohol and all animals are equal. Governance, at this stage, is looking promising.
In corporate terms, these commandments are the shiny new policies, concise, values-based and agreed by all stakeholders.
But Orwell’s pig characters start to interpret these rules so ‘No animal shall sleep in a bed, becomes ‘No animal shall sleep in a bed with sheets.’ Subtle shifts moving away from a utopian ideal of equality. Under the weight of the pigs self-interest we see governance starting to bend and then buckle.
Policies that begin as ethical can, over time, turn into situations to be navigated. When governance drifts from principle to loophole, corruption isn’t far behind.
Enron promised transparency and innovation (like the early utopian ideals of the animals). But the leadership used accounting loopholes and created off-the-books entities while preaching efficiency and market discipline.
LIBOR rates worked well until a handful of banks colluded and manipulated the rates, gaining an unfair advantage.
If Animal Farm teaches us what happens when governance collapses, what does good governance look like? It must be grounded in principle, not loopholes. It means balanced power, with no single voice unchallenged. Risk planning that builds resilience, not reliance on overwork. Getting culture right with lived values, not chants or slogans.
Risks ignored
The animals dream big with their first strategic project, the windmill. It’s meant to be life changing, powering a new era of prosperity. However, with no risk assessment things go wrong. They don’t plan for stormy weather, and they don’t allocate realistic resources. When it inevitably all goes wrong and collapses, they rebuild again, repeating the same mistakes. But it’s a vanity initiative rather than a strategic project with due diligence incorporated so no lessons are learned and risk is ignored.
If we look at many corporate ESG projects, they start with ambition but collapse when the risks including climate volatility, greenwashing accusations and reputational damage aren’t properly assessed.
Boxer, the loyal carthorse works harder and harder. His motto ‘I will work harder’ becoming the default risk-mitigation strategy. Instead of building resilience, the farm relies on overwork and sacrifice. The operational risk model is quietly breaking backs. When Boxer falls, the system collapses with him.
And then there are the controls to protect all, but in this tale, these are the dogs. They answer only to the pigs, their taskmasters. They intimidate the animals and, in that environment, there is not real control environment but rather fear and a lack of risk transparency.
Compliance corrupted
Enter Squealer the pig, the master of spin. When animals question the pigs’ behaviour, he has a ready justification. He has statistics no one understands, slogans that sound reassuring, and alternative facts delivered with enough confidence to silence challenge. So the rules don’t protect the vulnerable, rather they shield the powerful.
The culture on Animal Farm is a cautionary tale all on its own.
The sheep chant slogans on repeat, “Four legs good, two legs bad”, which isn’t culture but marketing slogans.
We meet Benjamin the donkey. He’s clever and sees and understands the dangers. However, he’s old and cynical and rather than be the whistleblower, he is silenced by his cynicism or fear. By the time he decides to speak up, it’s too late. Without a psychological safety, even the brightest insights never reach decision-makers. We need whistleblowers to feel safe.
Read as a GRC allegory, Animal Farm offers four enduring lessons:
- Governance without principles becomes governance without trust. Policies are only as strong as the values behind them.
- Unmanaged risks become existential. From strategic failures like the windmill to operational exhaustion like Boxer, risk blind spots eventually break systems.
- Compliance theatre corrodes credibility. When rules are bent to suit power, compliance loses its purpose and employees lose faith.
- Culture eats everything. Chanting slogans is not culture. Silence is not culture. Culture is lived values and without it, GRC fails.
Of course, Orwell was writing about politics, not corporate compliance. But the echoes are hard to miss. Swap the pigs for executives, Squealer for corporate comms, the dogs for oppressive controls and the sheep for disengaged employees, and you have a case study in organisational failure.