𝗪𝗼𝘂𝗹𝗱 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝘀𝗵𝗲𝗹𝘃𝗲 𝗯𝗼𝗼𝗸𝘀 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝗹𝗶𝗯𝗿𝗮𝗿𝗶𝗮𝗻𝘀 — 𝗼𝗿 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝗿𝗲𝗮𝗱𝗲𝗿𝘀? 📚𝗖𝗼𝗺𝗽𝗹𝗶𝗮𝗻𝗰𝗲 𝗹𝗲𝘀𝘀𝗼𝗻𝘀 from a 𝗯𝗼𝗼𝗸𝘀𝘁𝗼𝗿𝗲.

I spotted something brilliant in a Waterstones shop recently.

Instead of having separate 𝘏𝘪𝘴𝘵𝘰𝘳𝘺, 𝘛𝘳𝘢𝘷𝘦𝘭, and 𝘓𝘢𝘯𝘨𝘶𝘢𝘨𝘦 sections, they combined them — arranging books 𝘣𝘺 𝘤𝘰𝘶𝘯𝘵𝘳𝘺.

So everything about Japan — from travel guides to history books to phrasebooks — was together in one place.

It’s technically '𝘶𝘯𝘵𝘪𝘥𝘺' — and would horrify a fundamentalist librarian — but for the average reader, it makes a more intuitive browse, especially in a smaller shop with limited space.

𝗪𝗵𝗮𝘁'𝘀 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗖𝗼𝗺𝗽𝗹𝗶𝗮𝗻𝗰𝗲 𝗹𝗲𝘀𝘀𝗼𝗻?

We don’t always apply that same logic to how we present rules.

Compliance is often presented by 𝘵𝘦𝘤𝘩𝘯𝘪𝘤𝘢𝘭 𝘤𝘢𝘵𝘦𝘨𝘰𝘳𝘺: topics like financial crime prevention, conduct or conflicts of interest.

That makes sense for experts. But employees don’t think like that.

They’re not asking themselves, “𝘈𝘮 𝘐 𝘪𝘯 𝘢 𝘧𝘪𝘯𝘢𝘯𝘤𝘪𝘢𝘭 𝘤𝘳𝘪𝘮𝘦 𝘴𝘪𝘵𝘶𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯?”

They’re thinking:

👉 '𝘐’𝘮 𝘨𝘰𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘰𝘯 𝘢 𝘣𝘶𝘴𝘪𝘯𝘦𝘴𝘴 𝘵𝘳𝘪𝘱.'

👉 '𝘐’𝘮 𝘤𝘭𝘰𝘴𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘢 𝘥𝘦𝘢𝘭.'

👉 '𝘐’𝘷𝘦 𝘣𝘦𝘦𝘯 𝘪𝘯𝘷𝘪𝘵𝘦𝘥 𝘵𝘰 𝘸𝘢𝘵𝘤𝘩 𝘢 𝘨𝘢𝘮𝘦.'

If we want compliance to feel natural — to be easily accessible and actually used — we need to stop thinking like archivists.

And start thinking more like booksellers.

Like books, rules are more likely to be read if people can find the one they're looking for.