When I first considered introducing a puppet to drive Wellcome’s ethics and integrity work, I’ll admit I didn’t know quite how it would land. I knew colleagues would smile, but I also half-expected some to wonder whether I’d lost the plot. A hot-pink puppet interrupting a compliance webinar at one of the world’s largest philanthropic foundations certainly isn’t a typical route to culture change!
And yet, that creative risk became the seed of something far bigger than I had initially anticipated. Connie didn’t just make people smile, they opened up important and valuable conversations. They softened people’s shoulders, helped us all talk more honestly about ethical dilemmas, and made the idea of “doing the right thing in moments that matter” feel more approachable and human.
Looking back, I didn’t imagine Connie would win international awards for ethics, compliance and employee engagement, or become a recognisable presence across the organisation and beyond. But more than that, I didn’t expect the depth of engagement Connie would unlock, generating openness, curiosity, and a willingness to try something different.
A different approach to ethics
At Wellcome, our mission is global in scope and deeply rooted in trust and accountability. We have a vision of a healthier future for everyone and a mission to support science in solving the urgent health challenges facing everyone.
Everything we do, from scientific partnerships to grantmaking, influencing and operational decisions, depends on being ethical, fair and transparent – the same as for any other sector organisation. That responsibility sits across the whole of the charity, not just one team.
When we began developing a new code of ethics, we knew that simply producing and circulating a document wouldn’t be sufficient. Colleagues navigate complex pressures, competing demands, and grey areas on a daily basis. Policies help, but they can’t do the reflective work on someone’s behalf. They are essential but in themselves insufficient for behavioural change. Something more than a policy is needed to connect at a human level.
What we needed was a way to make ethics feel less like a set of rules and more like a companion. We wanted to create something people could turn to, talk about, and feel safe with. Something (or perhaps someone) that felt supportive rather than restrictive, bringing confidence not constraint.
And so we started thinking a little bit differently.
How Connie came to life
The idea for creating Connie began with the simple understanding that human beings remember stories and characters far more than policies and procedures. And that characterisation is a powerful way to bring instant human connection – just look at the likes of Elmo or Hey Duggee (for younger readers).
We asked ourselves: “What if conscience had a form? A personality? A sense of humour?”
That idea quickly became Connie, a metaphor for your conscience. Intentionally engaging, fun, happy, friendly, trustworthy, professional, smart and confident, and very deliberately not childish.
While Connie tends to generate smiles, they weren’t created to entertain, and we were acutely conscious not to trivialise important topics. Connie was created to help, guide and challenge, and to give colleagues a moment to pause, reflect, and ask themselves: “What would Connie do?”
That question became the heart of our internal campaign. Simple, human and actionable, it drives the sort of internal dialogue we believe people would have anyway, but can lose sight of in the pressures and rush of work.
From the outset, we treated Connie as a genuine member of the ethics team, and in fact introduced them to the organisation as a newly hired colleague. By being an employee, Connie gained:
- A personal intranet profile.
- Their own email address.
- Regular cameo appearances in meetings and training.
- A monthly “ethics gym” dilemma to build ethical muscle; and
- An AI-powered chatbot in Teams, “iConnie”, to help with signposting policies.
All of this added many possibilities for how we could bring Connie to life and make them relevant, and fun.
We transformed our code of ethics into haptic, visual, easy-read versions, providing them to all staff. We developed fun and engaging learning dilemmas through Connie’s EthicsGym, all in Connie’s inimitable style. We created a bold poster campaign across our building. We brought Connie to life, moving them around the office, including going on secondment to different teams.
We made sure ethics was accessible to all colleagues, not only through establishing Connie’s own diversity, but by creating intentionally accessible versions of all our materials. Connie is humane without the baggage of being human. Connie’s pronouns are deliberately “they/them”. We translated our code of ethics into Braille, and we ensured all of our video content was subtitled and audio-transcribed. Ethics programmes lose legitimacy when they aren’t designed explicitly to include everyone.
We didn’t know for sure that Connie would land as well as they did. In fact, I was prepared for them to be more divisive. I was clear that success would be rooted in people talking about Connie, not necessarily liking them. But in fact, colleagues embraced Connie with enthusiasm and generosity, and that response really showed me how people want challenging topics such as ethics to feel more human. When a character helps to open up important but difficult conversations and make them feel safe (perhaps even enjoyable), they lean in.
What Connie has shown us about culture, ethics and people
- Human connection matters more than policy detail. Human beings don’t make ethical decisions through perfect and detailed slide decks and policies. They make them through instinct, identity and relationships, and Connie gave us a way to connect with those deeper drivers in moments that matter. People-centred problems need people-centred solutions.
- Psychological safety supports good governance. Most ethical failings don’t come from bad people. They come out of uncertainty, fear or silence. Increasing psychological safety can help remove some of that fear – and a puppet can help with this.
- Culture change isn’t an event; it’s an ongoing flow and rhythm. One of the things I’m most proud of is not the initial campaign, but the ongoing flow and rhythm over time – the monthly Connie’s EthicsGym dilemmas, the small interactions, the gentle nudges. It’s evident that all of these build healthy habits and keep ethics from fading into the background.
- Creativity can underline seriousness rather than undermine it. Some people might worry that creativity risks diluting the seriousness of ethical issues. I found the opposite happened. Leaders embracing Connie didn’t weaken the message, it strengthened it. It showed leadership confidence, humility, and a willingness to meet people where they are.
What trustees can take from Connie’s story
While no other trustee board is likely to be planning to introduce a puppet any time soon, Connie perhaps can offer insights relevant to any organisation:
- Ethical culture is emotional and human, not just procedural.
- You can’t “instruct” a culture into existence; you have to design habits, stories and cues to shape it over time.
- Psychological safety pays dividends by helping to avoid larger risks later on.
- Connection and creativity are leadership tools that signal authenticity, confidence and innovation.
Creating Connie has reinforced to me that ethics is about practice not perfection. It’s about human behaviours not policies. It’s about pausing and thinking. It’s about having the courage to ask a question, even (perhaps especially!) if it feels awkward. And it’s about remembering that we all have our own Connie trying their best to guide us. We just need to make the time and space to listen to them.
If others in the governance world take anything from this experience, I hope it is that sometimes the most effective way to strengthen ethics is to make it feel more human. People don’t need more rules to do the right thing. They perhaps just need permission to pause and think. And if a hot-pink puppet can provide that space, then perhaps we’re all more open to creative solutions than we realise.
Fraser Simpson set up the ethics, governance and compliance team at Wellcome and is currently seconded to lead the strategy team
Fraser will be presenting a session on Connie at Trustee Exchange 2026, on 28 April. Book tickets here.
