See update as at 15th January 2023 on Point 9 (who funds WhistleblowersUK?) and Point 8 (Twitter sock accounts) Without Prejudice I am writing this as a long term, respected and active participant in the international whistleblowing space and especially as a legitimate whistleblower.  In the spirit of transparency, openness, and courage, I have a […]

Referring to his relationship with Monica Lewinsky, U.S. President Bill Clinton claimed “there is not a sexual relationship.” The Starr Commission later discovered that there “had been” a sexual relationship, but that it had ended months before Clinton’s interview with Jim Lehrer. During the interview, Clinton made a claim that was technically true by using […]

What does the stoic reserve clause and whistleblowers share in common? Hupexhairesis is the stoic reserve clause meaning to undertake any action while accepting that the outcome isn’t entirely under your control. A stoic minded archer’s true goal is to fire his bow skilfully knowing he controls his aim but not the arrow’s flight. I was […]

The ‘do no significant harm’ principle must extend to whistleblowers “Do no Significant Harm” is the principle that underscores the EU's approach to sustainable growth, following the adoption of the 2015 Paris Agreement on climate change and the United Nations 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.  The EU Commission has expressed in the Action Plan “Financing Sustainable […]

      A CEO transcript of a conference call to Investors post a Merger and Acquisition: What does this narrative actually mean? Perhaps you’ve experienced a similar kind of empty and misleading narrative, produced in a shallow way and intended to lead to some kind of surface agreement.  Did you ever want to call bullshit on […]

A new report, Are Whistleblowing Laws Working? A Global Study of Whistleblower Protection Litigation, tracks the records of whistleblower laws in 38 countries and provides an unprecedented effort to understand the successes and shortcomings of whistleblower protection legislation worldwide, following a proliferation of laws in recent decades. Co-published by the International Bar Association (IBA) Legal Policy & Research Unit (LPRU) […]

Revenge is sweet and not fattening. –Alfred Hitchcock Whistleblowing legislation has focused and promoted itself around protecting a whistleblower from retaliation.  However, the word protect is a misnomer. The etymology of the word Protect arises from Latin, to ‘cover something upfront’.  Think about the word prophylactic and you'll get it! The meaning and intention of covering something […]

Ever been in a situation where, despite your efforts, a baby ends up howling hysterically when you speak and coo to it?  Awkward right?  Watch .13 seconds of real world awkwardness below:

Think of a time that you experienced conflict when working in a team (e.g., Work team, your student organisations, sports team, class teams, etc.) and describe the life of that conflict—what was the conflict about? How did it start, evolve, and finish? How many team members were involved when the conflict started and when it […]

Click on the video below to access a two minute video to explore if you're a marshmallow or acorn thinker. ESG (Environment, Social Concerns, Governance) ratings are increasingly influencing financial decisions, with potentially far-reaching effects on asset prices and corporate policies.  Investors with over $80 trillion in combined assets have signed a commitment via UN-PRI to integrate […]

We are in the midst of a regulatory arms race to rein in corporate power. Milton Friedman entered the stage during a slump in the economy in the 1970s, an ideal moment for him to influence the deregulation of the Reagan Era. Today, we find ourselves at another inflection point. Mounting global challenges, from climate […]

“Why should I care?  I know the priority du jour is going to change and what's really expected of me is to make my boss look like he knows what he’s doing.  Its not like we’re all in this together." The above comment was made by one of my senior executive colleagues in the company […]

Sitting around the Boardroom table at the corporation I blew the whistle on, LeisureNet Ltd, I heard one of our directors blatantly lying to Barclays bank about our financial position.  This was to persuade Barclays to provide additional lending, to keep our organisation afloat. As you can see from this snippet taken from my testimony […]

The Coronavirus captures the essence of true uncertainty and as a result, most approaches to mitigate the spread are naturally being made with a risk mindset. Every day we are constantly expected to decide between the present and the future. For example, should we spend money on a nice vacation now, or save it for […]

When I tell my story of blowing the whistle on the CEOs of LeisureNet Ltd, I share how much courage was required to overcome the natural psychological conflict I experienced in the moments before speaking out. "I felt like everything I believed about who I was, my sense of self, my self concept was coming […]

I’m placing this four- minute video right at the top of my blog as I want it to invoke your thoughts and feelings about how you hold yourself responsible for the words you use. As you'll see, ‘rapping on bullshit’ is dishonest and inauthentic, fueling team conflict which can spill outside meetings into the corridors. One of […]

“One thing a person cannot do, no matter how rigorous his analysis or heroic his imagination is to draw up a list of things that would never occur to him.” Thomas Schelling Economist and Nobel laureate  Whenever and wherever I speak in the world, sharing my story and the teaching moments of being the whistleblower […]

Aligned with the song by Daniel Powter, Bad Day, most of us can get through one bad day. But how many of us can get through many bad days, many bad weeks, bad months or even bad years?  How many of us can get through them and retain our belief in a just and fair world, in human […]

Are you more conscious than the average oyster? I hope so! When a few grains of grit get inside the oyster shell, the oyster doesn’t run and hide from the irritant. Nor does the oyster hire its litigation team or stress management team to spend millions trying to get rid of the irritant.  Instead, the […]

If you are distressed by anything external, the pain is not due to the thing itself, but to your estimate of it; and this you have the power to revoke at any moment. Marcus Aurelius Conflicts, failures and losses at times seem to conspire to ruin us. Yet, as Marcus Aurelius observed nearly two millennia ago, […]