Most of my blogs are indexed to the reasons why I provide training for Courageous Conversations but I’ve seldom written directly about Courageous Conversations.  This blog is different. "Tough Conversations", "Challenging Conversations",  "Crucial Conversations", "Difficult Conversations" – there are a multitude of labels that suggest why communication can be fraught with tension.  I have chosen […]

This month, I’ve been humbled by being acknowledged by the Think: Act magazine as a Business Disruptor, Rebel WITH a cause and a Constructive non Conformist. What an honour and a privilege to be recognised this way, not only for myself, but for all whistleblowers. Click here to access the .48 second video to find out who else […]

Imagine you’ve been working at a company for six months and you’re given responsibility for a demanding, high-profile project. After months of hard work, you present your ideas to higher-ups. You receive either a positive outcome  - “your project is so interesting to the senior management that you have been invited to a workshop next […]

Imagine that you are a rising star at a medium-sized investment bank (B&B), and you are currently facing a decision to choose between loyalty to your roommate or to your company and boss. There exists a cult mentality at B&B in that those who stay at the company accept that loyalty to the organisation goes […]

I recently returned from speaking in Cape Town, South Africa, at the invitation of the CFA SA. Even though South Africa is where I blew the whistle, it’s taken eighteen years to be invited back to share the lessons learnt from the LeisureNet disaster, aka "South Africa’s Enron". In comparison to how institutions worldwide are engaging […]

1. Have you ever had a romantic crush on someone, believing them to be ‘the one’ but feeling too shy to tell them how you feel, you never confessed your love? Now you’re left wondering how your life might have shaped out if you had told this person how you felt. How much regret do […]

Imagine you are in a public bus. A teenager comes in and puts her shoes on the seat across from you. Her shoes are muddy, and the next person to sit on the seat will most likely get his/her clothes dirty. Would you say something to the teenager? Or imagine you stroll in a park […]

"That would never happen in our organisation" is one of the push back narratives I hear when introducing myself and my services to decision making senior executives in organisations. Actually, it’s not even a narrative, it’s a defensive mantra and you know what happens with those -   they evolve into blind-spots. I often speak and write about […]

Just imagine: Your boss asks you to run a series of special training days for other employees. At first you feel rather flattered that your boss is considering you for this task. But you soon realise that there are costs involved: for one, you are expected to prepare for the training in your own time, […]

True Story: One of the LeisureNet joint CEOs, Peter, summonsed the project accountant, “Tony”, a senior manager, into his office. In rapid and hushed tones, Peter briefed Tony in the corridor saying that he had the directors of our largest offshore investors, Capvest, on the phone. The Capvest directors were irate having identified significant differences […]

“Next time I come for a meeting with you make sure you’re braless”   External Bank Manager “If you interrupt my meeting, you need to be punished and that means me ‘taking you’ on my desk”  Followed by being picked up and laid across the desk. Sales and Marketing Director “You know we only hired you for […]

Although evidence has mounted that employees speaking up helps managers identify problems and improve organisational effectiveness, voice from subordinates is still not well received by managers. In this blog I want to focus on how the process of the way we compare ourselves with others (social comparison) and gender can influence speaking-listening up in an […]

If conformism and obedience are basic elements in our culture, nonconformity, disobedience, and whistleblowing are vital for its progress. My mobile phone rang at 3.00 am. It was one of the CEOs on the line and his voice bristled with anger and indignation. "Get yourself over to the office now, this instant, and transfer the […]

There has been appropriate outrage at your actions in seeking to unmask a whistleblower at Barclays Bank. The angry rhetoric is a reaction to the misalignment with what the ‘Barclays Way Code of Conduct’ invites workers to do to raise concerns and your actual response. You hold a powerful position, you should know better. The Barclays […]

‘Let’s do lunch next week’   ‘I’ll call you next Friday’    ‘I’ll send through the contract on Tuesday’    ‘Of course I’ll speak up’    ‘I’ll email you with the report’   ‘I’ll advance your concerns’ Ever had any of these said to you?  Perhaps you’ve said them yourself to others?  The bigger question is ‘did you […]

Like most whistleblowers I felt utterly alone before and after speaking out, especially in the knowledge that my peer group knew what I knew but had remained silent.   But what would or could have happened if I had asked individuals in my group to join me in speaking out, to become allies?  Just considering this […]

It happens every time.  As I walk off stage having shared my story of whistleblowing on the biggest corporate collapse in South Africa’s history, individuals converge to engage with me.  Some shake my hand and thank me for speaking out, others inquire about best whistleblowing practice or the laws protecting whistleblowers.  Others, feeling vulnerable, hang back […]

The new UK rules on personal responsibility places firms and senior managers into a new world of regulatory requirements and obligations. It remains to be seen how industry standards will develop to protect well-intentioned senior managers from being held responsible for their firms’ regulatory breaches and how firms might structure reporting lines to allow senior […]

"I've spent a period of ‘service’ on society’s boundaries"  Wendy Addison I blew the whistle on corporate corruption fifteen years ago, long before Julian Assange or Edward Snowden made the topic mainstream.  Securing justice after an eleven year battle whilst living in abject poverty has set me free to re build, re authenticate and re […]

“Morality is extolled—even enacted—not with an eye to producing a good and right outcome but in order to appear moral yet still benefit oneself” Research conducted on When Values and Behaviour Conflict asked a group of employees the following questions: “What are your most important moral values?” “What are some recent examples of things that […]