SpeakUP Voices–The Whistleblower’s Journey: Exploring the Challenges, Perils, and Rewards of Confronting Wrongdoing Within Organizations

FBI Whistleblower Dr. Fred Whitehurst shares his journey with Dr. Kernan Manion as part of our Speak Up Voices series

Wednesday, March 3rd 2021 @ 9:00AM EST

Register here

About this Event

The challenges of speaking truth to power have always been difficult. With the increasing consolidation of work enterprises under corporate identities, and the unchecked power these entities have in running their businesses, the potential for corporate engagement in unethical and illegal behavior has exponentially increased. And the more such corporate power is supported by state authorities, the more harm will result.

“[The whistleblower manifests a] willingness to rebel from the expected norms, rules, and silent contracts of establishment … The whistleblower … reveals a shared complicity … ‘I expect more from myself and from you.’ And in that stance, the pain becomes, in a sense, communal.”

― Toko-pa Turner, Belonging: Remembering Ourselves Home

Most people who have acquired a moral code in the course of their adult development want to belong to an organization that also abides by an organizational moral code, one they both embrace.

When that code is violated, some individuals feel compelled to confront that deviation. They do so for various reasons but almost universal amongst them is that they feel it is their duty to do right by holding the organization accountable in the same way that the organization would hold each of its members accountable.

Some organizations are receptive to this feedback. Many, if not most, are not. And what results is a clash that takes on increasingly macabre forms of harm to the whistleblower. And, ignoring the substance of the whistleblower’s primary concerns almost invariably results in harm being done to others by that organization, and ultimately to the organization’s viability.

In this twice-monthly series, Dr. Kernan Manion and Dr. Frederic Whitehurst, both veterans of the whistleblower’s journey, host featured guests from around the world who share their experiences in speaking truth to power and the lessons they’ve learned.

While this initial webinar is scheduled for Wed, 3 Mar 2021 @ 9 am EST, we’ll be exploring an optimal recurring day and time to accommodate the widest diversity of potential participants.

In each 90 minute session, the last 30 minutes is reserved for live interactive dialog with our audience. Participants who wish to come onto the stage via their webcam and mic will be invited.

Based on our previous experiences with this novel format using the interactive Demio webinar platform, this series promises to be highly engaging. We look forward to your joining us.

The humanities teach us the value, even for business, of criticism and dissent. When there’s a culture of going along to get along, where whistleblowers are discouraged, bad things happen and businesses implode.

Martha C. Nussbaum