Extraordinary Circumstances: The Journey of a Corporate Whistleblower - Hardcover

Cooper, Cynthia

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0470124296 ISBN 13: 9780470124291

Publisher: Wiley, 2008

Synopsis

The longer WorldCom Chief Audit Executive Cynthia Cooper stares at the entries in front of her, the more sinister they seem. But the CFO is badgering her to delay her team's audit of the company's books and directing others to block Cooper's efforts. Still, something in the pit of her stomach tells her to keep digging. Cooper takes readers behind the scenes on a riveting, real-time journey as she and her team work at night and behind closed doors to expose the largest fraud in corporate history. Whom can they trust? Could she lose her job? Should she fear for her physical safety?

In Extraordinary Circumstances, she recounts for the first time her journey from her close family upbringing in a small Mississippi town, to working motherhood and corporate success, to the pressures of becoming a whistleblower, to being named one of Time's 2002 Persons of the Year. She also provides a rare insider's glimpse into the spectacular rise and fall of WorldCom, a telecom titan, the darling of Wall Street, and a Cinderella story for Mississippi.

With remarkable candor, Cooper discusses her struggle to overcome these challenges, and how she has found healing through sharing the lessons learned with the next generation. This book reminds us all that ethical decision-making is not forged at the crossroads of major events but starts in childhood, "decision by decision and brick by brick."

At a time when corporate dishonesty is dominating public attention, Extraordinary Circumstances makes it clear that the tone set at the top is critical to fostering an ethical environment in the work-place. Provocative, moving, and intensely personal, Extraordinary Circumstances is a wake-up call to corporate leaders and an intimate glimpse at a scandal that shook the business world.

About this title

From the Inside Flap:

My team and I were ordinary people who found ourselves facing extraordinary circumstances.
—Cynthia Cooper, former Vice President, WorldCom

The longer WorldCom Chief Audit Executive Cynthia Cooper stares at the entries in front of her, the more sinister they seem. But the CFO is badgering her to delay her team's audit of the company's books and directing others to block Cooper's efforts. Still, something in the pit of her stomach tells her to keep digging. Cooper takes readers behind the scenes on a riveting, real-time journey as she and her team work at night and behind closed doors to expose the largest fraud in corporate history. Whom can they trust? Could she lose her job? Should she fear for her physical safety?

In Extraordinary Circumstances, she recounts for the first time her journey from her close family upbringing in a small Mississippi town, to working motherhood and corporate success, to the pressures of becoming a whistleblower, to being named one of Time's 2002 Persons of the Year. She also provides a rare insider's glimpse into the spectacular rise and fall of WorldCom, a telecom titan, the darling of Wall Street, and a Cinderella story for Mississippi.

With remarkable candor, Cooper discusses her struggle to overcome these challenges, and how she has found healing through sharing the lessons learned with the next generation. This book reminds us all that ethical decision-making is not forged at the crossroads of major events but starts in childhood, "decision by decision and brick by brick."

At a time when corporate dishonesty is dominating public attention, Extraordinary Circumstances makes it clear that the tone set at the top is critical to fostering an ethical environment in the work-place. Provocative, moving, and intensely per-sonal, Extraordinary Circumstances is a wake-up call to corporate leaders and an intimate glimpse at a scandal that shook the business world.

From the Back Cover:

White linen tablecloths blow in the warm breeze of the evening. Some twenty people have come together at the home of David Myers, the WorldCom Controller. The atmosphere is full of good-hearted banter, but an unseen cloud hangs over this seemingly perfect picture. Within two years, almost every employee present will be gone from the company. Three will be indicted for fraud, and I will be thrust into the center of a storm.

Why are the subpoenas locked in another room? Do I really want to go to New York and sit down with someone who's being hostile and patronizing?? If I don't, will the U.S. Marshals really come to my house tonight and take me into custody? I've received no clear answers, but I refuse to take any chances.

The guard unlocks the doors, and we file in. Brown cardboard boxes are everywhere, each labeled with the name of a former WorldCom executive. It feels like we're trespassing. I read the names of people I used to work with as we slowly walk through, as if in a graveyard, reading the dates of life and death on the headstones. I think of retirements, camaraderie, years of hard work by thousands—lost. What was once an inspiration has vanished into the ether.

This is a story about people and choices. It shows how power and money can change people, and how easy it is to rationalize, give in to fear, and cave under pressure and intimidation from superiors. We can't protect our children from adversity or even predict the challenges they'll face. But we can prepare them for how to respond. As I share the story with students, I talk about character, choices, and courage. In the end, life is about choices. Our challenge is to choose well.

About this edition

• Publisher: Wiley
• Publication date: 2008
• ISBN 10: 0470124296
• ISBN 13: 9780470124291
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 416