Author: Michael Woodford

Publisher: Penguin Books

First published: 2012

Setting: Southend, UK – Hamburg, Germany – Tokyo, Japan
Read in September 2013

My Rating ★★★★★  4.5

My Waterstones Review

“Japanese saying – The honest man is sure to lose”

Michael Woodford, ex-President and CEO (2 weeks) of Olympus Corporation is my corporate hero. His honesty and integrity drove him to querying inexplicable payments in excess of $1.5 billion knowing that he would almost certainly be dismissed and that he was putting his life in danger.

This excellent and revealing book is easy to read and a real page turner for a business book! What it reveals to us is why corporate values and governance are so important.

Book Review

Michael Woodford joined the British company KeyMed in 1980 which became a subsidiary of the Olympus Corporation of Japan in 1986. Over thirty years Michael rose through the ranks becoming President of Olympus in April 2011. A rare state for a western man to run a Japanese giant. In October that year he was also made CEO only to be dismissed two weeks later for querying inexplicable payments in excess of  $1.5 billion.

This excellent and revealing book starts four months into Michael’s presidency when in July 2011 he receives an email from a friend in Tokyo with subject URGENT NEWS alerting Michael to an article in an obscure Japanese magazine called Facta. In financial years 2008 – 2010 the article alleged that Olympus had purchased three essentially ‘Mickey Mouse’ companies costing hundreds of millions of dollars. This was under the Presidency of Tsuyoshi Kikukawa who was now Chairman, and having appointed Michael to President had for the first time introduced the role of CEO to Olympus appointing himself to this position.

Michael set about trying to uncover the truth behind these allegations and in so doing risked his job with possible threats to his life. The Japanese police are well aware that people who know too much in Japan tend to meet a bleak fate when corporate scandal erupts. Michael collected the evidence and created a statement to the board of directors for a meeting to be held on October 14th, 2011. In the statement he registered serious concerns in relation to the companies governance. At the board meeting and in the face of the evidence the 15 member Olympus board chose to acquiesce to Kikukawa’s motion to dismiss Mr Woodford as President and CEO rather than discuss any of the allegations. Having been dismissed Michael submitted his prepared dossier to the Financial Times in Tokyo and in so doing become one of the worlds biggest corporate whistleblowers, within a few hours he was heading for Hong Kong and for his connecting flight home to safety.

There is no doubt that Michael’s values of honesty and integrity drove him to becoming a whistleblower. His preference would have been to root out the issues from within and having been dismissed he could have kept quiet, the safer option. But he was prepared for his dismissal and what he would do when the inevitable occurred. There is a Japanese saying which when translated reads ‘The honest man is sure to lose’. What is revealed by this book is how the corporate systems of Japan appear closed and not open to as much scrutiny as would be the case in other parts of the world. But perhaps a new wind is emerging; the Japanese edition of Exposure has become a bestseller.

This is a great book and recommended reading for all business people, it is easy to read and gripping, a real page turner for a business book!  Since the story became public Michael has been named Business Person of the Year 2011 by the Sunday Times, the Independent and the Sun, and in 2012 won the Financial Times ArcelorMittal Award for Boldness in Business. In 2013 he was the winner of the inaugural Contrarian Prize.