Showing results by author "Michael Woodford" in All Categories

When Michael Woodford was made president of Olympus - the company to which he had dedicated thirty years of his career - he became the first Westerner ever to climb the ranks of one of Japan’s corporate giants. Some wondered at the appointment - how could a gaijin who didn’t even speak Japanese understand how to run a Japanese company? But within months Woodford had gained the confidence of most of his colleagues and shareholders.

Shortly after Michael Woodford was made President and CEO of Olympus, his dream job turned into a nightmare. After discovering a series of bizarre mergers and acquisitions deals totalling $1.7 billion, he turned to his fellow executives and within weeks he was fired in a boardroom coup that shocked the international business world. Woodford went straight to the press - becoming the first CEO of a multinational to blow the whistle on his own company.