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ARTICLE · 31 JANUARY 2018

Speaking Up At Work Is Not Treachery

ICSA
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Society needs to move away from the narrative that those who speak up are troublemakers

United KingdomEmployment and HR
Katherine Bradshaw
Katherine Bradshaw

Society needs to move away from the narrative that those who speak up are troublemakers

When David Conn, author of The Fall of the House of FIFA, interviewed Sepp Blatter, former president of football's governing body, he was struck that when discussing Yuliya Stepanova, who had recently exposed the Russian state doping of athletes, Blatter sneered: 'Because if you are a whistleblower, it's not correct as well.'

Conn asked him to clarify: 'Was he saying whistleblowers are not correct?

"No," [Blatter] confirmed. "At school, if you had somebody who was a whistleblower towards the tutor, then..." and he trailed off, as if it was obvious.

"Do you still think that?" [Conn] asked.

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