by Lauren Heaton
Business Honors Society students, football players, coaches, faculty and community members gathered Wednesday night to hear Cynthia Cooper tell her story about being the whistleblower to the 2002 WorldCom accounting scandal.
The WorldCom scandal occurred when CEO Bernie Ebbers inflated assets as much as $11 billion, which led to 30,000 jobs lost and $180 billion in losses by investors.
The WorldCom internal auditing department discovered $3.8 billion in fraud. Ebbers was later sentenced to 25 years in prison for fraud, conspiracy and filing false documents with regulators.
Cooper travels the country striving to live out her personal mission statement of making a positive impact on future generations by discussing the importance of ethical decisions.
Her hope is that when faced with an ethical dilemma, students will make the right choice.
“We all face ethical dilemmas all the time,” Cooper said.
Her point was the more we bring ethics to the forefront of our thinking the more likely we are able to make ethical decisions.
Cooper was brought to CMU through the efforts of the Center for Public Trust club and the Daniel’s Fund Ethics Initiative.
Cooper had two separate sessions with students while on campus, one private question and answer session with a small group of accounting students and Business Honors Society students, and the main event of her presentation in Meyer’s Ballroom.
In the small session, Cooper told her story and asked the students as many questions as they asked her. She explained her experience as the internal auditor at WorldCom and how she handled the way she was treated during the audit in the investigation following.
Students asked questions “How did you possibly stick to your guns?” and “How did you push through the resistance?” referring to how Cooper and her internal audit team faced significant pushback from superiors at WorldCom during the audit that uncovered the fraud. Cooper’s answers were that you have to “Trust your instincts” and “Don’t ever let yourself be intimidated.”
Cooper referred to her personal values often, making it known that having to define your values and the courage to live by your values is something she believes in strongly and was a critical factor in why she “blew the whistle” on WorldCom.
“I encourage people to write out their personal mission statement,” Cooper said when asked about her own.
She asked the students to name characteristics of ethical leaders and words like: humility, kindness, courage, empathy and honesty were a few examples students given.
Cooper then encouraged students to think about who they want to be and not what they want to be when they graduate.
“I want to challenge you to define success,” Cooper said.
At the end of the small session, Cooper emphasized that you have to “know what you believe” and find “the courage to act on what you believe.”
When asked ‘what is the one thing you want students to learn from you?’ Cooper had a hard time narrowing it down to one.
“One thing is to live by your values and to remember you have the power of choice,” Cooper said.
Cooper published a book called “Extraordinary Circumstances” for those wanting to learn more about her experience.
