In 2014, Erika Cheung made a discovery that would ultimately help bring down her employer, Theranos, as well as its founder, Elizabeth Holmes, who claimed to have invented technology that would transform medicine. The decision to become a whistleblower proved a hard lesson in figuring out how to do what’s right in the face of both personal and professional obstacles. With candor and humility, Cheung shares her journey of speaking truth to power — and offers a framework to encourage others to come forward and act in the service of all.
This talk was presented to a local audience at TEDxBerkeley, an independent event. TED’s editors chose to feature it for you.
It may not feel like it from within, but whistleblowing/complaints/appeals are powerful opportunities to develop and improve an institution’s arrangements. A ‘learning institution’ welcomes these kinds of developments as opportunities. It is a mark of the sophistication of an institution’s governance arrangements that it responds positively to whistleblowing/complaints/appeals rather than ‘circling the wagons’ and responding with empty platitudes.