“The Fixer”
Welcome to The Fixer, a weekly newsletter from The WayFinders Group.
You could be making headlines for all the wrong reasons, but it won’t happen to you because you’re here learning from other leaders’ spectacular missteps. Every Friday, we forensically examine the corporate crises that could have been avoided with foresight, fresh thinking, and a phone call to the right people (aka us!). We also provide the next installment of our agony aunt column, and the best escapism money can buy.
Friday’s fiasco: when the ice cream melts
Jerry Greenfield’s departure from Ben & Jerry’s isn’t really about ice cream or even Gaza – it’s about what happens when your values become a liability to your employer. After 47 years, he’s chosen integrity over comfort, which is bloody difficult but probably necessary.
The 2000 sale created this mess. Unilever gets the brand power of Ben & Jerry’s activism when it suits them, but wants to muzzle it when it gets uncomfortable. Unilever wants predictable business performance; Ben & Jerry’s wants to speak truth to power. The conflict is obvious.
Jerry’s chosen the “integrity exit” concluding that he can’t authentically represent the brand whilst being constrained by corporate oversight. That’s actually quite courageous leadership, even if it feels like defeat in the moment. This the tension between authentic leadership and commercial pragmatism is common. Less common is Jerry decision to create more change from the outside than remaining on the inside.
What this means for leaders facing similar pressures
When your employer starts asking you to compromise your core values, you’ve got three choices: comply and lose yourself, fight from within and risk everything, or leave with your integrity intact. Jerry’s chosen option three, and frankly, it might be the smartest move. The real question for any leader in this position is: can you live with your decision without regret? If the answer’s no, then you already know what you need to do.
Sometimes the bravest thing a leader can do is walk away with their principles intact.
Fix me!
“The whistleblower’s dilemma”
Dear Leah,
I’m Chief Compliance Officer in a regulated company and I’ve just discovered that our Head of Sales has been systematically falsifying client compliance records to close deals faster. When I confronted him, he said “everyone knows the regulators don’t actually check these things” and suggested I was being “unnecessarily rigid.” The worst part? Our CEO promoted him last month specifically for “streamlining processes.”
I’ve documented everything, but I’m terrified that raising this will destroy my career – the CEO and Head of Sales have been friends for 20 years. Meanwhile, we’re expecting a regulatory audit next quarter. Do I report this internally and risk being scapegoated, or go straight to the regulator and potentially destroy the company? Either way, I feel like I’m signing my own redundancy notice.
Dear Compliance in Crisis,
You’re not signing your redundancy notice – you’re potentially saving the company from catastrophe. But I understand why it feels like career suicide when you’re the only adult in a room full of people playing with fire.
READ MORE
DIAGNOSIS: Your Head of Sales has confused “streamlining” with law-breaking, and your CEO has rewarded him for it. They’re both gambling with the company’s future because the regulator hasn’t caught them yet. Classic corporate delusion where people convince themselves that rules don’t apply to them until they do.
THE ROOT OF THE PROBLEM: Commercial pressure has completely overridden regulatory and ethical obligations. Your CEO has inadvertently created a system where rule breaking is rewarded and everything else is problematic.
THE PATH TO RESOLVING IT: Speak to Legal, then together escalate to the Chair of the Board. Frame it as protecting the company from existential risk, not attacking individuals. If there’s no independent governance route, you have a legal duty to report to the regulator who will be far more lenient if you self-report than if they discover it during a future audit.
YOUR ROLE GOING FORWARDS:
- Protect yourself legally by ensuring all concerns are properly documented and escalated
- Compliance officers who don’t enforce compliance aren’t compliance officers
- Find an ally amongst the non-executive directors who can provide independent oversight
Sometimes the most dangerous thing you can do is stay quiet when you’re paid to speak up.
Future-proof your organisation – when 70% of change initiatives fail and leadership challenges threaten organisational survival, our interventions give you immediate stabilisation and a systematic roadmap to rebuild from the ground up.
Face the facts
It’s time for you to weigh in – what would you do in this situation?
It’s 3am and you’re facing a major corporate crisis. The CFO’s been arrested, your shareholders are on the phone, and journalists are camping outside your house. Who do you call first?
A) Your crisis comms agency “Wake up the professionals – this is what we pay them for”
B) Your AI assistant “Ask Gemini to draft three holding statements whilst I work out what actually happened”
C) Your most trusted board member “Ring the one person who won’t panic and can help me think this through”
D) Your legal team “Get the lawyers involved before anyone says anything that makes this worse”
E) Your mum “Sometimes you just need someone who’s always got your back”
Leadership credibility collapsed? Change initiatives failing? Workforce in revolt?
If you’re facing a leadership effectiveness crisis that destroys organisational capability, you don’t need management consultants, you need systematic restoration. Founded by lawyer and accredited mediator Leah Brown FRSA, The WayFinders Group helps leaders rebuild the fundamental credibility that makes everything else possible through our restorative methodology, delivering measurable transformation when traditional HR solutions aren’t enough.
Future-proof your leadership – by inviting Leah to speak at your corporate event on how to navigate institutional failure and emerge stronger.
