When Olympus fired Michael Woodford, its British chief executive, in October, the company said he had been unable to conform to Japanese-style management.
Since then, Woodford has taken the decidedly non-Japanese step of publicly rebuking his employer and, by blowing the whistle on his own company, has done something rare for a chief executive anywhere in the world.
His allegations of billion-dollar malfeasance have set off investigations on three continents. Now, Woodford is making his next unorthodox move.
On Friday, he plans to return to Olympus headquarters for a board meeting, where he said he would demand that the entire board come clean on details of their actions and step down to take responsibility. (Because of a technicality, Woodford is still an Olympus director.
He said he would offer to return to Olympus as president and lead a turnaround at the iconic Japanese company that some analysts and investors fear risks being delisted from the Tokyo Stock Exchange and could even be on the verge of collapse.
?I want to look them in the eye and talk to them directly,? Woodford said at an interview over dinner on Wednesday in Tokyo, shortly after flying from London and being thronged by Japanese reporters eager to speak with the outsider who dared to speak up.
?I hope the company won?t be delisted, but I certainly wouldn?t compromise getting to the truth, because staying listed shouldn?t be the criteria,? he said.
Olympus? taking Woodford up on his comeback offer might be a long shot. But hundreds of rank-and-file employees at Olympus have signed petitions urging the company?s top management to resign and calling for Woodford to return ? a rare uprising in a nation that values company loyalty above all.