It Used to Be Fun: A Federal Whistleblower's Trip Through the Software Industry
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Book Overview
"The ironic thing about a conspiracy is that if you are in at all, if you participate even just a little bit, you are in all the way."
William Sullivan never planned to become a whistleblower. As a celebrated senior executive at some of Silicon Valley's most iconic companies-including IBM/Tivoli, PeopleSoft/Oracle, AWS, and Informatica, where he was twice named a "Critical 1% Employee"-Sullivan built a stellar career by generating over a billion dollars in sales, fixing Corporate divisions and nurturing high-performing teams. But everything changed when he uncovered a systematic pricing fraud at Informatica, a scheme designed to overcharge the U.S. government by millions.
In It Used to Be Fun, Sullivan pulls back the curtain on the tech industry's hidden truths with unprecedented candor. His decision to blow the whistle triggered one of the Department of Justice's most significant settlements of 2019, forcing Informatica to pay $21.57 million. But for Sullivan, speaking out had enormous personal consequences: isolation, sabotage, and blacklisting from the industry he once defined.
This gripping memoir offers an inside look at boardroom tensions, courtroom battles, and the complex moral dilemmas faced by executives navigating profit-driven corporate cultures. It's a raw, powerful account of how difficult-and dangerous-it is to speak truth to power when silence is both easier and more rewarding.
Part corporate expos , part leadership guide, and part call to action, Sullivan's journey from respected insider to industry outcast shines a light on corporate accountability in our digital age. This is chokehold reading-intense, powerful, and impossible to put down-not merely the story of one man's fight for justice, but a rallying cry for ethical leadership, integrity, and transparency in a world where those values are increasingly rare.
It Used to Be Fun is for professionals, leaders, and anyone who believes standing up for what's right should never cost you everything.
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