Allan Cutler

Allan Cutler blew the whistle on the improper procurement of contracts in Canada's federal government, which led to the investigation of the now infamous sponsorship scandal. As an officer in the Canadian federal Public Works Department, Cutler would not sign off on work that did not follow rules, policies or the laws. As a result, he lost his job and endured retaliation. Later, he was vindicated and praised for being the only person who tried to stop the corruption. 

Today, Cutler is dedicated to advancing ethical business practices both in government and in the corporate realm. Due to his involvement in the Canadian Sponsorship Scandal, Cutler is also known as "The Whistleblower" and has a reputation for high ethical conduct. He offers speaking, consultation and training in organizational ethics, corruption and whistleblowing. Cutler is an important voice for accountability and integrity.

Allan Cutler brings over 35 years of experience and expertise to the negotiation and procurement field. He is capable of speaking about or working on both sides of a competitive procurement. On the public sector side of the equation, he develops statements of work, bid documents, evaluation criteria and works on the complete procurement process from bid issuing through to the final evaluation and award. On the business side of the equation, he assists firms in understanding bid documents and in responding to bids. He also offers training. He also speaks on ethical procurement.

Speeches By Allan Cutler:

The Fall and Rise of Ethical Leadership

Leadership should start at the top of an organization. Starting in the 1980s, we entered an Age of Entitlement and ethical leadership declined. Modern communications and the growth of large multinational firms have resulted in a return to an Age of Responsibility.

New ethical leadership starts at the low rungs in an organization. For the first time in history, lower level employees have the ability to expose problems to a large audience. They are learning that they have a voice that not only needs to be heard but that will be heard.

CEOs and Chief Executive Officers need to be aware of these expectations of their employees. By supporting their employees, they become leaders in returning to the Age of Responsibility and serious breaches of law can be avoided. Since Sarbanes Oxley has been passed, CEOs also have to understand how to "protect themselves" from wrongdoings done by others in their organizations. 

The audience will learn about the expectations of staff/employees and the importance in meeting these expectations. They will also understand how a small problem, left unaddressed can become a large problem. A whistleblowing situation can arise with all the public and media fallout. The steps that can be taken to prevent this situation from developing will also be discussed.

Ethics and Whistleblowing 

Allan Cutler takes the audience on a journey of understanding. Starting with how whistleblowing developed over the years, he proceeds to explaining what it is and how a person becomes a "whistleblower". Often the first realization that something is seriously wrong comes from the whistleblowers. By then it may be too late to correct the problem without some public damage. Cutler shows how whistlblowers are protections for CEOs and upper management of firms and how they should be perceived. Time permitting and size of audience, interactive audience participation is encouraged. This has been presented numerous time to various audiences from delegations from China, businss organizations and university classes.

The Tough Choices

What do you do when both choices are right? How do you decide? Allan Cutler leads the audience through an understanding of the 'tough choices' that are made. Choosing Right from Wrong is usually easy to do. Choosing Right from Right is not.

Other Speeches

Moral Courage, Accountability in Public Procurement, When the Workplace doesn't Work, Responding to an RFP, Failed Leadership