Judges’ comments: A laudatory behind-the-scenes narrative of palace intrigues at the world’s biggest drugmaker, with a gripping, wonderfully detailed narrative and well-paced tick-tock.
List date(s) this work was published or aired.
Aug. 15, 2011
See this entry.
Provide a brief synopsis of the story or stories, including any significant findings.
The inside story of the abrupt downfall of the leader of one of the world’s largest and most important companies. Jeff Kindler, named CEO of Pfizer at the age of 51, was a brilliant litigator who harbored ambitions to join Barack Obama’s cabinet or launch his own political career. Instead, he found himself out of a job, the target of a sophisticated palace coup. Kindler departed with a $25 million severance package, even as the company’s stock declined 36% under his watch.
Explain types of documents, data or Internet resources used. Were FOI or public records act requests required? How did this affect the work?
We relied on a large variety of public and confidential internal corporate documents, including historical biographical information, court records, board minutes, individual performance evaluations, airplane records, confidential employee satisfaction surveys, private emails between the CEO and top executives, secret whistleblower letters to the Pfizer board of directors, private records of the controversial head of HR’s termination from a previous job, private employment contracts, and real estate records.
Explain types of human sources used.
We conducted interviews of at least 102 people (many were interviewed several times). Sources, many of whom spoke for the record, included high ranking executives at Pfizer who worked for and with Kindler, board members, outside consultants, colleagues and subordinates from Pfizer executives’ previous employment at Charles Schwab and McDonald’s, state and federal regulators, and analysts.
Results (if any).
The story received extensive attention and commentary in the business and political world, and has been cited by many top executives from Warren Buffett to the CEO of Geico, who circulated it to his entire management team as an example of how not to run a company.
Follow-up (if any). Have you run a correction or clarification on the report or has anyone come forward to challenge its accuracy? If so, please explain.
No one has publicly questioned anything in this story, and we have not run any clarifications or corrections.
Advice to other journalists planning a similar story or project.
Approach a story from all directions. Be patient, understanding that the information you need may come on the third or fourth conversation. Speak to people at all levels of a company to better understand the corporate culture. Keep in mind the fact that internal politics and strife aren’t just a soap opera; they can divert people from a company’s important mission. In this case, a company whose stated goal was to help the sick became caught up in a web of internal power machinations.