TIME: Would any of you go back and change anything you did?
WATKINS: I wouldn't not do it. [But] what I really failed to grasp was the seriousness of the emperor-has-no-clothes phenomenon. I thought leaders were made in moments of crisis, and I naively thought that I would be handing [Enron chairman] Ken Lay his leadership moment. I honestly thought people would step up. But I said he was naked, and when he turned to the ministers around him, they said they were sure he was clothed.

TIME: What would you have done if you had known?
WATKINS: I would have gone to the board.

TIME: Would it have made a difference?
WATKINS: There's a slim chance Enron might not have imploded. It's hard to say. People are much more forgiving than we think. The scary thing is the amount of resistance we met. People I thought were my friends and I thought would support me backed away. They said, "Sherron, you're on your own on this."
COOPER: [Nods in agreement] It's a lonely road.
ROWLEY: I am not a good speaker. If you look at the Senate testimony, I think I set a record for uhs. Sometimes I couldn't even work out what I was trying to say. But I have no regrets on taking action.
WATKINS: [Addressing Rowley] This is the safety of the nation. It needed to be out.
ROWLEY: I don't think everything is really rosy and peachy now, and I don't see any concrete changes that are directly attributable to my actions. But it doesn't mean you can stop trying. And if I end up flipping burgers, come buy some.

TIME: What price have you paid for these actions?
COOPER: I certainly knew it was possible that I would lose my job. I told my husband that I am going to report to the [WorldCom board's] audit committee what I need to report. I even cleared some things out of my office. But the fear of losing my job was very secondary to the obligation I felt.
WATKINS: I was really shocked when I saw a detailed memo about the pluses and minuses of discharging me. You think, I am doing this for the good of the company. I have got the best interests in mind. You think the company should be on your side.

TIME: Have any of you been thanked?
[All three women dissolve into laughter.]

TIME: O.K., what was your lowest moment?
ROWLEY: There's no doubt that the lowest moment was 9/11. The towers hadn't fallen yet, and we were trying to finally get permission from headquarters to seek a search warrant [to get into the computer of Zacarias Moussaoui, who was indicted last December as a Sept. 11 co-conspirator]. This agent [said to me], "This is going to be just like the inquiry at Pearl Harbor. We are going to have to tell the truth."

TIME: All of you shy away from discussing the fact that you're all women, but it's something other people notice. Why do you think there's no connection?
COOPER: I think it could have just as easily been a man. We are all people who are looking to stand up and give our best. I have always been honest and forthright, and it doesn't matter who it is I'm talking to.
WATKINS: I do think there's something to being a woman. There's a little bit of a boys' club, whether it's the golf or the sports talk. I am really uncomfortable with making general statements. But men are more reluctant to put their friends in jeopardy. I don't necessarily want friendships in the workplace. I think most men have no friendships outside the workplace. [Also] society doesn't ask women what you do for a living. Your ego or self-worth isn't [as] tied to what you do.

TIME: Did you love your jobs?
ROWLEY: The idea of this law-enforcement group that is able to solve a crime, get the bad guy and ideally even prevent the crime from occurring? Honestly, I would not want to do anything else. All agents join the FBI with that in mind. We are the good guys. The sad thing is, at some point you see the warping of it, the overlegalization of it, the gaming of the criminal-justice system.
WATKINS: It's also the gaming of corporate America. Enron was a love-hate thing. The opportunities I was afforded and the deals I got to do and the places I got to see—on that end, it was just stupendous. Then there are the times when you say, Why can't we do it right? Why do we have to be pushing the accounting envelope?
COOPER: I love my job. I have always loved it. There was an entrepreneurial spirit; it was an exciting place to be.

TIME: Are there any specific things you've done to help cope with the stress?
WATKINS: I think the ultimate distraction is a darling 3-year-old. You come home, and you almost have to put that away because they're wanting books read, games played.
COOPER: Just to get home and hug my girls and my husband. We have strong support systems at home with our families.
WATKINS: When Congress leaked my memos and it was all over the news, we would be watching, and Marion [her 3-year-old daughter] was getting so bored with it. My husband said we wanted to watch the news, and she piped up, "Well, how about some Elmo news?"

TIME: Were you aware of one another, reading about one another?
ROWLEY: I'm not usually focused on business, but when their news broke, I read that and saw some encouragement. The same reason I wrote the letter was the reason for WorldCom and Enron. I thought, Oh, gosh, there's someone doing the right thing.
WATKINS: I think it's uncanny what similar stories we have.
ROWLEY: [Addressing Watkins] Whenever you talk, I think, Oh, my gosh, great. She's saying what I think. [Rowley stands up and pounds her fist into her palm as she says this.]
WATKINS: It's disheartening to see that the FBI has as many problems as corporate America. In this country, we have a vacuum in leadership. We value the wrong people. Warren Buffett is boring, and he doesn't give too many interviews, but he didn't invest in tech stocks because he didn't understand how they made money. He was right. But we value splashy leaders.
COOPER: People who move to the top are typically racehorses, not workhorses. And they're very charismatic.
WATKINS: And the dark side of charisma is narcissism.

TIME: Let's talk about the word whistle-blower. Why don't any of you like it?
ROWLEY: I hate the term whistle-blower.
COOPER: In elementary school, kids are called tattletales. It has a negative connotation.

TIME: What was the reaction to you in the workplace and on the street?
ROWLEY: Even in my [Minneapolis field] office, with quite a bit of support, still a lot of people are looking at me like, What the heck?
COOPER: You're going to have people who are supportive, and you're going to have people who take shots. All that is part of it.
WATKINS: In January and February there were hundreds of e-mails, voice-mails, letters from the Enron rank-and-file employees. There was a sense of overwhelming relief because they had thought the top executives would get away with it. People were high-fiving; they were pumped. Now no one recognizes me.
ROWLEY: In Minnesota, people get over these things really fast. It's over. This fame thing is greatly overrated.

1 | 2

Get the Magazine — Try 4 Issues Free!

Disconnected: Deceit and Betrayal at WorldCom By Lynne W. Jeter Price: $19.96

	PHOTO ESSAY People Who Mattered in 2002 A general, a bishop, a bride and a groom: just a few of the other men and women who made news this year NOTEBOOK In Memoriam From a baseball legend to the madame of manners, TIME pays tribute to those who died this year ENTERTAINMENT Best & Worst 2002 TIME picks the best and worst movies, books, music and more BUSINESS 2002 Global Influentials TIME profiles 15 up-and-coming business executives around the globe