What I learned from reading the book “The Smartest Guys in The Room”

I have never heard, or I might have forgotten about the news of Enron Corporation until I chose to read the book written by Fortune Magazine Journalists: Bethany McLean and Peter Elkind. The book entitled: “The Smartest Guys in the Room: The Amazing Rise and Scandalous Fall of Enron” gave a really intriguing impression to me, and so I decided to read this book for my Entrepreneurship Class. The book and the story has proven to be an interesting book as it was about one of the biggest fraud scandal in the American Economy which have caused a lot of customers and investors to lose millions of money and thousands of employees to abruptly lose their jobs and all their savings and retirement funds. The book gave a great detail of the characters involving the Enron scandal. Backgrounds of this individuals and a description of their personalities and ambitions were conveyed to give the readers a good view of where these executives were coming from, and what motives they might have in relation to the actions and decisions they have made that led to the downfall of this “great company.” What also included in this literature was the way that the government and other outside entities were influenced by these men, and how they have been unable to stop the anomalies and irregularities that have been happening in the company. In this post, I would like to share the things I have learned in learning the about what happened inside and outside Enron, and my realizations of what is most important for a business to succeed and operate to for the better good of the general market.

First, I would like to focus on what led “The Smartest Guys in the Room” to make the most foolish decisions that ended the company and their lives to infamy and misery. As a quote from Pulilius Syrus states, “One man’s wickedness may easily become all men’s curse,” so it had happened to the executives and the whole company of Enron. When men tolerates and never tried to stop a bad behavior, but instead encouraged it for an immediate short-term success or profit of the business, this behavior and poor decisions would always lead to deeper problems that the company will face in the future. This has happened to Enron more than once, but sadly, its management never learned this important lesson and have continued supported irresponsible and dishonest behaviors and decisions of their people which led the company to be buried in deeper and deeper hole of problems and illegalities which neither saved the company nor its people. This same tolerance and blind sidedness had made it harder for the government authorities, and private entities responsible to account and investigate the company, to see what has been happening for years. Although there were a handful of people who have seen the cracks in the company’s walls and would have investigated further to fully know Enron’s dire situation, the power and great number of men who chose to turn their eyes on a different direction and have had their mouths sealed by the payments of great amounts of money has all diminished the power of those who would have spoken out. I have learned that when we chose to let the satisfaction of self-interest, instant fame, and wealth affect our decision and stops us from honestly doing what is right and blurs our sight to the great effects of these anomalies, the majority of, if not all, the people will suffer.

I have also learned the importance of choosing the right people on our team. We need team members who are aware of the company's vision, mission, goals, and the values the organization adheres to. We need men and women of integrity in our team, those who we can trust would make decisions and perform actions for the general good of the company, and not just for the benefit of themselves or of a few people in the team. This characteristics should first and foremost be embodied by the leader, for what example should the team members follow, but that of their leader. Unfortunately, Enron's leaders were men who decided to abandon integrity, and disguised with external reputation their lack of integrity towards their decisions for the company. The executives wanted nothing but good name and a possession of millions of money for themselves. Because of this wrong perception of success and selfish fulfilments, these smart and learned leaders ended up commuting more and more mistakes and fraudulent acts that have affected more people that they had imagined. This leaders, who not only had influenced in their company, but have also been influential to their customers, investors, and the government, had led the people to believe in fake facts and have influenced them to make poor decisions, which ultimately resulted to these people's destitution. I have learned that it is important to learn all we can learn about a person before we trust them, and even then we should trust our own judgment and the values and standard we stand on to help us asses and see clearly if a person's act or decision is undoubtedly for our own good and for the good of the general public.

I did not wish to judge and defame any individual, and so I decided to not give any names of the characters in this story, except that of the two writers who have showed their courage and responsibility to share the truth of what really happened and unfold the secret fraudulent acts that have long been implemented and tolerated, that made this insightful and lesson filled book available to us. What I wanted to share is my belief that this same fate may happen to anyone if we do not carefully evaluate our own desires, choose the right team we work and we surround ourselves with, keep our vision, goals, values, integrity, and honor in check, and consciously chose to act and decide for the greater good instead of selfish reasons. I am wrote this article to remind myself, and everyone who may read this, of the great price we might pay if we leave these important aspect of our lives and our business uncheck.

sources: https://en.m.wikisource.org/wiki/The_Moral_Sayings_of_Publius_Syrus,_A_Roman_Slave

Bethany McLean and Peter Elkind; The Smartest Guys in the Room: The Amazing Rise and Scandalous Fall of Enron, Portfolio Trade, October 13, 2003