Revisiting Enron With Malcolm Gladwell

Not too many people impress me but if I had to choose a person to sit down and have dinner with it would be Malcolm Gladwell.

His article titled "Open Secrets" goes back to the Enron fiasco and quite frankly it's overall message was something I try to convey, not just with Enron, on this blog - albeit clumsily.

The prosecutors didn’t attain justice. Ironically, their achievement is the legal equivalent of what Enron did in accounting. Just as Enron assumed the value of future profits that proved fleeting, prosecutors think they got justice when in fact it eluded them.

By extension, methinks that once the hysteria around Bush subsides we’ll be able to assess his Presidency with a more sober touch.

I could go on and on but I'll let the article speak for itself.

I would just add a sports analogy. We often blame one player or coach for the ills and failures of a particular team. In reality, the problems which ail sports franchises are often more complex and run deeper. It's just that it's way too easy to blame the last person in front of you. The same with politicians. Conversely, it works the other way too. When it's time for promotion, it's not always the best person who gets the spoils.

Interestingly, his discussion about how the allied intelligence community spied on the Nazi's reminds me of a great book called "The Code Book" by Simon Singh.

It's a long article but definitely enlightening and worth the read.