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Thursday, March 28, 2024

Enron: The smartest guys in the room

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By Retchell Leongson-Morales

“What makes people yearn for more and what makes it difficult for them to stop? How can we better manage ourselves in order to benefit others? Why should we think about our actions and how this affects others?”

The root of all evil

These are just some of the questions that came to me while watching “Enron: The smartest guys in the room.” And so many more concerns about how these people can think only of benefiting themselves, becoming more rich and powerful without considering others. I am amazed at how their story never ended with just earning millions of dollars but billions!

The Bible speaks for itself and is very much true in this story. “For the love of money is a root of all sorts of evil, and some by longing for it have wandered away from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs.”

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The story centered on intelligence, arrogance, greed, manipulation and power. A perfect example on how money and power became the god that controlled the people involved. How they wanted to have more without even taking into consideration the effects of their actions and decisions to their stakeholders. They took actions that would merely benefit them, not the company, nor the clients. Their intelligence was used to fool those who believed that they would earn from what was presented favorable to them. 

The executives manipulated the data and showed what was attractive to investors/clients. It was all selfishness geared towards their richness and becoming more rich and powerful. Too much arrogance made them feel and think they would not be caught with what they were doing; it even seemed like they were not guilty of what had transpired.

Groupthink

Lay, Skilling, Fastow and all other executives got involved into a so-called groupthink, “a phenomenon developed in groups and marked by the consensus of opinion without critical reasoning or evaluation of consequences or alternatives. Groupthink evolves around a common desire to not upset the balance of a group of people by creating conflict, with creativity and individuality considered potentially harmful traits that should be avoided.”

Groupthink fails to see potential problems because it focuses on satisfying the group and the present situation. It does not give the opportunity for actions to be scrutinized and thought of thoroughly mainly because individual critical thinking is not encouraged. There is the lack of taking and owning responsibility for one’s actions and decisions.   

Sadly, most traditional business schools solely focus on profit and fail to look into the responsibility of all stakeholders. It is more on profit maximization, and quicker ROI type of thinking—all goals and purpose directed towards making money.  

Starts from within

It is very seldom that ethical development and considerations are taught and molded to the individual. This is where we too should remind executives or soon to be executives that they should look into the good of both internal and external stakeholders.   Being ethical starts within us and we do have the capability and power to influence others to do so. It is good to be reminded that we have to do business the right, ethical and the lawful way. At the onset that you are planning to hide and manipulate data, keep in mind that there is something wrong with what you intend to do.

As an individual, we should be able to carefully assess our decisions and actions. Is it right? Is it beneficial to others? How will others be affected with my actions and decisions? Will I hurt someone in doing so?

As a follower, we should consider what we are following and not just listen to what is being presented to us. We must take the time to study, research and analyze the facts that are presented to us. Is it the truth? Is it lawful? Is this the right thing to follow, to do?

As leaders, we should keep in mind that others are looking up to us. We are role models and that we are being followed. Our actions and decisions do not only affect others, but we also influence others. 

Lessons from the video

I have thought of the following ethical considerations based on the video/story presented:

·  Data manipulation. They played with figures and the truth. They did not show what the real values were and what was really happening with the company. Data and values were sugarcoated to depict favorable performance. They even had complex financial statements that were confusing to shareholders and analysts.

· Insider trading. Information and data should be given to all shareholders and clients/investors. If you have access to non-public information or there is something that you are keeping to yourselves and will benefit only those who know it, then this is illegal and unethical.

·  Justice, fairness and truth. The fact that they are manipulating data depicts that there is something wrong and unethical with what they are doing. But this did not stop them from doing so. They continued to hide company debts; they continued to show that they were performing well. They did not give their clients/investors what they should know. They misled these people for their own welfare.

Moving forward, let us learn from what happened in the story. 1.) Let us be vigilant people and understand that if there is something “too good to be true” that is happening, this is not the case. The favorable performance may be manipulated or sugarcoated. 2.) It is better to have products and services that you actually see and feel rather than good figures without any basis at all. 

3.) If we see that we want to hide something or manipulate processes and data, then we should not continue doing it. We must remain transparent and true to our clients/consumers. 4.) Profit is not everything, be lawful and ethical first, then profit will follow. If you focus on profit, karma will take its toll on you, like what happened to the executives of Enron. God gives justice to everyone at His own right time. 5.) We should be ethical individuals, followers and leaders who weigh our actions and decisions, who consider the effects of our deeds and who always consider the welfare of others.

The author is an MBA student at the Ramon V. del Rosario College of Business.  This essay is part of a journal she kept in fulfillment of the requirements of the course, Lasallian Business Leadership with Corporate Social Responsibility and Ethics.  Visit her blog at  http://pinkgolfer909.weebly.com/.

The views expressed here are the author’s and do not necessarily reflect the official position of DLSU, its faculty, and its administrators.

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