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Smartest Guys in the Room: The Amazing Rise and Scandalous Fall of Enron (平装)
by Bethany McLean, Peter Elkind
| Category:
Corporate history, Corporate scandal, Corporate failure |
| Market price: ¥ 178.00
MSL price:
¥ 148.00
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| Stock:
In Stock |
MSL rating:
 Good for Gifts |
| MSL Pointer Review:
The best on Enron, this is a well researched and well written narrative of corporate greed and hubris that rocked the Wall Street. |
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AllReviews |
1 Total 1 pages 8 items |
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While there was a great amount of greed that contributed to Enron's downward spiral (illegal investment vehicles, ridiculous executive salaries and corporate perk largesse), what makes this different from the cornball "big bad greedy company causes its own downfall" tagline, though, is the book's thesis that business machismo caused Enron's collapse. Note the Enron culture of landing big deals, particularly in new industries and tertiary markets where Enron could be viewed as a trailblazer. Enron loved landing front-page news of its deals; what it failed to do was to see them through and ensure they financially contributed to the company's well-being. As well, during the Jeff Skilling era, there was a constant and unhealthy fixation with Enron's stock price. Enron's corporate performance was directly pegged to the stock price; Enron executives begged, borrowed, and stole to ensure rosy financial statements and a love-in with Wall Street bankers and analysts. Never mind that Enron was bogged down with loser, capital-draining businesses (Broadband, Enron International) that were causing liquidity problems even years before Enron declared bankruptcy. As long as Enron was making deals and the stock price was high, everything was sunny.
Of course, this perversion of corporate values was partly attributable to Enron's leaders; particularly the now-deceased Ken Lay and Jeff Skilling. Not only did they turn a blind eye to and even encourage many unethical, and borderline illegal, schemes, their continual denial of responsibility for anything that went wrong and bland assurances to anyone that would listen that everything was going great while the Enron ship was sinking rendered them irrelevant and fostered an `inmates running the institution' mentality.
As gripping as Enron's collapse really was, I would have liked more of a discussion as to what it was that caused Enron to be so accomplished and respected. Enron's successes seem to be taken for granted; it would have been nice to have more context as to why it was that Enron exerted such power over the "Street." Additionally, the book largely ends with Enron's declaration of bankruptcy in late 2001. I would have been interested to read about the congressional hearings and criminal/civil trials implicating the various execs discussed in the book that followed; perhaps this could be inserted in a future edition?
In the end, this is a case study that indicts not only the morally bankrupt Enron executives but also the starry-eyed bankers and accountants that largely enabled Enron's deceptions. This age old "Emperor has no clothes" narrative is immensely entertaining, even to those with little understanding of business. |
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James Cramer (CNBC) (MSL quote), USA
<2007-02-28 00:00>
This book is right up there with Den of Thieves and Barbarians at the Gate... Those who want to learn what happened here, you don’t have to read anything but this.
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Wendy Zellner (BusinessWeek) (MSL quote), USA
<2007-02-28 00:00>
The best book about the Enron debacle to date... Based on hundreds of interviews and fresh details, McLean and Elkind masterfully weave together the many strands of the Enron story. They shine in their characterizations of Enron’s often incompetent executives.
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Edward Iwata (USA Today), USA
<2007-02-28 00:00>
News junkies and mystery lovers who enjoy financial scandals will devour this multilayered book... The Smartest Guys in the Room will rival other models of the genre, including James Stewart’s Den of Thieves... The authors write with power and finesse. Their prose is effortless, like a sprinter floating down the track... The character sketches of former chairman Kenneth Lay, former CEO Jeff Skilling and ex-chief financial officer Andrew Fastow are masterful.
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Jonathan A. Knee (The New York Times Book Review), USA
<2007-02-28 00:00>
Powerful and shocking... succeed[s] in opening a disturbing window into both the company and the era... filled with fascinating characters and anecdotes.
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David Siegfried (Booklist) (MSL quote), USA
<2007-02-28 00:00>
More than any other company, Enron has become synonymous with the outrageous levels of corporate greed and hubris that lie at the root of our economic woes. But the web of accounting procedures, puffed up-revenue, and complex derivatives trading was not a deliberate scheme to defraud investors; it happened through a pattern of activity that resulted from the obsession of keeping the stock price rising at any cost. This is the most thorough examination of Enron to date, based on hundreds of interviews and the examination of thousands of documents over a year and a half by two Fortune magazine reporters. Ultimately, this is a story about the personal shortcomings of the individual players, epitomized by Jeffery Skilling, the man who would rise briefly to CEO and then resign during the chaotic months before Enron's collapse. With a brilliant intelligence matched by an enormous ego, he could never admit, even to himself, that something was terribly wrong with the company he helped create. The Enron death spiral took on a life of its own, with many of the worst sins committed by employees who believed they were simply doing what they were told. Laying extensive groundwork, the authors ably convey the multidimensional nature of this story.
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David Tobias (MSL quote), USA
<2007-02-28 00:00>
As a novice reader, I have not fully developed a litmus test for deeming a book as good, bad, or great. Nor do I feel I have the right to criticize any author, writing style or subject. So unless I feel I'm the expert on the matter, which will most undoubtedly be never, I'll simply feel my way through this with the hopes that it will help.
The Smartest Guys in the Room grabbed me from the beginning, but mildly lingered after the first few chapters. I suppose it was necessary to take the time to break out all of the components and players that made up the Enron house of cards. But I kept hoping to get to the juicy details of their demise and didn't get any sort of payoff until the end... some 300 pages later.
The book challenged me on several levels. I found it uncomfortably easy to relate to the executives and their unforgiving lust for money. It was fun to pretend that I was in their shoes and could reap the monetary rewards that they were able to "create." Even more captivating was the level of greed that they were able to obtain... I guess money will do that.
This book will force you to contemplate your personal limits as you imagine yourself as an executive at Enron. In hind-sight, it's easy to follow the slippery slope... but had I been there, living the extravagance, at what point would I have thrown the yellow flag? At times, I even felt bad for a few of those guys. For the most part, they actually believe that what they did was legit!
But by the end, I wanted them to get hammered for what they'd pulled. I feel like there are many layers to uncover in this scandal and I wanted the book to detail their lavish spending and continue through the legal battles. I want to watch their arrogance and greed get shoved down their own throats as the world receives its justice. That part, which is probably the most interesting to me, wasn't included.
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Thomas Hayden (MSL quote), USA
<2007-02-28 00:00>
I picked up this book the day that Ken Lay died, since it spurred my curiousity regarding Enron and what exactly it was thta Ken Lay (and Jeff Skinning and Andy Fastow) did. This book answered all my questions and kept me engrossed the entire time. Coincidentially, I happened to be reading this book at the same time I was studying greek tragedy at University. This expose is not only highly factual but also very well written and a fascinating read.
Elkind and McLean introduce the characters: Skilling, Fastow, Lay, Pai, Mark, and others. They explain their backgrounds, their social lives, their personality traits and their business acumen. The authors introduce the early days of Enron, before Fastow when the firm was essentially run by Rich Kinder and his crew. The amazing rise of Enron really is a fascinating story - one of confidence and one that leads to the hubris that would contribute to it's demise (much like a greek tragedy).
McLean and Elkind turn towards the business aspects of the firm - the accounting tricks, the factories they built, the pipelines they managed (and the broadband they didn't), and the trading floor they operated. The authors methodically break apart each aspect of the firm and how they all interacted and contributed to the fraud.
I expected the book to leave me angry at Lay and Skilling, but rather, at the end I felt pity for Lay and Skilling. Neither one of them was assertive enough to run a corporation of this size and both of them were obviously very dillusional and negligent. The authors didn't convey that Lay or Skilling were particularly evil but rather that they were just oblivious (and complicit). Fastow (and his crew) is a different story. The authors left me feeling his sentence wasn't strong enough.
I would highly recommend this book to anyone who wants to enter corporate America. This book warns of the consequences of being a "yes"-man and not being assertive (or becoming dillusional with extreme wealth). |
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