Ask Why… there are so many greedy people in the world
Are you following the trial of Ken Lay and Jefferey Skilling in the news? I am fascinated by it, having recently watched an excellent documentary Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room
The most admirable character in the story is Sherron Watkins, the whistle-blowing Enron VP who had the guts to challenge her bosses and say that something was deeply wrong with the books. Everyone else is SO greedy and smug that it makes your skin crawl: from Enron execs to bankers, investors, analysts, accounting firms, lawyers, and politicians who went along with schemes that they knew were wrong. The most poignant people in the film are those mid-level workers who had a small inklings that things were not right, but never applied the now-ironic corporate slogan “Ask Why.” They quietly went along with things and in the end, were victims in the collapse. It’s a modern day morality tale, except a lot of people seem to be getting off without punishment! We’ll see if Lay and Skilling are so lucky (I don’t think so).
This post doesn’t have much of a link to nonprofit issues except:
- Yay for the gutsy whistle-blowers of the world — individuals and organizations
- I’m grateful to work this sector, surrounded by so many admirable people
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