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The Smartest Guys in the Room: The Amazing Rise and Scandalous Fall of Enron [平装 |  |
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The Smartest Guys in the Room: The Amazing Rise and Scandalous Fall of Enron [平装 | |
Amazon.com
Like its subject, The Smartest Guys in the Room is ambitious, grand in scope, and ruthless in its dealings. Unlike Enron, the Texas-based energy giant that has come to represent the post-millennium collapse of 1990s go-go corporate culture, it's also ultimately successful. Penned by Fortune scribes Bethany McLean and Peter Elkind, the 400-page-plus chronicle of the scandal digs deep inside the numbers while, wisely, maintaining focus on the "smart guys" deep-frying the books. The likes of paternal but disengaged CEO Ken Lay (dubbed "Kenny Boy" by George W. Bush, one of many prominent public figures with whom he rubbed shoulders), cutthroat man-behind-the-curtain Jeff Skilling, and ethically blind numbers whiz Andy Fastow vividly come to life as they make a mockery of conventional accounting practices and grow increasingly arrogant and bind to their collective hubris. They're not a likable lot, and the writers find it difficult to suppress their astonishment and revulsion with the crew who rapidly went from golden boys and girls of the financial world to pariahs when the bill finally came due. The authors' unrepressed sarcasms are more than often unnecessarily given the scope of the outrage. Enron's leading lights were or a time celebrated for their ability to concoct nearly unfathomable business schemes to hide mounting shortfalls and keeping track on their machinations can be a chore, but, by sticking hard to the story behind the fall, McLean and Elkind have reported and written the definitive account of the Enron debacle. --Steven Stolder
From Publishers Weekly
Fortune reporter McLean's article in early 2001 questioning Enron's high valuation was cited by many as an early harbinger of the company's downfall, but she refrains from tooting her own horn, admitting that the article "barely scratched the surface" of what was wrong at America's seventh-largest corporation. The story of its plunge into bankruptcy (co-written with magazine colleague Elkind) barely touches upon the personal flamboyances highlighted in earlier Enron books, focusing instead on the shady finances and the corporate culture that made them possible. Former CEO Jeff Skilling gets much of the blame for hiring people who constantly played by their own rules, creating a "deeply dysfunctional workplace" where "financial deception became almost inevitable," but specific accountability for the underhanded transactions is passed on to others, primarily chief financial officer Andrew Fastow, whose financial conflicts of interest are recounted in exacting detail. (Skilling seems to have cooperated extensively with the authors, though clearly not to universal advantage.) A companywide sense of entitlement, particularly at the top executive levels, comes under close scrutiny, although the extravagant habits of those like Ken Lay, while blatant, are presented without fanfare. The real detail is saved for transactions like the deals that led to the California energy crisis and a 1986 scandal, mirroring the problems faced a decade later, that left the company "less than worthless" until a last-minute rescue. The book's sober financial analysis supplements that of Mimi Swartz's Power Failure, while offering additional perspectives that flesh out the details of the Enron story.
Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc.
From Booklist
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. David Siegfried
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved
The New York Times Book Review
Powerful and shocking.... Filled with fascinating characters and anecdotes.
USA Today
Masterful.... News junkies and mystery lovers who enjoy financial scandals will devour this multilayered book.
Entertainment Weekly
Compelling.... a cautionary tale about highfliers who werenít as clever as they thought.
...the most comprehensive picture yet of how the company went off the rails. The sheer accumulation of detail makes it possible for the first time to understand how Enron got away with its blend of hubris and incompetence for so long... This is more than a business story. It is also about what can happen to any institution when weak and complacent leadership allows itself to be swept along by strong vested interests and the mood of the times. Richartd Lambert, ex editor of Financial Times and member of the Bank of England's Monetary Policy Committee
Bethany McLean and Peter Elkind are Fortune senior writers. McLean's March 2001 article in Fortune, "Is Enron Overpriced?," was the first in a national publication to openly question the company's dealings. Elkind, an award-winning investigative reporter, has written for The New York Times Magazine and The Washington Post.
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