I bought this book as a study in business and malfeasance, and I was surprised to find it to be, in reality, a psychology study.
The book chronicles, through the Enron debacle, a picture of the modern world in microcosm, both in business and elsewhere. Selective perception, consensual reality, confirmation bias, status-driven egotism, a total disregard for actual reality in favor of wishful thinking and the unreal -- these were the linchpins of Enron's illusion-driven mentality, shared by so many today, and I have read no better showcase of it than this book.
Amongst the many lessons offered to us by the Enron folk, the most important is that of illusions: perceptual illusions, corporate illusions, social illusions. The company didn't just present an illusion of its earnings and health, but illusions about its deepest nature, where make-believe appearances ruled all, even to the people perpetuating them. Even if half the quotes and accounts in the book are untrue or out of context, the rest make it perfectly clear: Enron was out of touch actual reality, from the bottom to the top, along with the rest of the illusion-factory which orbits Wall Street. When those indicted claimed "they didn't know," I believe they were probably telling the truth, because they'd fooled themselves as much as the investment community. Such is the reality of compartmentalized thinking and seeing things as one wants to see them.
Enron's conclusion also provides an apt anecdote: that illusions, whether personal, corporate, national, or global, will always yield to actual reality in time. No matter how widespread the agreement, or how unanimous the praise, or how loud you shout, or how hard you turn the screws -- actual reality will always shine through, bringing with it the consequences of such a make-believe mentality.
In all, this book illuminates two of the great problems currently gripping modern-day society. First, a general confusion of "right" and "wrong" for "legal" and "illegal," respectively, so that the actual reality of a deed is not measured by its principles or consequences, but by legality alone. Second, the book illustrates the widespread acceptance of appearances and the conscious ignorance of actual reality, where everything is taken at face value and books are judged wholly by their covers, so long as that judgment is agreed upon by enough authority figures that its illusion remains intact. Enron is symptomatic of a society which believes its own press releases (releases which, perhaps, insist that we don't believe our own press releases).
Really, the folks at Enron provided a great service to the world, by depicting wishful thinking and its consequences in living terms. We can all learn from their example, and this book is a comprehensive way to do so. Thank you, to both the Enron folks and the book's authors, for your collective lessons.
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James
Excellent, detailed account of the Enron scandal
Reviewed in Australia on December 25, 2021