The New Yorker has published a fascinating article by Malcolm Gladwell (author of The Tipping Point) about the fall of Enron.
In typical fashion, Gladwell uses the particulars of the Enron collapse to make a point about how we should think about financial disclosure in today’s information-rich business environment.
Gladwell’s discussion of the particulars is especially worth reading and considering. More than a few pundits have vilified top executives for their alleged roles in the “fraud” of Enron, but many of those pundits tend to have trouble describing the particulars of the crimes committed (or just ignore those details altogether in favor of purely emotional appeals). Gladwell has done a real service for thoughtful people who want to delve more deeply into the crimes committed by the Enron principals (or crimes not committed, as some would contend).
