In the documentary, Enron: The Smartest People in the Room, through a series of interviews and footage, a story is told of a business that had developed through the practice of complete dishonesty and fraud. In the first few minutes of the film, a woman discloses that the outcomes of Enron, was not a business tragedy, but rather that of human tragedy. Through the manipulation of employee earnings, the destroying of company records, gambling, and the encouraging of gambling, the company lived in the moment, so to speak, rather than having any concern about what their fraudulent activities could result in. A company, once praised as the new model for business, would eventually come to a disastrous end.
The film takes a close concentration on Enron’s president Kenneth Ley, who seemed to ignore all the warning signs of the corrupted company. It appeared, that Ley, along with the executives of Enron, believed that the company would never get caught. Bethany Mclean, one of the writers of the documentary who interviewed Ley when the practices Enron were under suspicion, discussed that the company continued to make terrible business decisions – investing billions of dollars in India, for example – while still paying their executives tremendous sums of money. The documentary seems to bring attention to the danger of power and money, as the company seemed to place its concern on profit instead of healthy and profitable business methods. In the last minutes of the film, we learn of the tremendous impact of Enron’s bankruptcy on employees further down the line. While executives were still able to obtain a substantial profits, the “normal guy” was left with nothing. The story of Enron is most definitely a warning to those companies who have become obsessed with power and ignore the value of honest business practice.
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