| Smartest Guys in the Room was an excellent book about what happened at Enron. The management team is so well described, you feel like the authors must personally know them. I feel like if I ran into them, I would know what they were like, what motivated them and how they would respond to people. The authors did an excellent job of explaining how things got so bad while still leaving you with the sense of shock that a company could get so bad. |
For example, they explain logically how the reward and accounting structure was created, yet they still leave you with the full impact of how illogical it was. Enron booked all the profit from a deal the day the deal was made. Before they had actually made any money! And bonuses were paid according to the deals you made, not to the deals that came through. Nobody was rewarded for actually fullfilling a contract!
A shocking book that gives real insight into the major players at Enron.