Who to blame for Enron?

I believe that Enron’s top executives, mainly Lay and Skilling, are mainly to blame for the Enron collapse. As intemperate leaders, Lay and Skilling were surely able to lead an effective and efficient company, but they lacked self- control and in turn followed a path down a slippery and slimy slope to disaster. They fostered a competitive environment that crushed any little creativity employees had and had them constantly worried about the permanence of their job. Not only were Enron’s top executives intemperate, they were also just plain toxic. Lay blatantly lied to employees, sending emails of false hope. He also conned his employees into keeping any and all stocks they held in the company all the while he sold millions of dollars worth of his stock. As employees of Enron, many were making a decent living. Many shut themselves off from the utter corruption they saw. Speaking out would surely cost them their jobs and possibly their child's college fund. Looking back, many would want to say they would have been the whistle blowers, they would have spoken out, but personally I don’t think I would have. Maybe if I did not have a family or anything to live for I would, but I do. It may be selfish, but I believe too much was at stake.

I also find that the auditing firm Arthur Anderson played a key and pivotal role in this collapse. Ordering all Enron related documents to be shredded after the scandal illustrates just how toxic this firm was in the grand scheme of events.