Enron: Shaping the Future of Ethics in Business
Enron: Shaping The Future of Ethics In Business
“Give me the story– please, the story. If I can finally understand the case in simple terms, I can, in turn, tell the same story to the jury and make them understand it as well. I go about my life confused most of the time, but when I get something clear I usually can communicate it. Getting it clear is not the work of huge minds, which often are baffled by themselves, but the labor of ordinary minds that understand simplest of stories… most of all, lawyers must be storytellers. That is what the art of advocacy comes down to — the telling of the true story of one’s case”(McLean 412).
This was the opening statement of the 2006 trial of Enron provided by Gerry Spence who was on the defense side fighting for Jeff Skilling and Ken Lay (409). The two businessmen have finally been caught after years of fraudulent actions within one of the largest energy companies, Enron. After years of the investigation by the SEC the trial is now taking place in the year of 2006, which is roughly 4 years after the bankruptcy of Enron (406). By looking at the Enron scandal and how Kenneth Lay and Jeff Skilling maintained investors while secretly going bankrupt it is apparent that unethical business practices occur frequently in America due to Corporate greed, which is problematic because people have lost so much from investing in unethical corporations, and therefore people need to be more readily informed about their invested companies so that their finances are protected.
When the year of 1985 came around the economy stopped and stared at the new incoming energy company founded by the wise and powerful Kenneth Lay. Kenneth Lay born in April of 1942 was forty three at the time of the creation of what would be known as the most interesting business ever to hit the stock market (126). At age 43 Lay had a great deal of previous work history after graduating from the University of Houston in 1970 with a Ph.D. in economics (126). Lays
“Give me the story– please, the story. If I can finally understand the case in simple terms, I can, in turn, tell the same story to the jury and make them understand it as well. I go about my life confused most of the time, but when I get something clear I usually can communicate it. Getting it clear is not the work of huge minds, which often are baffled by themselves, but the labor of ordinary minds that understand simplest of stories… most of all, lawyers must be storytellers. That is what the art of advocacy comes down to — the telling of the true story of one’s case”(McLean 412).
This was the opening statement of the 2006 trial of Enron provided by Gerry Spence who was on the defense side fighting for Jeff Skilling and Ken Lay (409). The two businessmen have finally been caught after years of fraudulent actions within one of the largest energy companies, Enron. After years of the investigation by the SEC the trial is now taking place in the year of 2006, which is roughly 4 years after the bankruptcy of Enron (406). By looking at the Enron scandal and how Kenneth Lay and Jeff Skilling maintained investors while secretly going bankrupt it is apparent that unethical business practices occur frequently in America due to Corporate greed, which is problematic because people have lost so much from investing in unethical corporations, and therefore people need to be more readily informed about their invested companies so that their finances are protected.
When the year of 1985 came around the economy stopped and stared at the new incoming energy company founded by the wise and powerful Kenneth Lay. Kenneth Lay born in April of 1942 was forty three at the time of the creation of what would be known as the most interesting business ever to hit the stock market (126). At age 43 Lay had a great deal of previous work history after graduating from the University of Houston in 1970 with a Ph.D. in economics (126). Lays
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