Scam or get scammed. While I completely agree that it’s important we all have the humility to admit when we are wrong, I don’t think it has much to do with being smart.
I just finished reading a history of Enron’s downfall, The Smartest Guys in the Room, which hereby wins my award for “Least Appropriate Book Title.”
I hope I’ve understood you correctly here, but you seem to be suggesting they aren’t smart because smart people admit to being wrong, and the Enron execs more or less never did admit their ‘mistakes’. So the title is “least appropriate” beacuse it characterizes them as “smart”.
First, I don’t believe that being smart has anything to do with admitting when one is wrong. Happy to offer some examples.
Next, the author is saying they were smart because they managed to build an empire based on smoke and mirrors without anyone being able to catch them in their lies for such a long time. If the traders who were out there finding investors and closing deals had been more intelligent someone would’ve blown the whistle and put a stop to it all. If the regulators and business partners had figured out when deals fell apart for reasons other than market unpredictability they would’ve surely gone after Enron on day 1. Instead, they made hundreds of millions before anyone caught on. This was what made them “smart”—these guys made the entire financial sector look like dummies.
I think the title of the book was supposed to be ironic: they thought of themselves as the “smartest guys in the room” but their carefully constructed house of cards eventually collapsed.
Along the same lines as my above thinking, I definitely do not think the title is meant to be ironic. They are, however, dirtbags and con-men. But the Enron saga isn’t something that any average Joe could pull off: make hundreds of millions in personal wealth, scam the financial giants and even earn their respect. We have government agencies who have the single mission to prevent stuff like this (FTC, SEC,...). Definitely requires a bit of intellect and ability to stay two steps ahead of everyone else.
Scam or get scammed. While I completely agree that it’s important we all have the humility to admit when we are wrong, I don’t think it has much to do with being smart.
I hope I’ve understood you correctly here, but you seem to be suggesting they aren’t smart because smart people admit to being wrong, and the Enron execs more or less never did admit their ‘mistakes’. So the title is “least appropriate” beacuse it characterizes them as “smart”.
First, I don’t believe that being smart has anything to do with admitting when one is wrong. Happy to offer some examples.
Next, the author is saying they were smart because they managed to build an empire based on smoke and mirrors without anyone being able to catch them in their lies for such a long time. If the traders who were out there finding investors and closing deals had been more intelligent someone would’ve blown the whistle and put a stop to it all. If the regulators and business partners had figured out when deals fell apart for reasons other than market unpredictability they would’ve surely gone after Enron on day 1. Instead, they made hundreds of millions before anyone caught on. This was what made them “smart”—these guys made the entire financial sector look like dummies.
A commenter below, @Doug_S., said:
Along the same lines as my above thinking, I definitely do not think the title is meant to be ironic. They are, however, dirtbags and con-men. But the Enron saga isn’t something that any average Joe could pull off: make hundreds of millions in personal wealth, scam the financial giants and even earn their respect. We have government agencies who have the single mission to prevent stuff like this (FTC, SEC,...). Definitely requires a bit of intellect and ability to stay two steps ahead of everyone else.