The Smartest Guys in the Room is a thoroughly researched account of the rise and fall of Enron, one of the largest business failures in the history of corporate America. McLean and Elkind provide an incredibly detailed history of the company from its early beginnings to the eventual collapse and resulting horrendous impact on employees, pension plan participants and the vast array of stockholders who lost billions of dollars. While the book clearly describes the complex financial structures and lack of managerial competence, it could be somewhat confusing to a reader with limited knowledge of accounting and finance principles. The real meat of the book, the story that really compels you to keep reading, is the focus on the main characters involved in this saga - Lay, Skilling, Pai, Rice, Mark, the numerous finance and accounting staff who played key roles, the company's board of directors, and last but not least, Andy Fastow, the Chief Financial Officer of the company. The book presents most of the individuals in a fairly balanced light (i.e., they all played roles in running the company into the ground), however the authors really cast Fastow as the arch villain. This is probably the case, given the amount of personal financial gain he manufactured through his financial and accounting strategies, however, it is clear that many people smelled the rotting fish, but did nothing about it because they too also achieved spectacular wealth. No one wanted to shut down the gravy train. The rampant greed, coupled with the loose to non-existent ethical barometer that permeated the company, made the company's demise seem inevitable. A well-written book in the vein of Barbarians at the Gate and Den of Thieves.Get more detail about The Smartest Guys in the Room: The Amazing Rise and Scandalous Fall of Enron.
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