sympathy for the devil

Another aspect of the Enron story lies with Lay and Skilling. Both were visionaries. Men that dreamed big dreams. Dreams, that ultimately, were too big for them to control.

Men with those dreams and those visions can all too often get lost in the relation of the thought to its execution. Details become meddlesome intrusions into the fantastic voyage of big ideas.

These guys envisioned and tried to implement movies on demand with Blockbuster. They created EnronOnline, considered to be the first successful online business. It is hard to not admire them for their visionary 'bulls eyes'.

I think that might have been their downfall. Without a grounding element, they became intoxicated with their own importance. I really admire the two for their daring dreams and I find them larger than life fascinating characters. With a little more failure earlier in their careers, they may have ultimated succeeded. And in the case of Skilling, who knows what else remains of his story...until then, however, perhaps even in spite of what else he may accomplish, I think both will forever be remembered as greedy thieves.