In the late 1990s, I was fascinated by Enron and its business philosphy. Its ideas were fresh and according to it and everyone else, it attracted the best of the best. As for me, I was just a plebian trying to get interviews with the top thinkers there. I couldn't get past the media rep, though. I couldn't figure out if their office was so busy handling similar requests or whether she was just plain arrogant and I didn't measure up. Enron may have been "important," but -- eventually -- in my eyes it was just some faceless company that had no humility.

What's that ole saying? You better be kind to people on the way up because you are going to see them on the way down. I take no pleasure in watching anyone's downfall, much less the fall of an entire company and all the implications that come with that. But, it really didn't surprise to me to learn that its success had really been a facade and that the company name eventually became synonymous with corruption.

I'd like say that I think that the whole episode revolutionized the way America conducts business. While I think it is having an affect at the moment, I also believe it is human nature to get caught up in the herd mentality and for reasonable folks to lose their collective heads in the heat of the moment. Enron defined its times -- the sky is the limits and the heck with corporate codes of conduct. But, some other entity at some other point in the future will do the same.