Clifford Baxter, an intelligent but manic-depressive executive, and Lou Pai, the CEO of Enron Energy Services, notorious for his nightly habit of visiting strip clubs. Skilling hires lieutenants who enforce his directives inside Enron, known as the "guys with spikes." They include J. This creates a highly competitive and brutal working environment. With the vision of transforming Enron from an energy supplier to an energy trader, Skilling imposes his version of a Darwinian worldview on Enron by establishing a review committee that grades employees and annually fires the bottom fifteen percent, a process nicknamed within the company as " rank and yank". This gives Enron the ability to subjectively give the appearance of being a profitable company, even when it was not. Lay hires Jeffrey Skilling, a visionary who joins Enron on the condition that they use mark-to-market accounting, allowing the company to record potential profits on certain projects immediately after contracts were signed, regardless of the actual profits that the deal would generate. Lay later denies having knowledge of any wrongdoing.
However, the traders are fired when it is revealed they gambled away Enron's reserves the company is narrowly saved from bankruptcy by the timely intervention of executive Mike Muckleroy, who managed to bluff the market long enough to recover Borget's trading losses and prevent a margin call.
Auditors uncover their schemes, but Lay encourages them to "keep making us millions". One of the traders, Louis Borget, is also discovered to be diverting company money to offshore accounts. In 1987, the company becomes embroiled in scandal after two traders begin betting on the oil markets, resulting in suspiciously consistent profits. The film begins with a profile of Kenneth Lay, who founded Enron in 1985. ( November 2021) ( Learn how and when to remove this template message) Please help improve it by removing unnecessary details and making it more concise. This article's plot summary may be too long or excessively detailed. It was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature at the 78th Academy Awards. The film won the awards for Best Documentary Feature at the 21st Independent Spirit Awards and Best Documentary Screenplay at the 58th Writers Guild of America Awards. Archival footage is used alongside new interviews with McLean and Elkind, several former Enron executives and employees, stock analysts, reporters, and former Governor of California Gray Davis. It examines the 2001 collapse of the Enron Corporation, which resulted in criminal trials for several of the company's top executives during the ensuing Enron scandal, and contains a section about the involvement of Enron traders in the 2000-01 California electricity crisis. Shelby Knox, teen crusader and subject of THE EDUCATION OF SHELBY KNOX.Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room is a 2005 American documentary film based on the best-selling 2003 book of the same name by Fortune reporters Bethany McLean and Peter Elkind, who are credited as writers of the film alongside the director, Alex Gibney. (June 24, 2005) # Judicial Review - Judicial independence and the culture wars. (July 1, 2005) # Land Grab - Eminent domain, the Supreme Court and private property. David Brancaccio talks with legendary artist and designer Milton Glaser. Prisoner treatment at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. (July 15, 2005) # Updates: The costs of the Medicare drug plan. Former EPA Administrator Christine Todd Whitman.
(July 22, 2005) # Formula for Disaster? Chemical plant and refinery security. (July 29, 2005) # Political Science - Are scientific reports being edited for political ends? Journalist Naeem Mohaiemen on the London aftermath. (August 5, 2005) # What the Matter with Kansas? The Kansas Attorney General's controversial reading of statutory rape laws and the battle over abortion.
The archives which have many, many more excellent shows can be found at A few of the titles well worth reading are below # Are you getting the truth from the media in America? Media reformer Robert McChesney. BRANCACCIO: Filmmaker Alex Gibney uncovers the greed of the people who made Enron possible. You know, how could we, you know, entertain that kind of suspension of disbelief? But that's what the Enron people were masterful at, was being able to - indulge people in that suspension of disbelief. But at the end of the day, it wasn't real. The analysts, the banks… the investors the accountants, the lawyers. ALEX GIBNEY: They created a wonderful myth that everybody wanted to believe in. BRANCACCIO: It's all part of a surprising documentary called ENRON: THE SMARTEST GUYS IN THE ROOM, about corporate fraud of shakespearean proportions. The transcript of an excellent show and an excellent read.