After reading Paul Kedrosky's weblog Infectious Greed article The Skilling Diet: Caterpillars and Grub Worms, I read the Wall Journal Online article In New Interview, Skilling Says He Hurt Case by Speaking Up (subscription required).
Skilling certainly had a terrific pedigree and promising career, one which most any professional could be proud of. In short, he had it all.A star student at the Harvard Business School, Mr. Skilling had a successful career at the consulting powerhouse of McKinsey & Co. before joining Enron in 1990. He helped turn a relatively staid natural-gas-pipeline company into an energy-trading giant while making the company as well as himself favorites of Wall Street. Even before becoming CEO in 2001, Mr. Skilling effectively ran Enron in the years when the jury found that he illegally hid the company's growing problems through financial maneuverings and by lying to the public.
To prepare for the rigors of the trial, Mr. Skilling said he wandered through the Utah wilderness for two weeks, hiking up to 30 miles a day, as part of a survival-training program. He slept on the ground, had no food for the first three days and then dined largely on whatever he could find, including insects. (He recommends caterpillars and grub worms, which "are basically pure fat.")
He believes that he can survive prison, if it comes to that. "A lot better people than I am have been in prison for a long time," said Mr. Skilling. "Give me something to work on, give me something to accomplish." Plus, he added with one more laugh, "At some point, people will ask what really happened [at Enron]. It would be good if they had someone there who could tell them."
What a sad dénouement for one who held so much promise.
Leave a comment