Thursday, October 22, 2009

You Shoulda Seen The Ice Sculptures

It seems so long ago back in the tech/dotcom boom. One of my favorite stories was told by my business partner at the time. Back in 2000, his wife worked for Enron. The night prior, he attended the Enron Christmas party in Houston. His memorable quote the next morning was, "you shoulda seen the ice sculptures!". He stated that the room was filled with mega ice sculptures. Melting ice might have been symbolic of what was to come.

Our company had two projects with Enron subsidiaries and it was interesting to watch the rapid ascent and subsequent collapse. It's always fascinating to see how a corporate culture adopts the attitude and personality of the leadership team. Enron was a very arrogant company even before they became famous for it. Drinking your own "Kool Aid" can be toxic. They were Houston's darling and even put their name on our new baseball stadium. All appeared to be well until their ultimate collapse.
Many other ice sculptures eventually melted too...Tyco, Worldcom. Why does collapse always seem to surprise us?

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