Recent news coverage showed Ken Lay, the former CEO of Enron, being led away in handcuffs. Finally - years after Enron's collapse - Lay faces charges for what happened when he was at the helm. As is so often the case in such circumstances, the CEO pleads innocence: he knew nothing about what his underlings were doing. Bosses like Lay always seem to feel fully responsible for their companies' successes - how else could they justify their exorbitant compensation? But the blame for failure - whether commercial or criminal - always seems to lie elsewhere.
Recent news coverage showed Ken Lay, the former CEO of Enron, being led away in handcuffs. Finally - years after Enron's collapse - Lay faces charges for what happened when he was at the helm. As is so often the case in such circumstances, the CEO pleads innocence: he knew nothing about what his underlings were doing. Bosses like Lay always seem to feel fully responsible for their companies' successes - how else could they justify their exorbitant compensation? But the blame for failure - whether commercial or criminal - always seems to lie elsewhere.