The Divine Right of Capital

Conclusion

Enron’s Legacy: An Opening for Change

CONSIDER THE CHAPTERS you have just completed a time capsule. The closing words of chapter 12 were the closing words of the hardback edition of this book, which was published in November 2001. That was just before the troubles at Enron blew in, the first gusts in what would become corporate ethics’ perfect storm, with turbulence patterns converging from Arthur Andersen, WorldCom, Global Crossing, Tyco, Dynegy, Adelphia, and the rest. The timing was uncanny, for with astonishing speed, what had arisen was the kind of historical moment foreseen in chapter 12. Change, I wrote there, “unfolds into reality through historical moments—through times when the public consciousness cracks open and new ideas ...