A Tainted Legacy
Irony of the fall of the company Arthur Andersen is that there is a true story of the founder, Arthur Anderson in the early part of the 20th Century being told by a client to sign off on fraudulent accounts for a company that was a high status client of his, or else lose their patronage. Andersen replied “not for all the money in America”. Andersen stressed the importance of honesty, refusing to move one inch from his personal and professional morals.
If only the people who took over had carried on Andersen’s legacy. Sadly greed encompassed it and we ended up with people not only okay with cooking the books, but embracing it.
Right now, things bad, not devastating, but bad. I wonder, would things have gotten so bad if people actually acknowledged their short comings and in the spirit of poor Arthur-whose name is now tainted and synonymous with Enron and SCANDAL-followed his enforced rule of honesty and improved the reality instead of creating the false one.
If only the people who took over had carried on Andersen’s legacy. Sadly greed encompassed it and we ended up with people not only okay with cooking the books, but embracing it.
Right now, things bad, not devastating, but bad. I wonder, would things have gotten so bad if people actually acknowledged their short comings and in the spirit of poor Arthur-whose name is now tainted and synonymous with Enron and SCANDAL-followed his enforced rule of honesty and improved the reality instead of creating the false one.