Why, if capitalism is so great, did the Enron scandal occur?
Some have suggested that it was a few bad apples in the corporation. The bad apples theory doesnt explain what really happened at Enron, and it doesnt explain the nature of corporate evil. Jeff Skilling, the CEO of Enron, set up what he thought was a Darwinian marketing environment. Skilling was a fan of Richard Dawkinss important book The Selfish Gene, which Skilling misread. He took it to mean that evolution is driven by cutthroat competition and self-centered egotism. He liked the notion of the survival of the fittest. Skilling set up a Peer Review Committee, which became known as rank and yank. Everybody was ranked on a scale of one to five, and 20 percent of all fives had to be fired. The reviews were posted on a company website with a picture of the employee, increasing the potential for personal humiliation. Good luck being able to go out and have some fun with your teammates. Teammates! These are people who may be taking my job. Once you set up an environment like that, people
