Outrage, Redux: Anyone Remember Andersen?
A number of you have written about this morning's post on outrage. Thanks to Randall in Edinburgh who sent me this link to a NY Times reprint of the resignation letter of an AIG executive.
Is his viewpoint valid? Did he have nothing to do with the credit default swap debacle? Only those in the inner circles at AIG know- and my guess is that they do not agree. But this is not the first time that an entire company has been brought down by outrage based on the actions of a few. Anyone remember Andersen?
I knew partners in the Customer relationship Management practice who had done nothing but their best work to build a practice and serve clients. The only thing that they had in common with the sloppy work by Audit partners at Enron that brought the house down was the name. But along with thousands of colleagues from a wide range of consulting and accounting practices they found their hard earned equity worthless, their reputation tarnished and their work evaporating by the minute.
As many of you have pointed out this morning (in email if not on the comments section) outrage has more than one face.