Charles Henry Fulton, my grandfather.... And Enron, the "Smartest Guys in the Room."
My grand dad was born in Hamilton, Canada, one of 8 or 9 brothers and sisters, emmigrated to Rochester, New York at the turn of the 20th Century. He did so illegally, he told me, and, inspite of amnesty in the mid-30's, never told anyone.
His twin, Uncle Fred, ran a huge store in Watertown, New York, a dour old guy, I could never tell them apart. Anyway, at one point, my grandfather gained state in the business community in Rochester as an oil tycoon of sorts. He owned and operated an oil borkerage company, selling train loads of cars under the name Mr. Smoothie. His logo: the back of a guy's bald head.
His "friends" were his Board of Directors, my grandmother included. The stock market crash of 1929 took him down, and as his records show, as the crash neared, his buddies hand wrote their record of resignation, bailing out of their responsibilities (and friendship) as fast as they could.
His business failed, but he did not. At 70, on retrospect, I see now how brave he was, and why he was so tough. Tough as nails. He lost everything, except his family. He sold what little he had left, moved to Philadelphia, took a job scrubbing floors in banks along the longest, straightest street in the world - Broad Street in Philly. As a side line, he sold the banks, mops and floor shining machines. His son, my father, and I would help him at night for decades until his death in 1965.
He was born the year Wyatt Earp stepped into the OK Corral. He died never complaining. The only advice he ever gave me was, when you talk to someone, take your sun glasses off, let them see your eyes.
And, " when your ship is sinking, if you happen to bump into someone while your bailing, that's probably the only true friend you've ever had. If you're lucky, you may have had two or three, but I wouldn't count on it." It has taken me this long to appreciate him, but he was the hero of my family, my grandfather, Charles Henry Fulton.
And now to Enron. I just saw the film, "The Smartest Guys in the Room." It made me think of my grandfather and the moral vacuum that has taken over this country since the days of my grandather. Never mind the poison that eats away in the brains of the top echelons of corporateworld, think deeper. Think of the greed in humankind that lets us believe that yes, "Greed IS GOOD, CEO Jeff Skilling and dozens like him, DeLorean, Koslowski, Lay, are sickened with the virus of entitlement. They are convinced of a heavenly endowment of kingly rights the rest of us are never to attain.
You can almost see it in Skilling's wince of his head when Senators 'DEIGN' to ask questions regarding what is surely his illegalities. (" these peasants just don't get it")
I admit to being a graduate of the Wharton School, the cathedral of right wing Business in America where hands-off-business-regulation is preached. After a half century of reading, writing, research and practical experience in business and corporate board rooms, I am convinced of at least one deep belief.
We need more cops inside the business world - not less.
###
His twin, Uncle Fred, ran a huge store in Watertown, New York, a dour old guy, I could never tell them apart. Anyway, at one point, my grandfather gained state in the business community in Rochester as an oil tycoon of sorts. He owned and operated an oil borkerage company, selling train loads of cars under the name Mr. Smoothie. His logo: the back of a guy's bald head.
His "friends" were his Board of Directors, my grandmother included. The stock market crash of 1929 took him down, and as his records show, as the crash neared, his buddies hand wrote their record of resignation, bailing out of their responsibilities (and friendship) as fast as they could.
His business failed, but he did not. At 70, on retrospect, I see now how brave he was, and why he was so tough. Tough as nails. He lost everything, except his family. He sold what little he had left, moved to Philadelphia, took a job scrubbing floors in banks along the longest, straightest street in the world - Broad Street in Philly. As a side line, he sold the banks, mops and floor shining machines. His son, my father, and I would help him at night for decades until his death in 1965.
He was born the year Wyatt Earp stepped into the OK Corral. He died never complaining. The only advice he ever gave me was, when you talk to someone, take your sun glasses off, let them see your eyes.
And, " when your ship is sinking, if you happen to bump into someone while your bailing, that's probably the only true friend you've ever had. If you're lucky, you may have had two or three, but I wouldn't count on it." It has taken me this long to appreciate him, but he was the hero of my family, my grandfather, Charles Henry Fulton.
And now to Enron. I just saw the film, "The Smartest Guys in the Room." It made me think of my grandfather and the moral vacuum that has taken over this country since the days of my grandather. Never mind the poison that eats away in the brains of the top echelons of corporateworld, think deeper. Think of the greed in humankind that lets us believe that yes, "Greed IS GOOD, CEO Jeff Skilling and dozens like him, DeLorean, Koslowski, Lay, are sickened with the virus of entitlement. They are convinced of a heavenly endowment of kingly rights the rest of us are never to attain.
You can almost see it in Skilling's wince of his head when Senators 'DEIGN' to ask questions regarding what is surely his illegalities. (" these peasants just don't get it")
I admit to being a graduate of the Wharton School, the cathedral of right wing Business in America where hands-off-business-regulation is preached. After a half century of reading, writing, research and practical experience in business and corporate board rooms, I am convinced of at least one deep belief.
We need more cops inside the business world - not less.
###
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