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24 Days: How Two Wall Street Journal Reporters Uncovered the Lies that Destroyed Faith in Corporate America

24 Days: How Two Wall Street Journal Reporters Uncovered the Lies that Destroyed Faith in Corporate America

If it hadn’t set the stage for the global distrust for business, CEOs and business “management” in every phase, 24 Hours would read more like a made-for-television script. The reporters/authors follow in the footsteps of other good journalists thrust into greatness such as Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein of the Washington Post (Watergate) and John Markoff of the New York Times (Cyberpunk and Takedown).

Why should line and staff managers or executives who weren’t touched by the scandal/take down care about reading a book about what “they” did? Well like it or not, we are “they!”

Certainly the reporting and subsequent book are about the larceny and corrupt acts of an isolated few executives but others in the organization somewhere along the line helped “manage” the cover-up activities and communicate with the media, shareholders and employees. 24 Hours should make each of us take a long, hard, serious look at our professional and personal responsibilities and loyalties.

Why was the whistleblower ultimately an accounting person? Why couldn’t/ shouldn’t it have been someone along the line who was responsible or involved in the questionable dealings or in working on efforts strictly designed to hide transactions from regulators or the public?

The book is a good chronicle of how ordinary individuals played fast and loose with their responsibilities to their company and their stakeholders. How these same seemingly solid citizens rationalized their infractions and actions.

At first we all thought Enron was an isolated case of executives run amuck. However the greed theme has been visited again and again since the company’s collapse tainting firms large and small and taking down otherwise respected executives. These have been professionals who have seemingly had a complete disregard – almost disdain – for their responsibilities to employees, shareholders, business partners and customers.

Enron’s problems didn’t suddenly develop overnight. They weren’t isolated to just the executive suite. They were carried out by accounting personnel, traders, PR executives/writers and even secretaries. They were overlooked by outside accountants, business partners and governmental agencies.

Smith and Emshwiller show that no one is immune to corruption and that it doesn’t happen all at once. Instead it creeps in slowly until it becomes “normal.”

24 Hours is a morality play that business professionals at every level should read not just CEOs and accounting people. Business morality and professional ethics are something we all need to examine and work on every day. Emshwiller and Smith simply give us a wake-up call that if we are to be considered professionals; ordinary practitioners – you and I – have to work a little harder every day.

Constantly remind yourself when reading 24 Hours that the book isn’t fiction, it is a documentary of how ordinary people stretched and tore the fabric of honesty inch by inch, day by day and how they covered their actions up from legislators, their shareholders and even themselves.

There was no big lie at Enron. It was a series of small actions that built and festered beneath the surface until two Wall Street Journal reporters accidentally pierced the company’s skin. The book is a fast, easy read.

Hopefully after you’ve completed the last page you will rethink “Business as Usual!”





24 Days How Two Wall Street Journal Reporters Uncovered the Lies that Destroyed Faith in Corporate America - To learn more about this author, visit Andy Marken's Website.

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Linda Richardson
Linda Richardson is the Founder and Executive Chairwoman of Richardson, a global sales training and performance improvement company. As a recognized leader in the industry, she has won the coveted Stevie Award for Lifetime Achievement in Sales Excellence and she was identified by Training Industry, Inc. as one of the “Top 20 Most Influential Training Professionals.” Ms. Richardson is credited with the movement to Consultative Selling and is the author of ten books on selling and sales management, including Sales Coaching — Making the Great Leap from Sales Manager to Sales Coach, and Stop Telling, Start Selling. She teaches sales and management at the Wharton Graduate School of the University of Pennsylvania and the Wharton Executive Development Center. Linda is a frequent speaker at industry and client conferences, has been published extensively in industry and training journals, and has been featured in numerous publications, including The Wall Street Journal, Forbes, Nation’s Business, Selling Power, Success, and The Conference Board Magazine. Learn more about Richardson's sales training and performance improvement solutions at http://www.richardson.com web - Visit Linda Richardson's Website

Dianne Crampton

Dianne Crampton is an executive leadership coach, team culture consultant, author and president of TIGERS Success Series, Inc. Dianne has been helping CEO's and Executives connect their employees to their core values and goals for over 20 years using the trademarked TIGERS team culture process, which stands for trust, interdependence, genuineness, empathy, risk and success. To download a free white paper on behaviors that build strong teams and behaviors that will predictably tear them down go here.

Dianne's contribution to the 2010 Pfeiffer Consulting Journal (an imprint of John Wiley and Sons Publishers) entitled TIGERS Hearted Teams is available in November 2009.  Her new book TIGERS Among Us: 5 Winning Business Team Cultures And Why, Three Creeks Publishing will release in March 2010.  To receive publishing discounts, subscribe to the free TigerTracks Newsletter here.

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John Brennan
John Brennan Ed.D. Dr. Brennan is President of Interpersonal Development, LLC, a training and development firm. Interpersonal Development has provided sales training and coaching to more than 3,000 sales reps from over 100 companies. A native of Australia, Dr. Brennan received his doctorate from the University of Rochester. His dissertation researched the effectiveness of Behavioral Modeling Technology in training people in interpersonal skills. While he has spent most of his career designing or delivering training, he was also a Vice-President of Sales of a training and development franchise with operations in 25 markets. Dr. Brennan has designed and delivered sales training in North America, Asia, Europe, Australia and the Middle East. He has been a guest speaker at numerous national and regional professional conferences. When Microsoft wanted Best Practices articles on sales for their web site, they called Dr. Brennan. The results are at http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/FX011387391033.aspx His firm’s clients have included Volvo, The Prudential, Merrill Lynch, Eastman Kodak, Gannett, Equifax Europe, the Economist Group and countless small businesses. - Visit John Brennan's Website

Leanne Hoagland-Smith
Are your sales where you want them to be? Will you be one of the few who achieves sales or business success or one of the many who have failed to change? Are you tired of being told you are like everyone else? Then you may find my first book on sales of interest. Be the Red Jacket in the Sea of Gray Suits, The Keys to Unlocking Sales available at Amazon or at http://www.processspecialist.com/red-jacket.htm. This book is a reflection of my no-nonsense approach to improving sales to overall business results. If you are truly committed to making sustainable changes, then I can help you secure a positive return on your investment because I focus on executable solutions not telling you the problems you already know you have. From training to corporate (group) coaching to executive one on one coaching, my approach is to assess, create awareness, build a goal driven action plan and then execute. The bottom line question is "Not do you or your employees know it, but do you or they want to do it?" Please call for a free strategy session at 219.759.5601. - Visit Leanne Hoagland-Smith's Website

George Ludwig
George Ludwig is a recognized authority on sales strategy and peak performance psychology. An international speaker, trainer, and corporate consultant, he helps clients like Johnson & Johnson, Abbott Laboratories, Northwestern Mutual, CIGNA, and numerous others improve sales force effectiveness and performance. Though it's George's strategies and processes that help corporations increase productivity and performance, it's his tremendous energy and dynamism that spark the transformation. Again and again, clients remark on his amazing ability to unleash human capacity and inspire men and women to break out of their comfort zones. The result is a whole new type of salesperson. His customized presentations teach achievers to make stunning advances in their lives. From helping salespeople realize cherished dreams to helping corporations exponentially accelerate revenue streams, George Ludwig leaves audiences and individuals empowered, emboldened, and clamoring for more. George is the best-selling author of Power Selling: Seven Strategies for Cracking the Sales Code and Wise Moves: 60 Quick Tips to Improve Your Position in Life & Business. - Visit George Ludwig's Website


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(Visit Andy's Website) G. A. "Andy" Marken President Marken Communications, Inc. Santa Clara, CA Andy has worked in front of and behind the TV camera and radio mike. Unlike most PR people he listens to and understands the consumer’s perspective on the actual use of products. He has written more than 100 articles in the business and trade press. During this time he has also addressed industry issues and technologies not as corporate wishlists but how they can be used by normal people. He has been a marketing and communications consultant for more than 30 years involved in the wild early days of the Internet/Web, heyday of the videogame industry and the maturing professional and consumer video industries. His experience includes years with Internet pioneer CERFnet, TCG and AT&T. Andy has worked in the software, Web 2.0, video and storage industry with Panasonic, Philips, Dazzle, Atari, NTI, ADS Tech, Pinnacle Systems, CyberLink, InterVideo, Ulead and Verbatim.

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