Enron

Writing things down calcifies them: the Enron values warning

Daniel Gross argues writing ideas or company values down makes them rigid; he sends founders Enron's culture-and-values page as proof that written values like integrity and honesty mean nothing.

“I always send people who go through this process the link to Enron's culture and values. Enron, for those who don't know, used to be one of the largest companies in the United States, let alone the largest energy company. It turned out to be a giant fraud and put thousands of people out of business. But of course they had wonderful values they wrote on a piece of paper. Things like excellence and integrity and honesty. None of that matters”