The richest man in Enron

Enron is the once blockbuster energy business known for going bankrupt, but did you know that before Mr Lay and Mr Skilling ran the company into the ground, there was another manager who used similar financial management techniques to those described in the book "The Richest Man in Babylon", to run an honest and profitable organisation. When he refused to take part in fraud to inflate the company balance sheet, his position was terminated. His name was Richard Kinder.

Enron proceeded to a well publicised fraud and bankruptcy. Richard Kinder started his own company and continued to use techniques which paralleled "The Richest Man in Babylon". He is now a billionaire.

The current global financial crisis shows how hard it is to make real money. History is littered with examples of people and companies who cooked their books and took out huge debts in order to seem successful. The story of Richard Kinder and Enron shows that you can take the path of fraud, or the path of integrity, when travelling the road of wealth. In this time of financial instability, using simple, safe, techniques to build wealth is the same path to success as it always was. It might take a little longer, be a little more boring, and require a little more hard work and money management, but its worth it in the end.