Ethical Cosmetic Surgery Association

by Lynell LaMountain

After watching the rogue wave rumble and rage closer and closer, Ken Lay and Jeffery Skilling (former Enron CEO's) were smashed upon the rocks of their own delusional greed, Thursday, May 25, 2006, and their hopes were washed away.

Lay and Skilling bankrupted Enron in December in 2001, erasing more than $60 billion in market value, and along with it, the life-long hopes of countless people who watched their dreams vanish, and their lives dismantled.

Gary Kemper, 62, worked more than 29 years for an Enron company. He lost $280,000 in his 401(k).57-year old Roy Rinard lost $470,000 in 401(k) savings when Enron imploded.He and his wife, Vicki, were forced to sell their home, forfeit retirement, and were no longer able to provide for their grandchildren.

Tom Padgett, 63, was ready to retire in 2001 when Enron laid him off from a plant where he worked as a senior lab technician. He lost $700,000 in retirement savings. And couldn't find another job for eighteen months.

When Enron collapsed, $60 billion in market value was lost on Wall Street, along with $2.1 billion in pension plans and 5,600 jobs. Gone. Forever."I feel good about the verdict, but my retirement is still gone," said Sherri Saunders, 58, who was an Enron executive secretary for 24 years. She lost nearly $1 million in retirement savings.

Since 2002, when the Justice Department confirmed its criminal investigation, many people have been imprisoned because of their role in the Enron scandal. But one of them didn't make it that far. Cliff Baxter, a former Enron vice president, resigned in May 2001, and was later found dead of a self-inflicted gunshot wound. Now, five years later, a Houston jury, on Thursday, May 25, 2006 has found Ken Lay (64) guilty of six counts of conspiracy and fraud, and has convicted Skilling (52) on 18 counts of conspiracy and securities fraud.

Lay faces a maximum of 47 years in prison. Skilling, 185 years. Their sentencing is scheduled for September.

As entrepreneurs and business people, how are we better than Lay and Skilling? Is their spirit alive in us, and if so, to what degree? How can we protect ourselves against an earthquake of character that triggers an Enron-like tsunami? And how can we keep our work and dreams from being smashed and washed way?

In light of the Enron scandal, I've intentionally inspected the foundation upon which I live, dream and transact business, to see if my character has a shifting fault line that might ultimately ruin me and the people I serve. As such, I've recommitted myself to these two bedrock values.

Bedrock Value Number 1: Leadership is Sacred

If you're in business then you're a leader. Someone has entrusted you with satisfying their need or want either through a product or service you provide. They've given you money for it, most likely. But they've invested more than money in you they've invested their hope.And that's a sacred exchange.

Whether I'm offering socks, soap or secrets, I'm covenanting with people to improve their lives in some meaningful way.
Countless stories in recent years have revealed a breach of trust by leaders in the government, the church, and in business. People have become jaded, skeptical, cynical and resistant to promises and marketing -- who can blame them? They've seen power and greed shatter trust in every institution.

Committing ourselves as business people to the bedrock value that leadership is sacred gives people something to believe in again -- someone to trust. This single value could have prevented the Enron scandal, and saved thousands of people from so much pain.

In addition to the bedrock value that Leadership is Sacred, the second bedrock value I'm committing myself to is this:

Bedrock Value #2:People before Profits

It's safe to say that we're capitalists, you and I. We're okay with our businesses thriving financially, and as good stewards, we work to maximize profits.

Two approaches face us:

1.Figure out how much we want to make and orchestrate ways to squeeze cash from our clients.

2.Figure how much of a difference we want to make in this world and in the lives of people -- figure out how many people we want to reach, help or encourage, and then craft a higher-road business model for implementation.

The first approach is profit-driven.The second one is people-driven, and, as you can see, issues from bedrock value #1: leadership is sacred.

I think every man and woman should be allowed to make as much money as he or she wants. I don't believe in the redistribution of wealth. I don't believe that rich people are bad or that poor people are good. I don't believe that money is evil. I don't believe that poverty is a spiritual value.

Over and over again as I study the scriptures, I read numerous promises of God promising to prosper people who transact business in a certain way. I'm not just talking about financial prosperity, either.

That said, in my opinion we live in a world of Dream Pimps who spiritualize greed for the express purpose of cramming loads of cash into their golden vaults. It's easy to get sucked into their feverish vortex, too. Their point-of-view is nothing less than spiritual Kryptonite that ultimately weakens and destroys our businesses, and our hearts, too, if we're not careful.

It's time for a different standard of doing business. It's time we stop viewing marketing as our business.Yes, we are marketers. Without being good stewards of marketing we cannot run thriving businesses. But our business is NOT MARKETING.

Our business is US -- we are the business. We're not just offering a product or service. We're offering ourselves. I'm selling me. You are selling you. Period.

Ken Lay and Jeffrey Skilling forgot this. They stopped putting people first because they stopped believing that leadership is sacred -- that the bond between them and those whom they served was holy. The result was they became self-serving leaders and human beings. They'll have the rest of their lives to reflect upon what they did, behind bars -- not the gold kind either.

Today, I'm recommitting myself, and my business, to the bedrock values of:

1. Leadership is Sacred, and, 2. People before Profits.These are time-tested values from one of the most important success books ever written, from which we read:

"Therefore everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock. The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house; yet it did not fall, because it had its foundation on the rock. But everyone who hears these words of mine and does not put them into practice is like a foolish man who built his house on sand. The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against the house, and it fell with a great crash," (Matthew 8:24-27, NIV).

At the end of the day, business isn't just about how much more value we add to the bottom line. It's about how much value we add to people's lives.

It’s time we stopped asking how much we can get out of people and start asking how much we can put into people.
With this purpose as our compass, our businesses will successfully navigate and survive all of the storms we face in life, even the Enron-tsunamis.

(Lynell LaMountain is a Christian motivational author, speaker and trainer. To get your FREE daily inspirational thought, Daily Fire, go to http://www.LifeIgnited.com. Fax: 904-379-3480, e-mail: Lynell@LifeIgnited.com, or office: 904-838-2332. Life Ignited: Igniting People with Life, Laughter and Love).