Notes: The New York Times reported on Wednesday that "Wall Street analysts told lawmakers today that they gave independent and objective advice about the Enron Corporation just before its collapse but were fooled by misleading statements from the company." The operative key word in the entire Enron scandal seems to be "misled." I, she, he, you, we and they were misled about Enron. Former Enron CEO and feisty-guy Jeffrey Skilling again testified before a congressional committee last week. Skilling claims to have been completely surprised by Enron's bankruptcy. Maybe he too was misled.

It takes a "leader" -- or a "misleader," that is -- to be "misled." I guess since everyone touched by Enron is claiming to have been "misled," a "misleader" must be posing as one of the "misled." It's twist on the saying "victory has many fathers, but defeat is an orphan." With Enron the saying could be "success has many leaders but failure is misleaderless." 03.03.02