Unfortunately, all too often in business, the collusion that occurs between management teams leads to fraudulent activity or off-balance sheet commitments. Enron, while sizeable, couldn't be saved. It has nothing to do what I may wish for. Other large public companies are able to survive a BK process with better management teams. Certain businesses of Enron were sold off and did survive.

It's a long discussion, but what I'm highlighting is an organization's hubris is often the reason for its downfall. Thus was the case with Enron. In my opinion, Penn State should have suffered what the NCAA originally doled out in 2012, but presumably political pressure and influence curbed back those consequences substantially. The culture at Penn State and Enron both led it to have poor controls and processes and leadership that was viewed as infallible until the ship is sinking.