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(in which the spectacle of many agreeing to a position irrationally convinces each person
that it must be accurate), the absence of feedback loops reinforces belief in the sacred
vision of the leader.
Thus, a corporate vision whose truth is held to be self evident, which is complex in both
form and function, whose tenets cannot be questioned, and whose acceptance is assumed
to be indispensable for the organization‘s salvation has the potential to provide considerable
intellectual stimulation, and unleash passionate forms of ideological totalism.
The Case of Enron
Enron‘s vision was secular in nature, but within that framework became all encompassing.
In essence, it promised people heaven on earth. If the company were to achieve its goals,
unimagined wealth and happiness would be the lot of those fortunate enough to be
employees at the time. This frequently led to hubris. The company‘s annual report for 2000
typified the tone of fantasy increasingly emanating from those at the top:
We believe wholesale gas and power in North America, Europe and Japan will
grow from a $660 billion market to a $1.7 trillion market over the next
several years. Retail energy services in the United States and Europe have
the potential to grow from $180 billion to $765 billion in the not-so-distant
future. Broadband‘s prospective global growth is huge – it should increase
from just $17 billion today to $1.4 trillion within five years. Taken together,
these markets present a £3.9 trillion opportunity for Enron, and we have just
scratched the surface.‖ (cited by Cruver, 2003, p.45)
Around this time, Enron draped a huge banner at its entrance, proclaiming its latest vision –
―FROM THE WORLD‘S LEADING ENERGY COMPANY – TO THE WORLD‘S LEADING
COMPANY.‖ Such hyperbole was a normal part of Enron‘s discourse. Craig and Amernic
(2004) have highlighted numerous examples of its presence in letters to shareholders,
which as they point out also made use of the language of war, sport and extremism, to
reinforce the potency of what was a compelling and totalistic vision of the most dramatic
kind. Extraordinary goals, set by the leaders, encourage group members to regard their
group as being particularly special and engender a sense of privilege and uniqueness among
those who belong (Lalich, 2004), as do images of the organisation being at war with
everyone else.
The wealth that could be made within Enron further encouraged feelings among employees
that they faced a much more exalted destiny than that of people who worked for other
companies. For those who achieved their goals, huge bonuses were available – to such an
extent that Houston‘s luxury car dealers habitually visited Enron to exhibit their products
every bonus period (Prentice, 2003). Largesse was also extended to employees‘ families.
The prevailing philosophy, as Cruver (1003, p.191) summarised it, was that ―If you were
smart enough and tough enough to work at Enron, you deserved to live like last year‘s
Oscar winner.‖ The consistent message to employees was that they were the brightest and
the best, that they were greatly favoured by being selected to work at Enron, and that they
were now charged with an evangelical mission of transforming how business conducted
itself in the world. All accounts describe it as an intensely stimulating environment – to the
point where many wondered how they could ever bear to work anywhere else again (e.g.
Cruver, 2003). For those who bought into such messages, it followed that extraordinary,
and almost cultic, levels of commitment were required.
Thus, work regimes of up to eighty hours a week were regarded as normal. Employees
sacrificed their today in the hope of a better tomorrow. But, given the demands, ―Skilling
hired people who were very young, because very young people did not insist on coming in
at nine or leaving at five, or on keeping things as they had always been, or, for that matter,

Cultic Studies Review, Vol. 5, No. 1, 2006, Page 59
on questioning authority once they had signed on with him‖ (Swartz and Watkins, 2003,
p.58). As with other organisations which could be regarded as cults, a totalistic vision may
offer plentiful intellectual stimulation. But such visions also imply high levels of social
control. As Lalich (2004, p.18) observed: ―In identifying with the group, members find
meaning and purpose and a sense of belonging. This is experienced as a type of personal
freedom and self-fulfilment. Yet that freedom is predicated on a decrease in personal
autonomy, manifested in continuous acts of ever-increasing self-renunciation.‖ Those
affected experience a diminished capacity for critical reflection. Specifically, in the context of
Enron, Swartz and Watkins (2003, p.58) comment as follows on the widely held belief that
hard work now might buy a liberated future: ―That the single-minded pursuit of money
might be self-limiting in other, psychic ways was not really considered.‖ The problem is that
unbounded commitment to career development encourages people to ―treat all
organizational, social and even personal relations as instrumental to career progress‖
(Collinson, 2003, p.537). In essence, their sense of who and what they are becomes
indistinguishable from the corporate environment and the priorities decreed by its leaders –
a personality transformation, it should be noted, that is greatly valued by cult gurus of all
persuasions. It is also a mindset which is increasingly promoted by corporate leaders, and
one that leaves those who adopt it much more liable to escalate their commitment beyond
any point of rationality.
3. Individual Consideration, “Love Bombing,” and the Process of Conversion
Recruitment is clearly vital for cults, since the expansion of their influence requires a
growing army of enthusiastic disciples. The problem is that the prospective recruit‘s
resistance is likely to be at its highest immediately before they join. They have yet to buy
into the belief system or invest much energy in pursuit of the group‘s goals, and they still
have plentiful other choices. The challenge is to recruit and initiate people into the group,
engage a process of conversion and then reinforce it with indoctrination. How is this
accomplished, and to what extent did similar practices prevail at Enron?
Recruitment/Initiation
Cults usually recruit people through a two-pronged process characterised by intense and
emotionally draining recruitment rituals on the one hand, and what has been described as
―love bombing‖ (Hassan, 1988) on the other. In terms of rituals, a process is engaged that
may stretch over several days, which exposes the would-be recruit to powerful messages
from the leader, which requires them to express ever greater levels of support for the
leader‘s insights, and which may involve the person adopting behaviours that might
otherwise seem irksome and certainly strange. The process has been described as a roller-
coaster, with potential recruits soaring to emotional highs and then experiencing mood
collapses which, in total, leave them ever more vulnerable to the messages of its leaders
(Tourish and Wohlforth, 2000). Research into group dynamics has long established that
when we endure particular initiation rituals or experience discomfort to join, we are then
more inclined to exaggerate the benefits of group membership and to intensify our sense of
commitment as a means of establishing that we belong to the group (Aronson and Mills,
1959). Emotionally debilitating recruitment rituals, assuming that the potential recruit has
some intrinsic motivation for looking positively on the group, are likely to have precisely this
effect.
However, pressure alone does not suffice. Love bombing is also crucial, with the implied
promise that that if the recruit merely accedes to the high demands of the group they will
receive the beneficent regard of the leader and other members of the organisation. Thus,
cult leaders make great ceremony of showing individual consideration for their members –
at least, immediately before and after they join. Prospective recruits are showered with
attention, which expands to affection and then often grows into a simulation of love. This is