Thread by @weichselbauml

Enron was once America's 7th largest corporation.

In less than a month, it went from $60 billion to bankruptcy.

Why? They used the wrong type of motivation on their employees.

Here's what science says about incentives (and why "Motivation by Seduction" always fails):

The collapse wasn't just about accounting fraud.

It started when Enron's executives made a fatal psychological mistake.

One that destroyed 20,000 lives.

They thought they could manipulate their employees with money and fear.

Here's the fatal issue with extrinsic rewards...

When you pressure people into action through external rewards?

They routinely look for shortcuts.

Kotler's research shows this triggers stress hormones, not peak performance chemicals.

At Enron, employees worked 18-hour days driven by terror.

Leading to catastrophic failure:

Jeffrey Skilling, Enron's CEO, believed "money was the only thing that motivated."

He implemented a brutal ranking system.

Survival of the fittest.

The bottom 10% of employees were automatically fired each quarter.

Skilling's favorite book revealed his deeper philosophy...

"The Selfish Gene" was Skilling's bible - he wanted to unlock greed and competition in his staff.

But flow science reveals the opposite approach works better.

Kotler identifies five key drivers: curiosity, passion, purpose, autonomy, and mastery.

But Enron weaponized fear:

Fear-based competition replaced curiosity-driven exploration.

Stock manipulation substituted for genuine passion.

I was not about energy innovation anymore - profit trumped purpose.

This led to California's engineered energy crisis...

Enron traders manipulated electricity markets, causing rolling blackouts while high-fiving over bonuses.

They moved electricity out of state to spike demand.

Then imported it back when prices soared - cost to California: $30 billion.

What made this possible was chilling:

Ken Lay told fraudulent traders: "Please keep making us millions."

When auditors discovered fake accounts named "M.Y.A.S.S"?

Lay made zero changes.

Controlled motivation was destroying moral reasoning.

As Kotler explains, when autonomy vanishes, people game the system...

Compare this to companies that understand motivation correctly.

Google's "20 percent time" gives engineers autonomy to pursue passion projects.

Result: Over 50% of Google's largest revenue products emerged from this autonomous time.

All born from intrinsic motivation:

3M's "15 percent rule" created Post-it Notes through similar principles.

The neurochemical difference is stark.

Autonomous motivation triggers dopamine and flow states - controlled motivation boosts cortisol.

One builds sustainable innovation, the other builds time bombs...

20,000 Enron employees lost their jobs with average severance of just $4,500.

Executives cashed out $774 million in the year before collapse.

Trader Cliff Baxter shot himself, while Skilling served 12 years in prison.

He's now attempting to re-enter the energy sector:

His former colleague Lou Pai, who escaped with $250 million?

He reportedly helps him reconnect with investors.

They're meeting with former Enron executives for new ventures.

But the real lesson goes deeper...

Enron executives failed because they misunderstood human psychology.

But they mastered influence.

Skilling commanded rooms through charisma - he wielded persuasion so powerfully that brilliant people ignored red flags.

Today's entrepreneurs can wield the same power for good:

We live in what experts call "the attention economy".

Control the attention of others and you gain infinite leverage.

What does this mean in practice?

Personal brands outperform corporate marketing.

A creator with 10K engaged followers beats a million-dollar ad campaign:

They do this by building trust at scale (people trust people, not companies).

Goggins earned $22.5M from one book.

Hormozi built a $100M brand.

MrBeast built a billion-dollar empire - from his bedroom.

The script on wealth creation has flipped...

Tomorrow's winners won't be those with the best products.

They'll be those who capture attention.

Who transform their expertise into digital real estate that builds authority while they sleep.

Then monetize it effectively.

If you're curious, I can help you make this happen:

I build your authentic personal brand - while you run your business (in just 90 minutes per week).

So far, I've helped 5 clients create over 100M combined views.

One unicorn founder got retweeted by Elon Musk.

Interested in how I can do this for you?

docs.google.com/document/d/1Li…

I hope you have enjoyed this thread.

Follow @weichselbauml for more.

Like/Repost the quote below:

8 years ago my son was born and I knew I had to escape the system.

I put north of $20K into my business education.

Now I help founders build personal brands that generate millions of views.

My mission: Helping creators do work they love, on their terms.
weichselbaum.substack.com

From thoughts that never leave your brain to viral content that spreads to the brains of others.

Digital real estate that generates influence 24/7.

I make founders go from unknown to industry voices - your ghostwriter crafting a standout personal brand.

Let's make an impact.

Follow @steven_kotler
stevenkotler.com
Get Steven's book: theartofimpossible.com
Video: youtube.com/watch?v=e5qC1Y…
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