[link|http://www.forbes.com/2002/02/08/0208topnews.html|What you don't know, you can't blab]
Excerpt:
From Skilling's testimony, a system of plausible deniability seems a critical aspect of Enron controls: No one should know what the guy down the hall is doing; when anyone asks, refer them to the lawyers or the accountants. If the lawyers or accountants get curious--or, God forbid, an analyst or journalist asks the wrong questions--tell him to mind his own business.
This may be just a coincidence, but the same management technique was long favored by Mafia families: No one knows too much. No one asks questions. The boss delivers instructions cryptically and through intermediaries. If a guy gets caught red-handed, he dummies up.
While knowledge was rationed at Enron, faith was abundant. In his prepared remarks, Skilling said, "At the time I left the company, I fervently believed that Enron would continue to be successful in the future. I did not believe that the company was in any imminent financial peril."