True. Thank you.
From: usaafricadialogue@googlegroups.com [mailto:usaafricadialogue@googlegroups.com] On Behalf Of Mobolaji Aluko
Sent: Sunday, June 30, 2013 4:04 PM
To: USAAfrica Dialogue
Subject: Re: FW: USA Africa Dialogue Series - STAR QUESTION: What Possessed Him? Rajat Gupta's Great Fall and America's Indian Elites
Anunoby Ogugua:
It may be simpler and less conspiratorial than you put it. I call it the Highway Speed Mentality....when you see everyone speeding beyond the limit (breaking the law), and you join in, only to be the one flagged down....and you dare not tell the Policeman that "everyone is speeding", because that is an admission of guilt.
So when you see everyone speeding past you, or you are gaining up on others, one should be cautious to slow down: you may be flagged, particularly if you are driving a flashy red (colored?) car!
And there you have it.
Bolaji Aluko
On Sun, Jun 30, 2013 at 3:02 PM, Anunoby, Ogugua <AnunobyO@lincolnu.edu> wrote:
I might have Gloria. Thank you.
Success corrupts the unwary it seems to me. The man's success in corporate America may have caused him to believe that he was greater, smarter, more indispensable than he really was. It is thinking like that that helps to make successful people less thoughtful and risk averse than they are advised, and need to be. The bigger the fish, the more determined the fisherman. One must always remember who one is, where the one has come from, where one is, and sometimes what time it is.
oa
-----Original Message-----
From: usaafricadialogue@googlegroups.com [mailto:usaafricadialogue@googlegroups.com] On Behalf Of Emeagwali, Gloria (History)
Sent: Saturday, June 29, 2013 8:23 AM
To: usaafricadialogue@googlegroups.com; NaijaPolitics e-Group; naijaintellects; OmoOdua; nigerianid@yahoogroups.com; Ra'ayi; ekiti ekitigroups; Yan Arewa
Subject: RE: USA Africa Dialogue Series - STAR QUESTION: What Possessed Him? Rajat Gupta's Great Fall and America's Indian Elites
You may have missed one point, OA. This guy was seen as a threat to the ' regular'
capitalists. There may be a pigmentation and ethnic factor in the mix. What of all the corrupt banking and housing miscreants who remain untouched? This is to send a message to potential immigrant rivals.
This is not to say that he is completely innocent, though.
Professor Gloria Emeagwali
africahistory.net
vimeo.com/user5946750/videos
Documentaries on Africa and the African Diaspora
________________________________
From: usaafricadialogue@googlegroups.com [usaafricadialogue@googlegroups.com] On Behalf Of Anunoby, Ogugua [AnunobyO@lincolnu.edu]
Sent: Saturday, June 29, 2013 6:32 AM
To: usaafricadialogue@googlegroups.com; NaijaPolitics e-Group; naijaintellects; OmoOdua; nigerianid@yahoogroups.com; Ra'ayi; ekiti ekitigroups; Yan Arewa
Subject: RE: USA Africa Dialogue Series - STAR QUESTION: What Possessed Him? Rajat Gupta's Great Fall and America's Indian Elites
"An object lesson for all immigrants" everywhere.
Oliver de Coque, the late Nigerian musical artist famously said that "a town belongs to some and not all who live in her". There are landlords and there are tenants . One recalls that in the movie "West Side Story" all are reminded that "everything is good in America if you stay on your own side". I would say "the right side". There is who one is. There is who one believes the one is. It is important to know the difference. Power and influence do not always come with professional success, especially away from home. There are exceptions and limits. Everyone is advised to know who they really are, and how a system that might hit them works. Does Rajat Gupta deserve some sympathy? May be. Should he have known better? Certainly.
The corruption gene (if there is any such thing) may be evenly distributed in the human race but it is more recessive in some countries than in others. Are there more corrupt people in India than "in America"? Yes probably. India seems to be more tolerant of corruption. India has more people. Then again, what is corruption?
oa
From: usaafricadialogue@googlegroups.com [mailto:usaafricadialogue@googlegroups.com] On Behalf Of Mobolaji Aluko
Sent: Thursday, June 27, 2013 10:09 PM
To: USAAfrica Dialogue; NaijaPolitics e-Group; naijaintellects; OmoOdua; nigerianid@yahoogroups.com; Ra'ayi; ekiti ekitigroups; Yan Arewa
Subject: USA Africa Dialogue Series - STAR QUESTION: What Possessed Him? Rajat Gupta's Great Fall and America's Indian Elites
QUOTE
One person asked me if I had been naïve in suggesting that [Rajat Gupta] had been played when I know that corruption is rampant in India. But when I was writing the book, I wanted to be very careful. I know corruption is widespread in India, but I believe that corruption the gene is evenly distributed. There aren't more corrupt people in India than there are in America. That's why this story is so important: The misstep of one casts a shadow on all. Rajat Gupta had a responsibility not only to conduct himself well for his own sake, but also for his children and all other Indians.
UNQUOTE
An object lesson for all immigrants here.....
Bolaji Aluko
----------------------------------------------------
http://www.thefinancialist.com/what-possessed-him-rajat-guptas-great-fall-and-americas-indian-elites/
The Financialist
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What Possessed Him? Rajat Gupta's Great Fall and America's Indian Elites Former Goldman Sachs board member Rajat Gupta exits Manhattan federal court after a pre-trial hearing last year in New York. (Photo by Seth Wenig, Associated Press.)
BY: ARIEL RAMCHANDANI
PUBLISHED: JUNE 24, 2013
For many people, the biggest shock of the Galleon Group's insider trading case was not the implosion of the hedge fund group, nor the conviction of its leader, Raj Rajaratnam. It was the indictment-and subsequent conviction-of Rajaratnam's friend, Rajat Gupta. The former managing director of McKinsey & Company, Gupta was not only one of the most respected members of the Indian-American business community, but he had achieved even greater public renown as a leading global philanthropist in his post-McKinsey career. His fall from grace was the true shocker in an already-scandalous affair.
Last year, Gupta was sentenced to two years in prison for sharing confidential information he learned as a board member of both Goldman Sachs and Procter & Gamble with Rajaratnam. In a new book, "The Billionaire's Apprentice: The Rise of The Indian-American Elite and The Fall of The Galleon Hedge Fund," journalist Anita Raghavan seeks to find out why Gupta risked his stellar reputation in joining forces with Rajaratnam. She chronicles Gupta's life from his childhood in post-partition India through his tenure at McKinsey, the world's most elite consulting firm. The tale culminates with Gupta's fall at the hands of New York federal prosecutor Preet Bharara, who was also born in India but raised in the U.S. Through Gupta's story, Raghavan also provides an inside look at the community of Indian elites in the United States.
The Financialist: Why did you frame your story around Gupta instead of Rajaratnam, who was at the center of the federal insider trading case?
Anita Raghavan: Of all the protagonists in the Galleon hedge fund case, Gupta was the most interesting. He came from very humble roots, and as a teenager, he lost both of his parents. He shouldered all the responsibility of the family, and he worked very hard to get himself to America, then to Harvard Business School, and then to McKinsey. He served three terms as McKinsey's managing director, and his Rolodex included Kofi Annan and Bill Gates. I was intrigued by the question of why someone who had so much going for him got involved with a short-term trader like Raj Rajaratnam, who was so different from him.
TF: So what did you ultimately conclude?
AR: When Gupta came back to New York in the 1990s, his world changed. For most of his career, he had worked in the hinterlands of Scandinavia and Chicago. When he came to New York, he started lusting after things he didn't care about before. Here was a man who had bought his previous homes sight unseen. But then he purchased one of the most storied pieces of real estate in Connecticut, a palatial estate once owned by the founder of J.C. Penney. He started mingling with a group of financiers. I think he felt out of their league-at least financially speaking-and he wanted to be part of that group.
There's a wonderful talk he gave at Columbia Business School about a year after he stepped down from the helm of McKinsey. You can see in that speech a man really casting about for what he wanted to do next in life and not feeling entirely at peace. At one point, someone asked him, "Are you happy?" and he said, "On some level, I'm happy. On other levels, I'm in the midst of a professional transition, and I'm not so happy."
TF: Gupta's success at McKinsey opened the door for many more Indian leaders in business. He was an icon. Who will replace him in the Indian-American imagination?
AR: I don't think there is anyone with the influence and sway of Rajat Gupta. Gupta had this amazing ability to straddle different worlds: Indian, American, philanthropy, and business. I can't think of anyone today who could take that mantle. Gupta was also a pioneer. I remember working at the Wall Street Journal in 1994, when McKinsey announced that he had been elected by the partnership to be managing director. As an Indian-American myself, I felt a sense of pride but also wondered, "Who is this man who has managed to make it to the top of a very American organization?" He was an inspiration to a young reporter like myself, even though he had nothing to do with me and we were in different fields.
TF: How has the book been received so far?
AR: I expected to get a number of angry emails from members of the South Asian community after an excerpt ran in the New York Times magazine. I was stunned when I didn't get any, and in fact, got about a dozen positive emails from South Asian readers who said they'd enjoyed the piece. One thing that people took issue with was my suggestion that Rajat Gupta had been played by Raj Rajaratnam. One person asked me if I had been naïve in suggesting that he had been played when I know that corruption is rampant in India. But when I was writing the book, I wanted to be very careful. I know corruption is widespread in India, but I believe that the corruption gene is evenly distributed. There aren't more corrupt people in India than there are in America. That's why this story is so important: The misstep of one casts a shadow on all. Rajat Gupta had a responsibility not only to conduct himself well for his own sake, but also for his children and all other Indians.
TF: What did you learn about the Indian-American immigrant community from writing the book?
AR: It was only when I started digging into the story that I realized how successful Indian immigrants have been. There's been a lot written about the Chinese and the "Tiger Mom" phenomenon, but when you look at the statistics, you see that Indian-Americans surpass every other Asian immigrant community by a significant margin in terms of income and education. Today, Indian-Americans are not confined to doing what they did when I was growing up in the 70s. They're not just college professors and doctors - they're in every field. Even the prosecutors who went after Rajat Gupta are Indian: Preet Bharara, the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York, and Sanjay Wadhwa of the Securities and Exchange Commission. It really speaks to the strength of the community and how far it has come since Indians started immigrating to the U.S. en masse in the early 1980s.
TF: Why do you think they've been so successful in the U.S.?
AR: In 1965, Lyndon Johnson signed the Hart-Celler act, which said immigrant quotas would no longer be based on country of origin, but rather on skills. So the Indians who came post-1965 were really the brightest and the best. They were people like my father, who was a scientist; they were people like Rajat Gupta, who went to the Indian Institute of Technology in Delhi and studied mechanical engineering, as well as Gupta's wife, Anita, who also studied engineering. They were technologically-minded people. A University of California, Los Angeles professor I spoke to says the average Indian in the U.S. is 10,000 times more likely to have a PhD than the average Indian in India.
TF: As India continues to rise as a global power, do you think fewer highly educated Indians will move to the U.S.?
AR: There are so many options for Indians in India today that there isn't the same hunger to come to America as there was in Rajat Gupta's generation. That said, I still think the U.S. is a bit like a Swiss finishing school for Indians. You go to America, you get your American pedigree, and then you come back to India. For example, Anand Mahindra was schooled at Harvard University and Harvard Business School and now runs his family business back in India-Mahindra & Mahindra, one of the country's largest auto manufacturers. I think a large cohort of Indians will still come to America, but in the past they would have stayed in America and built a life. Today, because of the dazzling array of opportunities in India, they will probably go home.
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