How Should We Judge Rajat Gupta

The last few days have seen two role models demolished. We have had to rethink our notion that our role models have to be super human. They cannot display human failings. There is collective disbelief that people who have shown courage and compassion have had feet of clay. We like to think of our role models without flaws. It makes it easy.The human brain grapples to balance the black and the white. When we read about a criminal getting convicted we do not want to know how compassionate they were. We do not believe that they could have a momentary lapse of reason. No punishment is too harsh for them. Yet, when it comes to others we are convinced that it was a small lapse in an otherwise flawless person. So the normal strictures of crime and punishment need to be diluted.It is not easy to find role models who excel at their work, lead exemplary lives, are faithful husbands, loving fathers, display humility, donate to charity, are even-tempered even when provoked, and never let their libido rule. Then when we discover their “derailers”, we displace them from the pedestals and go in search of the next role-model.Lance Armstrong lost all the seven Tour de France titles. Longtime sponsors Nike, Oakley Sunglasses, Trek Bicycles and Anheuser-Busch dropped him last week. Armstrong had to step down as chairman of Livestrong, the cancer awareness charity he founded 15 years ago after surviving testicular cancer. The  Foundation has raised nearly $500 million to fight cancer.Was it a momentary lapse of reason? Should one transgression be forgiven? Would we have viewed Lance Armstrong more leniently if the doping scandal had been uncovered after one Tour de France victory? Lance, it seems, knew all along what he was doing.  When asked what would happen if he were found to be guilty of doping. The sponsors would go away. And went on to add:"And the faith of all the cancer survivors around the world. So everything I do off the bike would go away too. And don't think for a second I don't understand that. It's not about money for me. Everything. It's also about the faith that people have put in me over the years. So all of that would be erased. So I don't need it to say in a contract you're fired if you test positive. That's not as important as losing the support of hundreds of millions of people."Rajat Gupta too has a bio and a set of achievements that are exemplary and flawless. B Tech from IIT Delhi (’71), joined Harvard Business School in 1973. In 1994, became the Managing Director of McKinsey for three terms. He was advisor to UN, advisor to Bill Clinton’s philanthropy. In 1997 he co-founded the Indian School of Business. He served as Chairman of the Board of Associates of the Harvard Business School and was a member of the Board of Governors for the Lauder Institute of Management & International Studies at The Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania. Additionally he served on the Dean's Advisory Council at the MIT Sloan School of Management and on the advisory board of Northwestern University's Kellogg School of Management.“His contributions have made a real difference in the lives of literally millions of people around the world.” Said Bill Gates in his defence. Deepak Chopra, the former Bristol-Myers Squibb CEO Peter Dolan, and the CEO of pharma giant Abbott all wrote personal testimonies to Judge Rakoff to take a lenient view of Rajat Gupta’s case in view of his contributions. Rakoff said, "He is a good man but the history of this country and the history of the world is full of examples of good men who did bad things."Psychologist Robert Hogan talks about the bright side to our personality and a dark side. The bright side has the enablers that affect our every day choices and behaviour. The dark side has “derailers” that could come in the way of our success. A “derailer” is a strength that is overused. For instance, confidence in one’s ability is a strength. But beyond a point confident is viewed as arrogance. People get hired for competence and fired for personality.Speaking of derailers, let us not forget DSK better known as Dominique Strauss-Kahn. Last year he had to resign as the head of the International Monetary Fund. DSK, 63, a silver-haired economist, is seeking to throw out criminal charges in an inquiry into ties to a prostitution ring in northern France with the legal argument that lust is not a crime.People look for four qualities in their leaders: Integrity, Judgement, Competence and Vision. Of this integrity is most important and is treated quite separately from the other three. People will be more lenient when leaders display lack of vision, competence or even poor judgment. Steve Jobs was an amazingly talented but flawed individual who was known for his volatile outbursts as well as his “reality distortion” skills. Since his integrity has never been questioned, Jobs is viewed more indulgently as a cranky genius, impatient with social niceties.Integrity is fairly binary. People assume we have it unless we give them reason to doubt. People like to be reassured that the person in charge won’t take advantage of his or her position—won’t lie, steal, play favorites, or betray subordinates. Unfortunately, many do. When keepers of our trust fail us, there is disbelief. We go back in history to see if there were obvious signs that we had overlooked. For a while we become cynical about role-models in general.Unfortunately when it comes to integrity, people are unforgiving. Integrity has no shades of grey.