The Slippery Slope

 

Been wanting to write about Chanda Kochhar who has been in and out of news, for all the wrong reasons. She had risen to the post of CMD at ICICI bank, then the largest private sector bank in India. Earlier her steering of the bank in the face of 2009 meltdown (ICICI had exposure to Lehman Brothers, the news leading to flight of a lot of deposits from the bank) had cemented her place as the high priestess of high finance in India. Her daughter’s marriage was attended by the Who’s Who of India – the Union Finance Minister, the Maharashtra Chief Minister, Amitabh Bachchan, Mukesh Ambani et al.. Then suddenly, Chanda Kochhar came crashing down. She and her husband were both arrested on charges of gross corruption, profiteering, conflict of interest and other counts. 

This was not the solitary such case. Think Rajat Gupta. He went where no Indian had gone before. Baker Scholar at Harvard Business School, the first foreign-born Managing Director of McKinsey & Co., co-founder of Indian Business School and so on. He served a two-year prison term for insider trading and McKinsey dropped him from their alumni database and called clients worldwide to say that they would have nothing to do with him going forward. 

Ramalinga Raju. He was the poster boy of Indian IT dream. In its heydays, Satyam Computer Services founded by him represented the might of Indian IT capabilities and was described as its “crown jewel.” It operated in 60 countries, employed 50,000 staff and was the first Indian company to be listed on three major international stock exchanges, NYSE, Euronext and Dow Jones. In 2009, Raju admitted to embezzlement of Rs. 7,136 cr which led to his conviction and sentence of 7 years’ jail and fine. 

Obviously, these were very bright people. However, at some point, they lost their moral bearings in a big way and could no longer distinguish between right and wrong. Why does this happen? I read up a bit on it and also reflected a bit more. There appear to be four common pitfalls leading to such successful people landing up on a slippery slope of no return. 

First is the corrupting influence of power. Power is the number of people our actions influence X the amount of that influence. As we grow into our jobs, we find both components of power increasing and our acquiring more and more power. This power is very intoxicating so, like a drunkard craving more and more whiskey with each passing day, we also seek out means of increasing our power, sometimes by any means. 

In our quest of more and more power in a hurry, we take our first, tentative steps at cutting corners or beating the system. What happens is, if we are successful, these infringements tend to be initially ignored and later applauded. So, gradually when we go on to ever bigger transgressions and keep getting away with them, we develop a sense of invincibility – I’m Muhammad Ali; no one and nothing can touch me … this is the kind of pitfall which leads a cop from interrogation through third degree to things like the horrific Bhagalpur blindings.

When Chanda Kochhar was sitting in that MBA classroom at Bajaj or when Rajat Gupta was considering his first job or when Ramalinga Raju ventured into business, they must’ve dreamt about big things that they wanted to achieve. I do think, their achievements exceeded their original dreams by miles. After earning so much, attaining so high statuses and feted by the highest and the mightiest, why then did they crave for so much more that they let their morality go by the board? What they developed was ambition without purpose. This is when despite having all the money in the world, one tries to acquire more and more without any use for it; despite having a huge conglomerate, one indulges in a merger and acquisition spree without it helping the bottom line; and so on. 

The final and probably the most dangerous pitfall is suppression of guilt through rationalisation. It starts small. Justifying an irregular action on the pretext of helping a subordinate, later, for the sake of the department or branch, even later, for the larger benefit of the company/ industry, and, if one is intoxicated/ megalomaniac enough, justifying by claiming that it was all for the sake of the country or the world. 

The problem is, while errors of judgement or competence slip-ups can sometimes be redeemed, it is impossible to restore status-quo-ante after an ethical slip-up. 

[Small factoid: Chanda Kochhar completed her MBA from Jamnalal Bajaj Institute of Management Studies, Bombay in 1984, the same year I completed mine from IIM, Bangalore.]

Good cop, bad cop

 

In the IPS, while undergoing training at the Academy, we were told that we’d be attached to an SP in a district for field training, that the same SP would be our friend, philosopher and guide and that the equation with him or her would make or mar our entire careers. When I landed in the district, I was excited but extremely nervous regarding my first meeting with him because the first impression was considered of paramount importance. I’d rehearsed and rehearsed as to answers to possible questions and landed up in his office at 10 AM sharp in all my finery (we’ve to wear the ceremonial uniform while “calling on” seniors for the first time). The office was completely empty! I didn’t know that in West Bengal no one reaches office before 11. Around 11, people started filing in but there was no SP. I was told that he was on field visits and his arrival time was uncertain. So, I kept waiting and waiting. In that small town, it was not feasible to go to a hotel in all that regalia so I kept getting hungry but had to wait. Finally, the SP came back from his tour at 6 PM and summoned me in. 

He was very genial and gradually, I started feeling more and more comfortable, despite being really famished and disoriented. Suddenly he asked, “Do you drink?” To which, I eagerly replied (probably tongue hanging out!), “Yes, Sir.” Then he said, “But, I don’t.” OMG, my career felt to have ended before it had begun! I tried my best to recover but don’t think did a good job of it. There used to be a system of Annual Confidential Reports (ACRs) which later metamorphosed to Performance Appraisal Reports (PARs). The emphasis in ACRs used to be on “Confidential” so senior officers used to write these without any fear of blowback. The prescribed gradings were Outstanding, Very Good, Good, Average and Poor. For IPS officers, “Good” was actually considered “Bad” because they were expected to be at least “Very Good.” Towards the end of my career, in the interest of transparency, the government decided that the ACRs and PARs should be opened up and made available to the officers concerned. Since I’d got all my promotions on due dates, I’d not bothered much but just before retiring, out of curiosity, I accessed and downloaded all the ACRs/ PARs I’d received during my entire career. I was surprised to find that in the whole career, I’d not received a single ACR/ PAR which was less that “Outstanding,” save one, i.e., that by the above SP who had rated me “Good” which actually amounted to “Bad.” First impressions do count. 

Most of my bosses were actually good, even including the above one. However, I did have one absolutely vile boss who created a lot of problems not only for me and my colleagues but for his own bosses too. 

Right from Day One, he used such filthy language with all his subordinates that we were all stunned. Every day was a fraught affair on inessentials. Sample this. There was a training centre under me. Each new course was formally “inaugurated” by a senior officer. Each time, I would put up a note in the file seeking information as to who would inaugurate and the file would come back generally with the Director General (DG) or the Addl Director General (ADG) consenting to do so and there was never a problem. For one particular course, both the DG and ADG had other commitments and the file returned with my Boss writing that he would inaugurate it. However, the file was personally carried by his Personal Secretary who told me that apart from what Saheb had written on the file he also desired that I should “escort” him from his house. There was no such precedence. The DG and ADG both used to land up at the training centre and we (including my Boss) used to receive them there. I also asked around with other similar organisations regarding their procedures and this was unheard of. The sole purpose for this was to humiliate me and reduce me to the level of a Constable or something in the eyes of the other officials. I didn’t want to create a scene so went to him and said that I’d receive him properly at the training centre as was the practice. He agreed. However, next day, I received a call from the Commandant of the training centre saying that Saheb had called him and directed him to inform me that I was to escort him. 

This made me furious. The order was improper and the means of conveying it was even more so, the Commandant (and earlier his Personal Secretary) being very junior to me. So I told the Commandant that no force on earth could make me do this and also told him to convey it to my Boss and “report compliance.” Caught between the devil and the deep blue sea, the Commandant was panicking. He tried to mumble some diplomatic words to my Boss but the latter was adamant. Out of fear, he didn’t communicate anything to me. On the appointed day and time, I landed up at the Training Centre, waited for some time, inaugurated the programme myself and proceeded to office. 

For such capers, and because of complaints by a large number of officers (including me), my Boss was thrown out of the organisation. Much later, when I met him accidentally, I told him that if only he had invited me nicely to his house, I’d’ve been really happy to go. Surprisingly, when I checked those ACRs/ PARs at the time of my retirement, I found that he’d consistently given me “Outstanding” gradings for the two years I worked with him. Despite all this.

The good cop was bad for me and the bad cop was good for me!