Don’t be Rajat Gupta

Rajat studied in IIT Delhi & did his MBA in Harvard university, he then joined Mckinsey in 1973, and worked there for over 30 years. In 1994 he became the MD, first foreign born national to lead the company.

Intelligent, hard working, self-made multi-millionaire, by 2008 he was reportedly worth $100 million, but then something happened. He was charged by the FBI & sentenced to 2 years imprisonment for insider trading.

Why? Someone with $100m in their pockets wants to do something which can ruin their life. How come they put the same reputation at stake which earns them millions?

In this case, I believe it was greed, the never ending desire for more, which overtook his own principles.

If you look around, you will find several stories like these, riches to rags, high reputation to low. People who really did well in their studies, life, career, suddenly fall from the sky. Charlie Munger calls it multiplying things with Zero. Your success score might be big, but if you multiply it with Zero, you have nothing.

One wrong move, especially related to integrity, character, can bring you down to your knees and reverse all your progress. So be mindful, and be on the right track. Worry less about the speed of success, and more about the direction.