Current Events
Integrity In Corporate World A Rare Commodity
ARJAN SINGH
I have worked in Corporate America (from startups to Fortune 100 companies) for more than 10 years. This experience has exposed me to a multitude of experiences, ranging from good to bad to outright horror.
It is important to note that in the last 15 years there has been an influx of immigrants from China and India. These are two countries that contribute the maximum to the annual immigration to the US.
I am going to focus on the Indian corporate professionals more as I know the culture a tad better.
As we speak, there are, literally, factories in India that are churning out so-called engineers and IT professionals with a range of degrees. As per my calculation; more than 50% of these degrees are awarded based on shoddy coursework and practically anyone with sufficient monies, and little else, can enrol and get these degrees.
As I was finishing my undergraduate degree here in the US, two of the largest accounting scandals brought two US corporate giants, Tyco and Enron, down. As is well known now; their accounting was outright false and criminal charges were filed against multiple executives. Enron collapsed completely and thousands of employees lost their jobs.
The Sarbanes-Oxley Act was passed to prevent such future scandals and scenarios.
I followed this story closely and as I entered the corporate environment I was cognizant of these accounting scandals.
The slew of sordid stories made me very skeptical and the more I paid attention, I realized that in fact many professionals were, and are, involved in such behavior.
It is true that many professionals of Indian origin have left their mark and have been successful in their chosen professions, but at the same time some of the largest frauds/scams have been committed by Indian-origin professionals as well.
Here is a short list of individuals that have been held responsible for corporate misconduct … and I am being very polite in describing their behaviour thus:
Rajat Gupta – served as Managing Director at McKinsey, one of the most powerful Consulting firms.
Raj Rajaratnam – held responsible for Insider Trading at the Galleon Group.
Anil Kumar - held responsible for Insider Trading at the Galleon Group.
Sanjay Kumar – CEO of Computer Associates, held responsible for securities fraud.
Ramalinga Raju – CEO of Satyam Computer Services, held responsible for accounting fraud along with 10 senior executives of the same company in India.
This gives a good snapshot of how serious and prevalent corporate misconduct is in modern day corporations. On the flip side, here is another shortlist of successful individuals who started from humble roots and did not sacrifice their ethics to be successful:
Ajay Singh Banga -- President & CEO, MasterCard
Mohanbir Singh Sawhney – leading management consultant, author and Technology academic (Kellogg School of Management).
Satjiv Singh Chahil – Global business and marketing executive
Ratanjit Singh Sondhe – Chemical Industry entrepreneur and life coach
Chain Singh Sandhu – Auto industry executive and entrepreneur (CEO, NYX Corp)
For every negative story, there is a positive one and there are many success stories of Sikh men and women. However, since the numbers are so low, they never come into the limelight.
This has brought me to the conclusion that this is entirely a numbers game. Even if the majority of the Sikh community plays by the rules and work its back off to achieve hard-earned success, it remain in oblivion; because quite frankly these Sikh men and women do not fit the stereotype of corporate success.
Therefore, it is not sufficient for us as a community to get up in the morning and work hard; it is equally important to learn to use the media and communication channels to send a positive and holistic message to the world.
Or else, we will be forever lumped with the so-called 'Indian-origin' charlatans and as the world outside is not aware of the level of hypocrisy in India, the Sikh image will keep taking a beating through association.
June 13, 2015
Conversation about this article
1: Bhai Harbans Lal (Dallas, Texas, USA), June 13, 2015, 7:51 PM.
I would certainly include Narinder Singh Kapany, Mohinder Singh Gill, Inder Mohan Singh, and others.
2: Arjan Singh (USA), June 13, 2015, 9:12 PM.
Yes, I know about Dr. Narinder Singh of Fiber Optics fame. I gave these names just to illustrate that there are numerous personalities out there who deserve more recognition. Actually, I have a long list of distinguished personalities and was able to source biographies of some of them with great difficulty, over the years. I left Dr. Narinder Singh's name out intentionally as he merits an entire article on his life and work; and if it has not been written, I will definitely write one in the future. Here are others who are worthy of entire articles on their life's work: Dr. Piara Singh Gill (Nuclear Physicist and Manhattan Project contributor), Dr. Parvinder Singh (Ranbaxy CEO who spearheaded new drug research in India), S. Gurpreet Singh (executive at one of the few semi-conductor manufacturing companies in India), Lt. General Harbaksh Singh, Dr. Mohinder Singh Randhawa, Dr. Satish Dhawan (Aerospace Engineer), Capt. Mohan Singh Kohli (Mountaineer who set a world record of planting nine men on the summit of Everest), SG Thakur Singh (an artist), Montek Singh Ahluwalia (accomplished economist, who actually worked with former US Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara at the World Bank), etc. Then there is one Dr. Harbans Lal from Texas; lest we forget his accomplishments. :-)
3: Jasbeer Singh (India), June 16, 2015, 6:05 AM.
Completely agree with the author. However, though Sikhs are not in majority, they are always in the majority in all good lists.
4: Arjan Singh (USA), June 16, 2015, 4:08 PM.
Jasbeer ji: I wish I could agree with the second part of your comment. Yes, up until the late 1970s, the Sikh community may have been pioneers and doers, but in the last 30 years their pace has slowed down. Reasons are too many to list, but one of them is the Indian eco-system. A country that does not even allow the import of scientific equipment by a world class scientist in the 1950s can/has slowed down the pace of the proverbial 'Flying Sikhs'. Achievements of the past cannot ensure triumphs of the future. Note: stay tuned for my next article that will explain the 'scientific equipment' issue of the 1950s.