There's a question that I read a couple of years ago that keeps coming back to me as I look at things that are happening and read things that are being printed in the news media. It's a question that was posed by a Harvard professor to his students at the end of their time at Harvard Business School. The question was, "How can I stay out of jail?" it initially evoked lighthearted laughter from students. But Clayton Christensen who was the Harvard professor says, "It's one of the most important questions that you will need to answer before you leave Harvard Business School."
He actually gives 3 questions:
1. How can I be sure that I will be happy in my career?
2. How can I be sure that my relationships with my spouse and family will be a continuous and enduring source of happiness?
3. How can I be sure that I will stay out of jail?
It's a sobering question for all students as he tells them: "Look at everything that you have learnt at Harvard Business School. Then try and distill it through these two questions because if you can keep these questions and have answers for them, then you will be successful in all that you do in life." how can I be sure that I will stay out of jail?
Today's Economic Times had an interesting photo article by TV Mahalingam entitled, "10 businessmen who shone bright before flaming out." It has a picture of ten people; their names have cropped up over the years and you may have heard of some of them:
· Harshad Mehta, the B-Com graduate who ruled the markets till his Rs.4000-crore stocks scam was exposed in 1992
· Ketan Parekh who was a trainee of Harshad Mehta, manipulated stocks popularly known as the K-10 stocks and was exposed in 2001. He was debarred from trading till 2012
· Satyam's flame, Ramalinga Raju, one of the pioneers of the Indian IT industry, confessed to cooking Satyam's books and landed up in jail
· Allen Stanford, the jet-setting billionaire, had a fleet of jets, luxury yachts and a knighthood to boot. Found guilty of one of the largest Ponzi schemes in US history, he was sentenced to 110 years in jail.
· Jordan Belfort, better known through the movie 'The Wolf of Wall Street', worth $200 million. He blew it all on yachts, drugs and wild parties and spent 22 months in prison.
· And others.
We all read with some sadness when we hear how the mighty have fallen, as one lyricist put it. But "10 business who shone bright before flaming out" was how Mahalingam put it. But it made me think of Clayton Christensen and his question: How can I be sure that I will stay out of jail? Most people don't start out thinking, "How can I go to jail?"
I remember as a child, my dad was a wonderful reader. I could talk to him on any subject as he was so widely read. I remember hearing these three words, "Veni, vedi, vici" when he talked about Julius Caesar. I only realized later that it was a quote used by Julius Caesar when he wrote to the Roman senate after achieving victory in the city of Zela, way back in 46 BC. I came; I saw; I conquered. Sometimes when we look at what's going on in the corporate world, it seems like that. There's a rising star – I came, I saw what was around and I conquered. And yet, that conquering sometimes, as Mahalingam puts it, flames out. It doesn't stay, it's not a bright spark that will continue to glow and glow for generations to come and build a wonderful legacy. Sometimes it just flames out.
That brings the question back to center: What do we need to do to stay out of jail? Clayton Christensen says, "Two of my class of 32 Rhodes scholars went on to jail terms. One of them was Jeff Skilling of the Enron fame." I want us to forget about the 10 people mentioned or the people we know who have fallen, and just focus on ourselves. It may be pushing the borders here to think of jail and ourselves in the same frame of reference. When we begin to do well, to get fame, to get popular, to have resources and money, there's a feeling of being invincible that begins to creep in. Being invincible always has to do with pride. We've all heard the old adage: Pride goes before a fall.
But if we need to think seriously about that question, then we need to examine our lives and check and see whether there is pride. I'm not talking about the kind of pride that we have in doing something well in the company that we work for, or the work that we produce. But as Louis the Eleventh said, "When pride and presumption walk before, shame and loss follow very closely." I'm talking about the pride that the ancient Greeks called hubris (those who thought themselves superior to the gods). It entailed the moral failings of not knowing one's place in a system. Hubris really is false pride. The hubristic are puffed up with pride, exaggerate their importance, act recklessly in pursuit of glory and may believe themselves to be infallible. "Hubris is pride that has gone wrong" as Dr. Steven Aicinea, Professor of Kinesiology at the University of Texas.
C.S. Lewis observed, "There is no fault which makes a man/woman more unpopular and no fault which we are more unconscious of in ourselves. The more we have it in ourselves, the more we dislike it in others."
William Law wrote a book many years ago and he says, "There can be no surer proof of a confirmed pride than a belief that one is sufficiently humble."
So how do we check and see if we have pride that is lurking around somewhere within? We need to bring it out into the light so that we can deal with it. C.S. Lewis says, "How much do I dislike it when other people snub me or refuse to take any notice of me, or push me around or patronize me or show off? When we see that happening to us, then we can be sure that we are dealing with pride."
What can I do to make sure that I will stay out of jail? At the heart of it, pride blinds us to what is right and what is wrong. Pride makes us think that we are invincible, that we can never get caught. It may start with something very small, yet subtle and insidious that is just being nestled and nurtured in our own lives. Even as I prepared this talk, I have been asking myself the question: Help me Lord to see if there is pride in me. Because it is so tricky to recognize, we are better off asking God to reveal it to us, so that we can take this pride and get it out of our systems. That's my prayer for each one of you today. That somehow we would search deep within ourselves, ask God for wisdom to see if there is any root of pride within us.
The Scriptures say, "When pride comes, then comes disgrace." So I join you in saying, "Let's together check our lives, our hearts, those hidden things that are in our lives and see if there is any lurking suspicion of pride and then, let's deal with it today.
May I pray with you? Almighty God, with each one of us on this call, give us wisdom. Search our hearts and help us to see if there is lurking pride. If there is, give us the wisdom to deal with it so that we can live lives of moral integrity and honor. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.
• Clayton M. Christensen, "How Will You Measure Your Life?" Harvard Business Review, July-August 2010.
• TV Mahalingam, "10 Businessmen who shone bright before flaming out." Economic Times, 29 July 2014. Page 18
• "Veni, vedi, vici." I Came, I Saw, I Conquered. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Veni,_vidi,_vici
• "When pride and presumption walk before..." Louis the Eleventh.
• Dr. Steven Aicinea, "When Pride Goes Wrong" (Hubristic Pride) http://thesportjournal.org/article/when-pride-goes-wrong/
• Thomas A. Tarrants, III, "Pride and Humility." Quotes by C.S.Lewis and William Law. http://www.cslewisinstitute.org/Pride_and_Humility_SinglePage
• "When pride comes, then comes disgrace. Prov. 11:2
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