Mirror Mirror Whose Shadow is Darkest of All!

It takes all sorts to make the world, businessmen, politicians, doctors, lawyer, artists, tradesman, workers, bankers, theologians and society at large. There is a concept of persona and shadow, ethics and values. Everyone tries to project an image and reputation even products need to builds up a brand image, this is also a form of greed or avarice. As Gorden Gekko states in the movie Wall Street “Greed clarifies cuts and captures the essence of the evolutionary spirit. Greed in all its forms: greed for life, for love, for money, for knowledge, for power has marked the upward surge of mankind. Persona is the visible part of our personality, what comes naturally to us, which we unconsciously project to the world. The opposite is the shadow part, which we try to conceal as it contains all the greed, the lust, rage and resentment, shadow also operates on multiple levels community, groups or industry- The shadow of capitalism, religion, politics and war. For a winning persona these ugly shadows have to be repressed for projecting an ethical, reputable image of integrity. Rajat Gupta was gifted, articulate, intelligent, person who nurtured his core competency to become head of McKinsey. He networked and built up relationships but somewhere the negativity escaped from the closet. Where sharing insider information is now a norm, in his case it was a small error that caused his undoing. As celebrity coach S Balu concludes in these times when business houses, banks, wall street, politicians and almost everyone uses unethical ways and in India where the judiciary can’t even keep pace with the scams, and corruption cases that keep tumbling out, role models are becoming a scarce commodity. Conditions, culture and context help shape behavior. Leaders walking the talk will help us re frame our code of ethics and enable us follow the dictates of our conscience.