Rajat Gupta - Career - McKinsey & Company

McKinsey & Company

Gupta joined McKinsey & Company in 1973 as one of the earliest Indian-Americans at the consultancy. He was initially rejected because of inadequate work experience, a decision that was overturned after his Harvard Business School professor Walter J. Salmon called Ron Daniel, then head of the New York office and later also the managing director of McKinsey, on Gupta's behalf.

Gupta began his career in New York before moving to Scandinavia to become the head of McKinsey offices in 1981. He did well in what was then considered a "backwater" area; this is where he first made his mark. Elected senior partner in 1984, he became head of the Chicago office in 1990. In 1994 he was elected the firm's first managing director (chief executive) born outside of the US, and re-elected twice in 1997 and 2000. In this capacity, he was considered the first Indian-born CEO of a multinational organization.

Gupta's mentors at McKinsey included Ron Daniel, the former managing director who as senior partner first hired Gupta into the New York office, and Anupam (Tino) Puri, the first Indian at the Firm and eventual senior partner. He, in turn, mentored Anil Kumar as another early Indian-American at the consultancy. Gupta and Kumar "were the face of McKinsey in India." According to The Financial Times, "the two operated as a forceful double-act to secure business for McKinsey, win access in Washington and build a brotherhood of donors around the Hyderabad-based ISB and a handful of social initiatives."

During Gupta's time as head of McKinsey, the firm opened offices in 23 new countries and doubled its consultant base. His successor Ian Davis was elected by "emphasizing the need for a return to the McKinsey heritage". This was seen as a reaction against Gupta's aggressive firm expansion. It was also a time of perceived shifting of standards. Enron, closely identified with McKinsey, collapsed during Gupta's tenure. During the dot-com bubble he and Anil Kumar created a program for McKinsey to accept payment from its clients in stock. Gupta's accountability for the shifting of standards was weighed differently by different observers.

After completing three full terms (the maximum allowed, by a rule he had himself initiated) and nearly a decade as head of the firm, Gupta became senior partner again in 2003 and senior partner emeritus in 2007. Gupta is widely regarded as one of the first Indians to successfully break through the glass ceiling, as the first Indian-born CEO of a multinational corporation (not just a consultancy).

Gupta maintained an office, executive assistant, email and phone at McKinsey and Company after 2007, and maintains the title "senior partner emeritus" of the firm. He also continued to receive a salary from McKinsey as senior partner emeritus, totaling $6 million in 2008 and $2.5 million for each of the following three years. However, in the wake of subsequent scandals a McKinsey spokesperson was quoted as saying, "Our firm no longer has a professional relationship with Rajat Gupta." According to NDTV, "sources tell us that the firm dropped Mr Gupta from its alumni database, and called clients worldwide to say that they would have nothing to do with him going forward." The manner in which the firm severed ties with its former head attracted some controversy.