Question: Everywhere you look, there's compelling evidence that the single-minded pursuit of wealth runs contrary to the scientific attitude. A big story touching the investment banking community was the conviction of Raj Rajaratnam on 14 counts of insider trading. Rajaratnam's greed-driven scheme, according to the Harvard Business Review, will lead to destroyed reputations and significant prison terms for senior officials at IBM, McKinsey, and other companies.
Before that, the big story was the resignation and disgrace of Berkshire Hathaway's David Sokol, who was once thought to be the likely successor to CEO Warren Buffet. Sokol's zeal to cash in suspiciously timed investments of the stock of a company Berkshire later bought, led to his humiliation. How does one reconcile the scientific attitude and role of "manager as scientist" with a willingness to risk everything to achieve more money than they'll ever need?