During my consulting days in New York, three of us were walking to our client’s office for a meeting. One of my colleagues was an Indian-American while the other was Jewish.
The Indian-American asked, “Why are so many consultants, lawyers, and bankers Jewish?”
The Jewish guy asked, “What do you think?”
The Indian-American replied with a smile, “Maybe, Jews love money 😊 ”
The Jewish guy said in mock anger, “You are a bloody racist!”
He further explained, “Jews were once not allowed to own property. So they went into professional services. Also, the traditionally all-white banks would not hire Jews. So they started their own banks like Goldman Sachs and Lehman brothers.”
In the end, the very obstacles that were meant to throttle the Jewish community’s progress, made them dominate trade, industry, and media in the US.
This is not to say that discrimination on the grounds of race, religion, and gender doesn’t matter — we have to fight them tooth and nail.
But sometimes, constraints bring out the best in you.
At the end of the day, all the land, capital, and natural resources will not add up to the power of one thing — the human spirit.
– Rajan