Still, the old guard were blindsided by his elevation. Some of the elder statesmen who had squarely placed their chips on more traditional candidates tried to discount Gupta’s victory. They claimed that there was a campaign to elect Gupta, an effort that involved heavy lobbying and phone calls between directors in various offices. McKinsey never formally educated its voting directors about the candidates. While it was not uncommon for there to be phone calls among various offices about potential candidates, some of the old guard felt that the lobbying before the 1994 election was
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