Goldman Exec Says Goodbye to the ‘Destructive’ Firm

In an open letter to the New York Times, Greg Smith explains how drastic changes in company culture led to his resignation today as one of Goldman Sachs’ executive directors.

When Smith began work at Goldman as an intern, he asserts the company’s success “revolved around teamwork, integrity, a spirit of humility, and always doing right by our clients.” Smith says that mindset was the company’s “secret sauce” that helped them build trust with clients for over 140 years.

However, Smith now asserts that Goldman is “as toxic and destructive” as he has even seen it. Smith asserts the company has placed profits over the interests of their clients, and as long as employees can make money without becoming “an ax murderer” they can be promoted within Goldman. Smith believes he had no choice but to resign given that he “can no longer in good conscience identify with what [Goldman] stands for.”

Smith’s letter sent shockwaves around Wall Street and certainly within Goldman Sachs. Lloyd Blankfein, Goldman’s CEO, released an internal memo saying that Smith’s assertions “do not reflect our values, our culture, and how the vast majority of people at Goldman…think about the firm…”

Blankfein also asserts that Smith’s comments “should not represent our firm of more than 30,000 people,” and that he expects employees to find Smith’s claims as “foreign from [their] own day-to-day experiences.” Despite Blankfein’s rebuttal, it is hard to discredit Smith’s assertions given his former position in the company.

Smith served as head of Goldman’s United States equity derivatives business in Europe, the Middle East and Africa. In addition, Smith once managed the New York sales and trading summer intern program. Of the 30,000+ employees at Goldman, Smith was selected “as one of ten people to appear in [their] recruiting video, which is played on every college campus [Goldman] visits around the world.”

This suggests that Goldman Sachs, as well as other firms on Wall Street, may still need to reconsider some of their key business practices. Smith asserts firms like Goldman are “too integral to global finance to continue to act this way.” In his final sentence, Smith says, “People who care only about making money will not sustain this firm — or the trust of its clients — for very much longer.” 

It is likely those people will not sustain this nation’s economic well-being either.


- Jarrett W. Smith