Does Greg Smith look like a man who can hurt Goldman Sachs?
He certainly did his best this morning, resigning from his position as an executive in the company's London office and composing a disparaging Op-Ed to be run in the New York Times. In the letter, he was candid in describing the international firm's culture, which he says has grown far more "toxic and destructive" in the 12 years since he first joined. He insisted that greed has taken hold of employees to the point where the wellbeing of clients is getting overlooked.
Smith's actions generated a great deal of noise among in corporate and public circles alike. After all, in a world where large companies have public relations officials working around the clock to drown us in good news, hearing a negative critique is rare, especially when it comes from the inside.
So he made his point and told us what he thinks. Moving forward now, it'll be interesting to see if the nation's business leaders of tomorrow care.
At the very least, the mighty investment bank has plenty of potential room to fall. As reported by Forbes' Kurt Badenhausen this afternoon, when Universum, an American employer research firm, conducted its most recent annual poll of which organizations MBA students viewed to be the most desirable to work for, Goldman Sachs was fourth in the U.S. Only Google, McKinsey & Co. and Apple placed higher. According to the survey, it was the sixth year in a row that Goldman was ranked at least that high.
The young professionals that are drawn to a place like Goldman Sachs are both highly intelligent and highly ambitious, and the statistics provided by Universum suggest that it would likely take a lot more than one disgruntled mid-level employee to discourage MBAs from working like dogs to earn their place with the company.
I don't know that this is necessarily a bad thing or a good thing. All I know is that if Smith's warning, that Goldman will not remain sustainable if it continues in the moral direction it's been headed, ends up being a prophecy, then he'll be able to drop a heck of an "I told you so" on many of our nation's hyper-motivated youths.
http://www.forbes.com/sites/kurtbadenhausen/2012/03/14/greg-smith-doesnt-like-goldman-sachs-but-mbas-still-do/
-Brian Seliber
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