If you are going to resign from one the world’s largest investment banks, I guess you got to do it in style. Greg Smith, resigned today from his position as Executive Director from Goldman Sachs and yesterday his letter was published in the New York Times.
The letter exposes the sheer nature of the culture within investment banks that seethes most of us and finally one individual has stood up to be counted after 12 years of working at the company that he once loved. Clients are said to be referred to as “muppets” internally by senior management, clients’ best interests are sidelined in the way the bank makes money and there is a distinct lack of integrity in the way business is conducted. So will anyone take notice of Greg Smith or will his resignation letter just go on a pile and he be forgotton. Furthermore, who will employ him now that he has made such a public statement about his previous employers?
This is one of the drawbacks about standing up for yourself or exposing companies for bad ethics and business practices. Most of us in employment probably could not afford to be so righteous and some of us are just grateful that we are still in employment and not included in the redundancy packages that float around companies.
A friend of mine who worked for a large pharmaceutical company wasn’t even provided an exit interview because her management knew that she would spill all the beans of bad business practices, unethical activities and judgments. For her career, it was in her best interest to move on after falling out of a love with a company she had worked for for 10 years. Sometimes, as Greg Smith points out, senior management just don’t want to hear what is wrong with the way they work.
If you have a boss or practices you want to rant about, then please comment.
Bunty
The Chatterjis Blog 
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