The article still overflows with ego. From table tennis champion to Rhodes Scholar!
Don't forget the full scholarship to Stanford.
Why I Am Leaving Goldman Sachs
201–210 of 268 posts
Re: Why I Am Leaving Goldman Sachs
#202Earlier quoted context omitted.
Currently work at Google, obviously speaking for myself and not my employer. In my experience - yes, this moral decay is a necessary part of the current corporate world. Or any corporate world. Or really, any world without the possibility of failure baked into it. I've seen a lot of idiotic decisions made at Google, many of which have been complained about on Hacker News, many more of which are hidden causes of thing…
I really think that you're completely missing the point in defending Google and maybe Goldman Sachs by saying that their decisions are ok because they are made rationally. Rationality is emotionless and mechanical. It's about making a reasonable decision based on whatever information is available to you. However, rational decisions do not involve morals, culture, or feelings. This is exactly what companies like Googl…
> If I look down into my wallet and see no money there, and I'm hungry for lunch, and I decide to steal some money from a little old lady, that may be a perfectly rational decision to make.
And that reasoning is the very definition of the term unethical.
Re: Why I Am Leaving Goldman Sachs
#203Earlier quoted context omitted.
I really think being publicly-traded companies is the root of the problem here. When a company goes public, it adopts one (and only one) goal: Maximize shareholder value. When that's the priority, it naturally follows that the sharks take over the waters. This is not a tough leap of logic, and it's repeated in corporate culture constantly. We need a famous person to quote it succinctly so that it is enshrined as a co…
I once worked for a guy who was considering incorporating his two-person company. His investors were mostly family and professional contacts. One day he was talking about how it would limit his decision-making because of his obligation to always do what was most profitable for the shareholders. He was potentially facing a choice between selling out to a much larger company or staying independent so he could develop t…
I think the whole "fiduciary duty" argument is mostly used by assholes as an excuse for being assholes. Managers of corporations have wide latitude to do as they see fit. Successful shareholder lawsuits of this type are extremely rare.
Re: Why I Am Leaving Goldman Sachs
#204Goldman has a kind of hilarious understated response, in which they note that this guy was a VP (there are thousands of VPs at Goldman) and that the group he managed consisted of him and him alone. Plus, this was a bad year for bonuses. Nothing like a slow career and a dwindling bank account to make you aware of how morally imperative it is that you switch careers! The people I know at Goldman are generally bright an…
I agree that the Goldman response is funny, but that is not enough to dismiss the claims in the OP.
Several times now there have been internal documents and emails released that verify not only that there are people in GS that really are not looking out for their clients, but this was a fundamental strategy when it came to at least some of the derivatives they were selling, knowing that they were shit deals.
Sure, the argument can be made that it's just a 'few bad eggs,' but that argument just gets you so far.
Now, it's not out of the realm of possibility that that some of these things are taken out of context. In IT, it's pretty common to vent concerning some... difficult customers.
I think it's fair to say that you're right that some good people work there. Conceding that, I would like to see more by GS to address some of these other things.
Re: Why I Am Leaving Goldman Sachs
#205Earlier quoted context omitted.
Mirabile Dictu! http://online.wsj.com/article/SB1000142405270230469280457728... When Goldman doled out annual bonuses earlier this year, Mr. Smith's small payment became a point of friction, according to people familiar with the matter. Mr. Smith hadn't previously voiced his concerns about Goldman to his managers, according to people familiar with the matter. Occam's Razor says that the NYT was masterfully trolled.
He effectively blacklists himself from any future job in finance (and therefore ends his career) just because he doesn't like his bonus? So no, it's not Occam's Razor: if he were merely unhappy with his bonus, he would call another i-bank and move on. BTW, I notice you're always quick to defend the big money status quo around here (you were against net neutrality a while back, IIRC). What's in it for you, as a mere S…
He could be doubling down. Sorta like they did on Mad Men after losing the tobacco contract.
He figures finance is dead as a way to make people wealthy, so he's setting himself up for a career change into criticism of the financial industry, which looks like it's a booming business.
Michael Lewis ended his career in finance by writing Liar's Poker. But he jump-started a successful career as an author and journalist. Something tells me he's doing better than he ever could have in his old career.
Re: Why I Am Leaving Goldman Sachs
#206I've no love for GS, but an interesting counterpoint to consider (from http://www.forbes.com/sites/bruceupbin/2012/03/14/unshocked-...
):
"'There are a couple of things out of place. 1) This guy has been at firm for 12 years and is only a VP…a pissant of sorts. He should have been an MD-light by now, so clearly he has been running in place for some time. 2) He was in U.S. equity derivatives in London…sort of like equities in Dallas…more confirmation he is a lightweight. Somewhere along the line he has had sand kicked in his face…and is not as good as he thinks he is. That happens to a lot of high achievers there.'"
Re: Why I Am Leaving Goldman Sachs
#207I know a lot of people who have left Goldman, etc. in the past few months, specifically for tech jobs. It's because 2011 bonuses were utter crap. (and it is toxic I'm sure, but the $ was the main thing)
If I may ask >specifically for tech jobs Which kind of tech jobs? For banks, or something unrelated?
I left Goldman Sachs for Facebook - a few left for Google, and of course startups, etc.
Re: Why I Am Leaving Goldman Sachs
#208I've no love for GS, but an interesting counterpoint to consider (from http://www.forbes.com/sites/bruceupbin/2012/03/14/unshocked-... ): "'There are a couple of things out of place. 1) This guy has been at firm for 12 years and is only a VP…a pissant of sorts. He should have been an MD-light by now, so clearly he has been running in place for some time. 2) He was in U.S. equity derivatives in London…sort of like equ…
Still, his lack of success within Goldman doesn't take away from what he has to say. This is basically an ad hominem attack - instead of refuting what he has to say, GS (or it's supporters) attempt to tarnish this guy's image.
Re: Why I Am Leaving Goldman Sachs
#209It's interesting how the tone of this article is almost exactly the same as the one about the Microsoft employee that recently quit Google. Something happens to companies as they get larger, where the culture of a company starts dying from a death-by-a-thousand-cuts, and then they start promoting the wrong people into upper management that seem to really poison a very good company culture. It sounds like Goldman Sach…
"It's interesting how the tone of this article is almost exactly the same as the one about the Microsoft employee that recently quit Google."
An interesting difference, though, is the Goldman-Sachs employee sees a problem with focusing on short-term gains, while the Google employee sees a mistake in a long-term bet (that Google can compete successfully with Facebook in the social realm).
Re: Why I Am Leaving Goldman Sachs
#210Earlier quoted context omitted.
> I try to be a good person. I try to be honest. I try to stand up for people. But I couldn't help her. For a year I gave as much moral support as I could without the inner circle knowing. But the politics were too thick and toxic to touch. You "could not" help her? That's not exactly true, is it? It's just that if you had, there would have been negative consequences for yourself , and so, you didn't. Thanks for the…
> You "could not" help her? That's not exactly true, is it? It's just that if you had, there would have been negative consequences for yourself, and so, you didn't. I think the question isn't so much whether he could have tried to help her, as whether it would have done any good. The end result might well have been no improvement in her situation and a drastic worsening of his. In other words, negative consequences f…
Perhaps the positive consequence could be the simple matter of having done something because it is right.
Perhaps he could look back on that period of time and reflect that, rather than watch it happen, he took action. Even if it accomplished nothing, he could at least say "I saw something wrong and I worked to right it."
What can he say now? "I saw something wrong, watched it happen, and vacationed in Europe until I felt better."
One of these is morally praiseworthy. The other is not.