Jackie Heinzer worked at Goldman Sachs from 1988-2002 and was the first female trader to be made a partner. She recently published her own (long) response as to why she left the firm. Also noting a company culture decline, Heinzer says,“the Goldman Sachs I joined in 1988 was not the same one I left in 2002 from a culture perspective. That is one of the reasons I left too. When you put your values out there so publicly you better damn well honor them.”
In response to Heinzer’s piece, blogger the Epicurean Dealmaker says GS’s decline in culture is a question of its leadership, but not for the reason you might think: Senior management’s problem isn’t their moral compass, but rather their focus on short term profits, which is their legal obligation to shareholders as a publicly traded company.
In other news, Forbes suggests that the number one reason talented employees leave a company is because “they’re badly managed and the organization is confusing and uninspiring.” If 30,000 people still work at GS, then maybe it’s not such a bad place after all.
