By Lauren Tara LaCapra
NEW YORK Oct 21 (Reuters) – The tell-all book that Goldman
Sachs Group Inc former equity derivatives salesman Greg
Smith has delivered may end up being remembered more for the
marketing skills he picked up at the Wall Street bank than for
any bombshell revelations.
Smith created a furor earlier this year when he resigned
from the blue chip Wall Street firm, alleging in a New York
Times Op-Ed column that the firm had engendered a “toxic”
culture of treating clients as “muppets” – slang in Britain for
idiots – and relieving them of their money.
Smith then promised a book about the bank, building up
expectations of an exposé with new insights about the culture at
Goldman. The threat prompted a public relations campaign and
internal inquiries at the bank, as it tried to avoid another hit
to its image after suffering a barrage of bad publicity in
recent years.
Smith reportedly received $1.5 million as an upfront payment
for the book, which is being published by Grand Central
Publishing, a unit of Hachette. He has lined up a series of
interviews, including one with Reuters, to talk about the book
“Why I left Goldman Sachs”, which will be released on Monday.
Early reviews of Smith’s 288-page book are now in, and they
aren’t good. Reviewers, who received copies of the full book,
have panned it for being a sleepy read with no big revelations
— or worse, misleading.
The tawdriest revelations are about a bachelor party in Las
Vegas with a topless woman, and Smith having seen Lloyd
Blankfein, Goldman’s chief executive, in the buff after
showering at the gym.
“There were no examples of a toxic culture at work, no
actual names of morally bankrupt people and no examples of a
client getting ripped off,” wrote James Stewart, himself the
author of top selling business books such as Den of Thieves, in
his column in the New York Times.
“Mr. Smith’s book might even bolster Goldman’s reputation.
After all, if Mr. Smith is the ultimate insider, and this is as
bad as it gets – Mr. Smith in a hot tub at the Mandalay Bay
Hotel in Las Vegas with a topless woman – then he hasn’t made
much of a case,” said Stewart.
Continued…
