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Greg Smith, the South-African born Goldman Sachs former executive director and head of the investment bank\u2019s US equity derivatives business in Europe, the Middle East and Africa, is one remarkable fellow. Plucky, too. <\/p>\n
His stock has risen, while Goldman Sachs\u2019 has fallen. He wrote a tell-all letter in the New York Times last week, saying he was quitting his cushy job because he was sick of the moral bankruptcy pervading the company. <\/p>\n
The firm\u2019s shares dipped 3.5 percent in New York soon after his resignation. <\/p>\n
Smith decried the toxicity of the firm\u2019s operations and its jettisoning of the entrenched culture of \u201cdoing right by its customers\u201d. His colleagues openly call customers \u201cmuppets\u201d. A far cry from the company he joined as an intern 12 years ago, according to Smith. <\/p>\n
His letter read in part: \u201cI hope this can be a wake-up call to the board of directors. <\/p>\n
\u201cMake the client the focal point of your business again. Without clients you will not make money. In fact, you will not exist. <\/p>\n
\u201cWeed out the morally bankrupt people, no matter how much money they make for the firm. <\/p>\n
\u201cAnd get the culture right again, so people want to work here for the right reasons. <\/p>\n
\u201cPeople who care only about making money will not sustain this firm \u2013 or the trust of its clients \u2013 for very much longer.\u201d <\/p>\n
In the aftermath of his resignation, some people hailed Smith as honourable. <\/p>\n
I have to agree with this view. Of course, capitalists without scruples can\u2019t be condemned enough. And I\u2019m all for Smith heeding Irish statesman and author Edmund Burke\u2019s conscience-pricking counsel: \u201cAll that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing.\u201d <\/p>\n
In an age where greed by executives has become commonplace, we need more like Smith. <\/p>\n
But I have one small problem with Smith here. Since when did bad-mouthing your former employer become honourable? It\u2019s akin to kissing and telling. Either I\u2019m missing something or human resources has evolved. I\u2019ve been led to believe that you do not speak ill of your former employer on leaving his employ. And there are other avenues where you could vent your spleen, such as the exit letter. <\/p>\n
For the record, I hold no brief for Goldman Sachs. And I\u2019m not pro-employer. <\/p>\n
In fact, I take a dim view of the investment banking giant and its ilk for their unethical, albeit legal, ways of maximising profits. <\/p>\n
I\u2019d rather my compatriot did not stick it out for so long, he\u2019s been uneasy about his former employers since about 2006, before (re)discovering his principles. He should have quit as soon as he realised the firm had lost its scruples. <\/p>\n
My mates and I hardly agree on issues, but for the first time we were in unison on this one. <\/p>\n
Man of Letters said: \u201cThis guy has used the company to build his brand, now he is ditching it like a leper. I don\u2019t buy his story. He\u2019s been complicit in ripping off customers. In my book, he\u2019s a snake.\u201d <\/p>\n
Mavovo, mumbling expletives, said: \u201cHe\u2019s bitten the hand that used to feed him. Why speak out now, after such a long time?\u201d <\/p>\n
Migrant Worker said: \u201cJa, I agree. But I\u2019m not sure what is the right time to resign.\u201d <\/p>\n
The small matter of the stomach is always there, isn\u2019t it. <\/p>\n
\u201cYou can\u2019t eat principles,\u201d goes the colloquialism. <\/p>\n
I say \u201cyay\u201d to Smith for speaking out against unbridled capitalism, but \u201cnay\u201d to his speaking ill of his former employer. Bad-mouthing your boss \u2013 and they can be unscrupulous \u2013 smacks of bitterness and hypocrisy. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Greg Smith, the South-African born Goldman Sachs former executive director and head of the investment bank\u2019s US equity derivatives business in Europe, the Middle East and Africa, is one remarkable fellow. Plucky, too. His stock has risen, while Goldman Sachs\u2019 has fallen. He wrote a tell-all letter in the New York Times last week, saying […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[1],"tags":[8275,953,2143],"class_list":{"0":"post-9261","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-south-africa","7":"tag-durban","8":"tag-newspaper","9":"tag-the-mercury","10":"entry"},"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9261","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9261"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9261\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9261"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9261"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9261"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}