You can believe what you want - I asked my friends on both sides of the business at GS and other firms - Greg’s a nobody.
http://blogs.wsj.com/deals/2012/03/14/goldman-rejects-claims-made-by-disgruntled-executive/
The telegraph needs to fact check.
A person familiar with the matter said Mr. Smith’s role is actually vice president, a relatively junior position held by thousands of Goldman employees around the world. And Mr. Smith is the only employee in the derivatives business that he heads, this person said.
Greg Smith is the Chico Escuela of Wall St!
First of all, a VP claims to be an executive director: well, there you go, an indication of what type of people GS hires, how they self-inflate themselves, and how the culture probably warped this guy over time.
Then there was his weird self-promotion at the end, as though we needed it: another example of the weird self-inflation these egoistic guys are prone to do, and what the culture spawns. Finally, what’s up with an open letter to the NYT in the first place on his quitting day? He was angry and focused on himself - typical GS employee.
Then there was the Goldman Sachs response. They belittle their VPs!! VPs, though there are a lot of them, carry a lot of responsibility in terms of client relationships, selling, and underwriting. (You may agree or disagree that it’s a lot of responsibility... but GS gives them a lot of flexibility in the way they operate.)
Furthermore, rather than focusing on the general perceptions that the public has of them, GS throws this guy under the bus. Very mafioso.
To suggest he was a “peon” simply underscores the thinking at Goldman. Are “little people”, as Leona Helmsley referred to staff, any less qualified as observers after a decade on the job?
Who knows why this guy blew the whistle - maybe he was passed over for promotion, or maybe someone really pissed him off - but who cares? It’s an enlightening message. And the whole interchange highlights what is wrong with the place in broad daylight. I don’t believe that all bankers are “evil” or whatever, but GS is a real mess in any case.
All I can say is this -— Greg Smith clearly struck a nerve. Otherwise the C-Suite wouldn’t be wasting their time justifying the Op-Ed with a PUBLIC response.
Truth hurts...