Goldman Sachs, Not Criminal, Just "Deceptive and Immoral"
The Week in Ethics
Goldman Sachs, Not Criminal, Just "Deceptive and Immoral"
Update: October 21, 2012, Former Goldman VP Greg Smith was interviewed on 60 Minutes about why he left Goldman seven months ago. For more than two years, Goldman Sachs’ reputation has been under fire for its alleged role in the financial crisis. August 9, 2012, the U.S. Justice Department (DOJ) announced it won’t prosecute Goldman […]
read more »Goldman Sachs’ Investment Facilitated Sex Trafficking: The Ethics of Owning What You Buy
Goldman Sachs finds itself in the very uncomfortable place of having exposed its investment in Backpage.com, one of a myriad of its investments. Backspage is a website accepting prostitution ads that included using under-age teenagers as forced sex slaves. Goldman’s latest negative headlines raise larger issues that apply to any company investing in other businesses. […]
read more »Goldman Sachs’ 2012 Problem with Culture
The love-hate relationship with Wall Street is complicated. Great returns on investments are one side; examples of fraud, greed or throwing shareholders or clients “under the bus” on the other. The global meltdown’s post traumatic stress and after shocks continue; ongoing investigations try to determine blame. A firm’s culture and leadership are critical success factors […]
read more »The Ethics of Brand Identity at Toyota, Goldman Sachs and BP
That three global companies at the pinnacle of their industries, considered superstars with all the trappings of success – Toyota and Goldman Sachs heading Fortune’s list of the world’s most admired companies and BP and Goldman heading the most profitable – could put themselves and their stakeholders in harm’s way so dramatically and needlessly, at […]
read more »Five Ways Goldman Sachs can Earn Back Trust
To those doubting that an investment in ethics has a sizeable business return or that ethical leadership is a legitimate risk mitigation strategy, consider the gargantuan distraction and investment of human and financial capital Goldman Sachs must make as a result of the events of the last two weeks. A recent example, the firm has […]
read more »Ethics Sold Short at Goldman Sachs
The good news is that ethics was on the front burner April 27, 2010 when U.S. Senators grilled current and former Goldman Sachs executives about Goldman’s role in the financial crisis. Questions about how Goldman resolves conflicts of interest, handles transparency, whether executives believe the firms’ incentives led to ethical behavior, what Goldman’s code of […]
read more »Goldman Sachs: The Ethics of Reputation
Update: August 2, 2013, Fabrice Tourre is found liable in the SEC’s charges against him. Update: March 15, 2012, Calling Goldman Sachs’ culture toxic and still focused on making money over clients’ best interests, Greg Smith– an executive director and head of U.S. equity derivatives in Europe, Middle East and Africa — left the firm […]
read more »Goldman’s Road Back to Earning Trust, Part II
Update: March 15, 2012, Calling Goldman Sachs’ culture toxic and still focused on making money over clients’ best interests, Greg Smith– an executive director and head of U.S. equity derivatives in Europe, Middle East and Africa — left the firm yesterday. His message was that the SEC investigation, Congressional hearings, the firm’s “rigorous self examination” […]
read more »How Market Basket’s Board Misread Employee Engagement
In a battle of cousin against cousin, how important is the culture of a family owned business? Thousands of voices among the 25,000 employees and the customers who shop at the 71 New England locations of Market Basket (a supermarket chain with $4 billion in annual sales) have made clear in their rallies and online […]
read more »What Murdoch, Corzine, and Strauss-Kahn Have in Common
Several years ago I heard the expression “self-cleaning oven.” It was applied to situations where someone was causing harm or making a mistake, and the situation was likely to take care of itself, the way a self-cleaning oven intensely burns off the spills inside. While there are limits to that metaphor — it has some […]
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