3 Review(s)

Why I Left Goldman Sachs: A Wall Street Story provides insights into Wall Street and has been written by a former Goldman Sachs employee, Greg Smith. Summary Of The Book Why I Left Goldman Sachs: A Wall Street Story is set against the backdrop of a column written by the author in The New York Times. This column was about how callous decisions on the part of a few Wall Street executives sent the world rolling into an abyss of disaster a few years back. The author continues his assessment on one of the world’s most powerful places, Wall Street, in his book Why I Left Goldman Sachs: A Wall Street Story. He describes Goldman Sachs as a powerful enterprise that transformed from an ambitious investment bank to a bank that would do anything to earn profits, without any regard for the cost that the society or the economy might have to pay. He describes how everything on Wall Street is like a game, perfectly rigged for the benefit of those controlling the stakes. The author believed that as an insider, it was his duty to speak of the malices of Wall Street in public. He feels that this is a step that is crucial to initiate change in such a system. He also details the reasons behind why he decided to quit at the helm of his career and initiate this process of change through his book. The author has boldly mentioned that at Goldman Sachs, investors were referred to as muppets, an outrageously derogatory term and were hated and exploited. The author goes on to reveal the details of one Town Hall meeting that he claims was instrumental in leading him to quit such a high paying job. The meeting had one woman questioning the efforts of the bank to preserve their culture and fast-eroding reputation. When the author realized that there was no answer for her questions, he decided to quit the company. Other revelations that the author made were controversial as well. Some of them are how interns were thoroughly grilled and virtually tortured during their internship programmes, how the executives at the company were always ready to play unfair to win clients over, how ethics were something not deeply respected in the Goldman circle and how there was very little concern for the financial crisis engulfing the economy. About Greg Smith Greg Smith is the former head of the US Equity Derivatives division of Goldman Sachs in Africa, Europe and the Middle East. Smith was born in South Africa and completed his graduation from Stanford University in 2001. He worked in New York for 10 years before shifting to London. He resigned from his job in March, 2012.