Workers leaving one job for another are often counseled not to burn any bridges as they head out the door. In particular, it's suggested one should not use exit interviews to point out every fault found with a company during the time of employment.
Companies may say they are looking for honest opinions, but my experience and those of others tells me otherwise. Many times critiques, even mild ones, are chalked up to a disgruntled employee's agenda. The thing is, even disgruntled employees sometimes have lessons they can teach if a company is willing to listen.
While not an exit interview, the op-ed/resignation letter in The New York Times written by Greg Smith, a now former executive director with Goldman Sachs, may be a case in point.
Most suggested this was not a positive way to sever relations with a former employer. After all, what would prospective employers think? Was anyone going to hire Mr. Smith knowing that one day he could go off on them in a major newspaper or elsewhere?
Many others tried to dismiss Mr. Smith as a disgruntled employee looking to put the company in the worst possible light. Of course, Mr. Smith's allegations didn't provide any information not found in a Senate report published last year, which concluded Goldman Sachs, in the years leading up to the banking crisis, had a practice of taking positions in direct opposition to what the firm was advising clients.
Others point out that Goldman Sachs has made money for a lot of its clients both before and after the crisis. It couldn't have been all bad. Of course, that doesn't mean it wasn't partly so.
So perhaps in the final analysis Mr. Smith is saying that the corporate culture at the firm hasn't changed all that much in recent years. At least, it hasn't changed fast enough for him. Not too many of us thought banking firms would become paragons of conscious capitalism in a few short years. Of course, that doesn't mean they aren't attempting to move in that direction. Maybe there are lessons for Goldman Sachs once it gets beyond the PR war. And perhaps too for other businesses looking to benefit from what former employees, disgruntled or otherwise, can tell them.
- Why I Am Leaving Goldman Sachs - The New York Times
- Goldman Sachs Misled Congress After Duping Clients Over CDOs, Levin Says - Bloomberg News
- Goldman Sachs bridge-burner Greg Smith's tactic ruin his future job prospects - New York Daily News
- Greg Smith's Resignation: Are Wall Street Traders Psychopathic? - Time
- Greg Smith's Gratuitously Opportunistic Departure from Goldman Sachs - Forbes