Why I Left Goldman Sachs: A Wall Street Story

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On March 14, 2012, more than three million people read Greg Smith's bombshell OpEd in the New York Times titled "Why I Am Leaving Goldman Sachs." The column drew passionate responses from former Fed chairman Paul Volcker, legendary General Electric CEO Jack Welch, and New York City mayor Mike Bloomberg. Greg Smith hit a nerve among the general public who question the role of Wall Street in society and the callous take the money and run mentality that brought the world economy to its knees a few short years ago. Smith now picks up where his OpEd left off. Smith describes in page turning detail how the most storied powerful investment bank in the world went from taking iconic companies like Ford, Sears, and Microsoft public, to becoming a "vampire squid" that referred to its clients as moppets. He shows the evolution of Wall Street into an industry riddled with conflicts of interest and a profit at all costs mentality: a perfectly rigged game at the expense of the economy and the society at large. After conversations with nine Goldman Sachs partners over a twelvemonth period proved fruitless, Smith came to believe that the only way the system would ever change was for an insider to finally speak out publicly. He walked away Lead from his career and took matters into his own hands. This is his story. About the Author Greg Smith resigned in the spring of 2012 as the head of Goldman Sach’s U.S. Equity Derivatives business in Europe, the middle East , and Africa. Born and raised in Johannesburg , South Africa , Smith graduated from Stanford University before going to work for the firm full time in 2001. He spent his ten first years in the New York headquarters before moving to London in 2011. He currently lives in New York City.