Greg Smith quit his job very publicly yesterday by writing an op-ed in the New York Times, titled Why I Am Leaving Goldman Sachs. In the article, he describes the current culture as “toxic” and shares his views about how the firm went from being a great place to work to a place he could no longer recommend to summer interns. Generally speaking, he considers the culprit to be a shift in the way the company thinks about leadership, from doing the right thing to making money.
This brings up so many topics for discussion, it’s hard to know where to start! Here are some initial thoughts:
Should you reveal the real reasons you’re leaving to leadership at your company? When I left ♦♦♦♦♦, I did, acknowledging I’d burned a bridge. However, Greg Smith’s bridge is substantially bigger.
If you’ve decided to reveal your reasons, should you do it publicly? I’d have to say for most of us, NO. Unless this is part of your Project X and will help you achieve your next goal. (I’m assuming Mr. Smith has a plan, and that this is part of it.)
What can you do to help yourself and your organization when you see things changing for the worse? This is one of the questions we’re tackling with Covert Leadership. So far, we’ve focused on creative coping techniques that help identify the problems, like:
- Writing an “unplugged letter”
- Identifying what “glitters”
- Finding your mantra
- …and, if it’s not obvious yet, blogging about your situation.
I imagine there are lots of Mr/Ms Smiths out there who can benefit from Covert Leadership tactics. If you are one, please let us know.
Comments are closed.