Transforming Business: Big Data, Mobility, and Globalization

The Culture Recipe

According to Bain & Company, fewer than 15% of companies succeed in building high-performance cultures.¹

In February of 2012, more than 2 million Americans quit their jobs, the most since November of 2008. The vast majority simply gave perfunctory notice to their employers before moving quietly to their next ambition.² In more than a few cases, the real reasons for departure may never have been disclosed, because employees are often loath to burn bridges with former employers, especially in a job market still recovering from the recession. But, in March, one U.S. employee resigned his post in a decidedly noticeable way. In a New York Times Op-Ed piece entitled, “Why I Am Leaving Goldman Sachs,” Greg Smith, the firm's Executive Director and head of the United States equity derivatives business in Europe, the Middle East, and Africa, offered more than 1,000 copious words as to his reasons for leaving his employer of nearly 12 years. Smith could hardly be described as an average employee, or human being, for that matter. He attained a full scholarship to go from South Africa to Stanford University, was a Rhodes Scholar national finalist, and a bronze medalist at the Maccabiah Games in Israel (known to fans as the “Jewish Olympics”). At Goldman Sachs, Smith's accomplishments ...