Goldman Sachs: The Culture Of Success [Paperback]

Former Goldman Sachs Vice President Lisa Endlich draws on an insider’s knowledge to bring to life this unique company and the most stunning accomplishments in modern American finance.

The history, mystique, and remarkable success of Goldman Sachs, the world’s premier investment bank, are examined in unprecedented depth in this fascinating and authoritative study.

The firm’s spectacular ascent is traced in the context of its tenacious grip on its core values. Endlich shows how close client contact, teamwork, focus on long-term profitability rather than short-term opportunism, and the ability to recruit consistently some of the most talented people on Wall Street helped the firm generate a phenomenal $3 billion in pretax profits in 1997. And she describes in detail the monumental events of 1998 that shook Goldman Sachs and the financial world.

This is a rare and revealing look inside a great institution—the last private partnership on Wall Street—and inside the financial world at its highest levels.Chapter 1: 1986: The Road Less Traveled

On Wednesday morning, October 15, 1986, John L. Weinberg, the venerable senior partner of Goldman Sachs, had a long list of phone calls to make. Before the morning was over he needed to telephone thirty-six men and one woman. His conversations would be brief; good news travels fast.

He started early, hours before the official list would be published. Thomas W. Berry would be first and Garland E. Wood last; alphabetical order was the rule. This was the phone call each vice-president on his list had waited years to receive. Each would reach for the receiver hoping Weinberg was about to extend an invitation to the most exclusive club on Wall Street -- the partnership of Goldman Sachs. Weinberg's simple statement, I would like to invite you to join the partnership, was for most the reward for a decade of grinding hard work. No one had ever refused the honor. Thirty lq