A Wake-Up Call For Businesses

The Headline in the New York Times read as follows:

Why I am leaving Goldman-Sachs

Greg Smith is resigning today as a Goldman Sachs executive director and head of the firm’s United States equity derivatives business in Europe, the Middle East and Africa.

Why should this concern or interest you, you ask? Well, normally it wouldn’t. Just another banker deciding to up sticks and move on.

But he actually sent a copy of his resignation letter to the New York Times and they printed it; it makes difficult reading for his ex-employers, but offers a fascinating insight into what happens to a business when it, allegedly, loses its clarity of vision.

Click here to read Greg’s resignation letter printed in the New York Times

What you’ll see is probably echoed around many businesses today but not articulated in such a summary way. The question has to be how many businesses face the same kind of viewpoints from their staff  yet still follow the same path they have for years previously.

Greg mentions in his letter “I hope this can be a wake-up call to the board of directors. Make the client the focal point of your business again. Without clients you will not make money. In fact, you will not exist.”

Who knows what the result will be? But imagine getting a letter like that from one of your own staff. Sometimes it takes someone to take the initiative before a wake-up call like this does the job for you.

Written by Sean McPheat

CEO of MTD Training and Amazon bestselling author. Sean writes about leadership, business, and personal growth, drawing on 20+ years of experience helping over 9,000 companies improve performance.

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