Day / 14 March 2012

by Shama-e Zaheer

Publicly Quitting Goldman Sachs: Uproar on Wall Street

Wall Street is in a whirlwind after disgruntled Goldman Sachs executive, Greg Smith, tendered his resignation via the op-ed pages of the New York Times, and in the process, publicly blasted Goldman for betraying its historic culture and putting profits ahead of client interests.

Mr. Smith described himself as an executive director and head of Goldman’s US equity derivatives business in Europe, the Middle East and Africa. According to him, ” the interests of the client continue to be sidelined in the way the firm operates and thinks about making money.” He further adds, “Goldman Sachs today has become too much about shortcuts and not enough about achievement.”

Goldman Sachs wasted no time in rejecting Mr. Smith’s claims. “We disagree with the views expressed, which we don’t think reflect the way we run our business,” a Goldman spokeswoman said. She added, “in our view, we will only be successful if our clients are successful.  This fundamental truth lies at the heart of how we conduct ourselves.” Moreover, Mr. Smith’s position was identified as vice president, a relatively junior position held by thousands of Goldman employees around the world.

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by Shama-e Zaheer

The Late Tribute: Jobs is No More

It has been five months since Steve Jobs passed away (February 24, 1955 – October 5, 2011). While the world has moved on from mourning the passage of the maven, not a day passes that some blog, some tech site does not reference his contributions. This will persist for a long time to come – such was the gift, the genius of Jobs.

In an amazing coincidence, I was in the US, in fact, very close to Infinite Loop, Cupertino, California – the HQ of Apple Inc., when news broke of his passing, and had come out of an Apple Store less than an hour back. As a latecomer to the world of iPods, iPhones, Macs, OS X and Apple in general, I was nonetheless swept away by the marvel of Job’s creations, his farsightedness and above all, his boldness in defining what the user experience could be. His death came as a shock in slow motion, increasing in intensity, rather than diminishing.

In an earlier post, I had talked about his life and philosophies a little. Here is just a throwback to the inevitable questions, “Will there be another Steve Jobs?”

My answer, “Never”.

It is the same answer I would give to the question, “Will the world ever stop celebrating the life, times and works of Steve Jobs?”