Let's be real.  With all the hullabaloo about one man publicly bashing resigning from Goldman Sachs (and slightly more geeky buzz about one man sharing his reasons for leaving Google) we are left with one big question:

If Goldman Sachs outperformed their competition,
would you care how they spoke about you behind closed doors?

and in the geek world

If Google weren't really built for sharing,
would it really impact your Google+ usage or loyalty? 

 

Before you answer this question consider how you purchase your airline tickets.  If you are like most people (not a frequent flier, a business traveler or highly affluent), you will go with the cheapest ticket at the right time for you.  I have neighbors who swore up and down that they would never again fly airline X, and then flew them again 18 months later when they had the right bonus points or saved a couple hundred dollars or had that perfect flight to get them back on time for another important deadline.  As a society, we will accept a certain amount of disrespect if it saves us a buck or avoids an inconvenience.Think about it.  If Goldman Sachs treated you like dirt behind your back and made less savvy investments, but still beat out their competition and were totally pleasant to your face, would you care?  Would you withdraw your money?  Isn't the purpose of an investment house to make your money make you more money, or more importantly more money than any other investment house?

 

So let's come back to today's hullabaloo.  If Goldman Sachs can continue to outperform their competition and treat their valued clients like valued clients to their faces, do we really care about what goes into the sausage?  

Look hard and long in the mirror.  Tell me what you see.