Edith Cooper, executive vice president and global head of human capital management at Goldman Sachs, appeared on Bloomberg Television on Friday to discuss Greg Smith. Cooper said, "As we looked into his claims I was very pleased to see there wasn't merit…My biggest disappointment in this is that Greg Smith didn't come forward and speak to us."
Cooper on how she found out about Greg Smith's op-ed:
"I was on my way to work, I think it was 5:30 in the morning and I was on the phone with some of my colleagues from around the world and my call was interrupted with the news that there was an op-ed in The New York Times from an individual who expressed concern about the firm, its culture, etc. Quite frankly, I had not experienced someone resigning to The New York Times. My first reaction was, who is he and what was his experience? Let's figure that out. What is it, where does he work…to really understand Greg Smith's story."
On what steps her team took that day:
"We immediately looked at all of the avenues we have at the firm for people to express concerns, opinions and interests. That is an important part of the Goldman Sachs culture. It goes beyond the red flags, but to communication, dialogue, teamwork. That is a critical part of people-based culture. Our first action was to look at all those things. We spoke to his managers. We looked at his reviews. And then we went into a much more exhaustive analysis of all of the different avenues, whether that is compliance or outside third parties that we have in place that our employees could call. It was very difficult for us to believe that an individual could have been in a position where he was so concerned that he would not have expressed it. Our culture is about communication."
On how often Goldman employees use resources that HR offers:
"We have a long history of an environment where people are encouraged to speak with their managers first, and then avenues that are distinct and separate from the business. That is really critical to the culture of the firm. Are people comfortable with that? Let me tell you, we hire people who are focused, driven to make an impact with our clients and for the firm. When they see something that does not make sense to them, they speak up because we instill in our people here that it is their responsibility to the individual to be shepherds, stewards and enhancers of our culture."
On her impression of Greg Smith following Goldman's internal investigation:
"Greg Smith is someone who I think felt very strongly about his perspective. He had recently moved to London. It was a big shift for him. I have moved from New York to London. Any move, whether as an individual or with a family, you have to get used to that. He had a new set of managers and was trying to build a business. These things are not easy, but he was up to the task. We thought it was an excellent opportunity for him. We like to give our people opportunities to move into areas to continue to grow and develop their career." On whether she thinks the New York Times was irresponsible for not thoroughly fact checking Smith's op-ed:
"We focus on the things that we can control, and the things we can control are how we can interact with our people. My biggest disappointment is that Greg Smith did not come forward and speak with us. That is our biggest disappointment. Then of course, as we looked into his claims, I was very pleased to see that here there was no merit to those claims."
On whether Greg Smith was running into a dead end at Goldman, or whether there were options available to him:
