Why is it so hard to achieve lasting, significant change in your corporate culture? Because your organization is like a living organism, an organism that wants to maintain homeostasis against a changing environment.
I once read an article filled with tips for how to get new employees off to a great start in a new job: long lunches with various team members, cute little gift baskets, and plenty of free time to let them ease their way into their new roles with a new company.
This is not that kind of article.
TODAY is my last day at Goldman Sachs. After almost 12 years at the firm — first as a summer intern while at Stanford, then in New York for 10 years, and now in London — I believe I have worked here long enough to understand the trajectory of its culture, its people and its identity. And I can honestly say that the environment now is as toxic and destructive as I have ever seen it.