By Liz Hoffman
Goldman Sachs Group Inc.'s more than 34,000 employees arrived to
work Monday to find a voice mail waiting. "This is Lloyd," it
began.
Chief Executive Lloyd Blankfein then delivered a denunciation of
President Donald Trump's immigration ban, which restricts
immigration from seven Muslim-majority countries and freezes the
U.S. refugee program. "This is not a policy we support," he said.
"Being diverse is not optional; it is what we must be."
With that, Mr. Blankfein, a Democrat who supported Hillary
Clinton for president, drew a sharp distinction between himself and
Goldman alums who have embraced Mr. Trump. The latter group
includes his former lieutenant, Gary Cohn, now director of the
White House National Economic Council, and Treasury Secretary
nominee Steven Mnuchin, a former Goldman partner.
Mr. Blankfein's message isn't a bolt from the blue, though. A
decade into his tenure -- and appearing more firmly ensconced than
ever following recent turnover in the executive suite -- Mr.
Blankfein has appeared more comfortable speaking out on
controversial issues, at least internally.
"I don't wake up in the morning looking for things to opine on,
and without a business interest, it's just Lloyd Blankfein with a
microphone, " he said in an interview Monday with The Wall Street
Journal. "But where there's an issue that affects our people and
their ability to do their jobs, I think as CEO I'm not only
licensed but obligated to say something."
Days after a gunman killed five police officers in Dallas last
summer, for example, Mr. Blankfein also sent firmwide voice mail
similar to this weekend's, urging a frank discussion about race and
bias.
"I have said in the past that it's not appropriate to use the
Goldman Sachs platform for social issues when the firm has no
special expertise or direct business interest," Mr. Blankfein said,
reading from a script he wrote himself, people familiar with the
matter said. "But these are exceptional circumstances."
Such stances, even if expressed internally within the firm,
strike some Goldman observers as Mr. Blankfein looking to build a
legacy. Having survived the financial crisis and set Goldman on a
more diversified business path to navigate new regulation, he has
appeared more introspective in recent public appearances.
In a recent television interview, he said he wanted Goldman to
be "viewed as important and a positive influence on the American
economy and culture."
And while former colleagues have gone into government with the
Trump administration, it is widely acknowledged that such avenues
likely wouldn't be open to Mr. Blankfein in any future Democratic
administration. That is because of deep opposition within that
party to Wall Street executives serving in top government posts,
along with Goldman's lingering stigma from the financial
crisis.
The emergence of Goldman as a firm that is seeming to embrace
social values -- even when uncomfortable or, as is the case this
week, politically risky -- also comes as the firm has sought to
smooth its rougher edges in the wake of the financial crisis.
It has launched initiatives to support small businesses and
female entrepreneurs and launched podcasts. It has revamped its
recruiting efforts in the hopes of bringing in a more diverse class
of junior bankers, and tried to free those same young employees
from grunt work.
In commenting on the Trump administration's immigration ban, Mr.
Blankfein joined a host of corporate executives voicing concern.
These included his counterpart at Morgan Stanley, James Gorman, and
tech leaders such as Apple Inc.'s Tim Cook.
Their responses reflect that in finance and tech, big, global
companies rely on the ability to recruit overseas and move their
employees around freely. Goldman has identified about 100 employees
world-wide that might fall under the umbrella of the ban, a person
familiar with the matter said Monday.
But Mr. Blankfein's critique was blunter than statements from
other Wall Street firms, more in tone with opposition from tech
companies. That is notable since Goldman, as a highly regulated
financial firm, is subject to far greater government scrutiny than
Silicon Valley.
And Goldman, along with other financial firms, has been viewed
by investors as a beneficiary of an expected rollback of regulation
by the Trump administration, along with potential tax cuts and
pro-growth economic policies. Those factors have helped push
Goldman's shares sharply higher, allowing Mr. Blankfein and others
to personally gain millions of dollars.
Critics have chided Mr. Blankfein's moves are public-relations
efforts to shine the firm's public image. Some senior executives
believe Goldman was disproportionately blamed for the financial
crisis because it was seen as aloof and lacked the public goodwill
enjoyed by retail banks.
Still, Mr. Blankfein's willingness to speak out on social issues
reflects Goldman's roots. Founded by German-Jewish immigrants, the
firm's initial exclusion from Wall Street's upper tier instilled
among its early leaders an affinity with outsiders and a focus on
social justice issues and progressive politics, current and former
executives say.
That thinking coincides with Mr. Blankfein's own personal
beliefs, even if other Goldman heads, such as former chief
executive and Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson, have been on the
other side of the political spectrum. In 2012, for instance, Mr.
Blankfein endorsed gay marriage, and Goldman signed on to legal
briefs opposing the Defense of Marriage Act in a case before the
U.S. Supreme Court.
Following his firmwide voice mail last summer, Mr. Blankfein
moderated a conversation about race with black partners at
Goldman's New York headquarters. Edith Cooper, the bank's head of
human resources, published an essay on LinkedIn about her
experiences as a black woman coming up Goldman's ranks -- not all
of them pleasant -- and urged employees to share their own.
Write to Liz Hoffman at liz.hoffman@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
January 30, 2017 17:37 ET (22:37 GMT)
Copyright (c) 2017 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
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