Goldman Sachs 2001 Annual Report Download - page 5

It is impossible to discuss 2001 without
beginning with the events of September
11. While our 13,000 people in the
downtown New York area were
unharmed and our facilities largely
untouched, the stunning and savage
attack on the World Trade Center, just a
few blocks away from our headquarters,
represented a formidable challenge in
operational and human terms. We are
proud to report that the people of
Goldman Sachs, not just in New York
but around the world, met this challenge
with courage, resilience and initiative.
But even as our people worked tirelessly
to keep Goldman Sachs up and running,
they never forgot the human dimension
of the September 11 tragedy. They reached
out to provide comfort to those who had
lost loved ones and friends in the attack.
And together with the firm, they provided
needed material assistance in the form
of more than $11 million in donations for
the victims of this crime. In short,
September 11 tested us as a firm and as
individuals in a way we had never been
tested. And we emerged stronger than
ever before. Our corporate culture had
again proven its enduring value.
This year’s report focuses on the Business
Principles and the core values that
embody our culture: commitment to the
client, teamwork, integrity, professional
excellence and entrepreneurial spirit.
These values not only serve our clients
and shareholders; they also set us apart
from other firms, making us the employer
of choice in our industry.
• Our culture of teamwork allows us to pull
together the best thinking from different parts
of the firm and deliver integrated solutions to
complex client problems.
• Our emphasis on integrity makes us a firm
that individuals, corporations, institutions and
governments can trust.
• Our commitment to professional excellence
and a true meritocracy ensures that our
clients receive the very best service that our
industry can offer.
• Our focus on entrepreneurship means
that we are always searching for new ways
to promote our customers’ interests.
Maintaining the Goldman Sachs culture
is therefore a critical task. But it is not
easy. Like any competitive edge, our cul-
ture must be continually reinforced and
adapted or it will atrophy. Though some
were concerned that our decision to go
public in 1999 would undermine our core
values, we disagreed. We believe that our
culture reflects much more than our
ownership structure. Instead, it is the
manifestation of the values that have been
impressed upon us for years—constantly
communicated from the top down—and
the behavior and actions that are reinforced
through our 360-degree performance
reviews and rewarded through promotions,
compensation and peer approval.
Our initial public offering, in fact,
enhanced our culture by spreading
ownership—and a personal stake in our
success—throughout the firm. But our
culture does face a challenge: our grow-
ing size. It is far easier to inculcate and
perpetuate core values in an organization
of 5,000 people than it is in one of over
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