Chapter 2

Shared Principles and Values

IN 1979, GOLDMAN CO-SENIOR PARTNER JOHN WHITEHEAD wrote down the firm’s principles “one Sunday afternoon.” Whitehead explained, “In the first draft, there were ten principles, and somebody told me that it looked too much like the Ten Commandments, so I made it into twelve. I believe it’s up to fourteen now, because the lawyers got hold of it and they’ve changed a few words and added to it a little bit.”1 Although he helped bring in deal after deal and helped make strategic decisions for Goldman, Whitehead said that committing the firm’s values to words on paper was his greatest contribution.2 More than anything else, it was a statement about the perceived power of the codified values to nourish and support ...

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