BULLY MARKET

A former Goldman Sachs managing director lays out the noxious culture of the storied investment firm.

In her debut memoir, Fiore Higgins mounts a scathing critique of the sexist, racist, homophobic, and elitist culture pervading Goldman Sachs, where she spent a long career. Although she had hoped to become a social worker, her parents pressed her to find a higher-paying job; immigrants who struggled to pay her hefty tuition at Bryn Mawr, they wanted a return on their investment. Fiore Higgins had no interest in finance, but she was inspired by a Goldman Sachs recruiter who encouraged women to apply. The company’s ethos, she said, was “Minds. Wide. Open.” However, from her first days as a trainee, the author realized she was out of place at the firm, where most of her colleagues were young, male, White, and wealthy. The macho atmosphere, far from being open and welcoming, was toxic. Still, she wanted to prove that she could excel. Diagnosed with scoliosis as a child, she was used to being underestimated. “All I ever wanted to do,” she admits, “was break out of the boxes of limitations that others put me into.” She worked hard and received praise, promotions, and bonuses beyond her expectations. After the first year, expecting a bonus of $40,000, she got $80,000. Another year, her total compensation went from $500,000 to $1 million. But it came at great moral cost, as Fiore Higgins neglected her husband and children, failed to support women colleagues, and reveled in her power. “Like the long-bullied kid on the playground who becomes the bully,” she realizes, “I had become a part of the cycle of abuse.” Longing to quit, she and her husband devised a “Spreadsheet of Freedom” to indicate when they would have enough money for her to walk away. The author never reveals the sum, but despite a seven-figure salary and bonuses, she felt compelled to stay for nearly 20 years.

A disturbing portrait of power and greed.