Quick Case Golden Careers: Money Isn't Everything Harvard Business Review The Scenario HBP No. 7984 Everest Gibson, Vice President of Talent at the investment banking firm Golden, Inc., looked out over "The Farm" where banking analysts and associates, the company's most junior employees, sat in long lines of cubicles. Just 30 minutes earlier, Golden's CEO Richard Gregory had emailed them. From: Richard Gregory To: Everest Gibson NO DON COPY COPY POST Re: Employee survey results Everest- I just saw the results from our most recent Q2 2023 employee survey. Besides the mass resignations and declining productivity that we've seen this year, morale continues to drop. If these trends continue, we will lose the people who will keep Golden on top. Let's meet tomorrow morning. I want to hear your plans for reversing these bands. Rich Golden Careers: Money Isn't Everything HBR Quick Case productivity" while enabling Golden to hire employees with a range of skills who would not need to ramp up a learning curve whenever Golden pursued opportunities. Soon after this realignment, Golden's revenue and profits had soared. Its market share of deals also increased. Golden's leaders were ecstatic about the positive results, particularly because the bonus pool was the largest in company history. Stock analysts praised Everest for turning Golden into "an efficient machine" that somehow also provided the best compensation on Wall Street. Everest was surprised, then, when several of Golden's best associates quit shortly after their annual bonuses. Their exit interviews suggested various complaints: • "I knew I would be working crazy hours, but I'm not a machine." • "I have no idea how my work connects to the whole deal." • "I have no input into anything besides the assumptions I make the zillion spreadsheets I do, and my manager changes those most of the time." OTVORYOR POST Everest attributed the complaints to younger employees having unrealistic expectations and Golden's cultural resistance to any attempts to change. Everest expected these issues to resolve themselves as the reorganization's benefits became clearer, so they were dismayed when Golden lost two deals to General Capital, an upstart competitor that few at Golden had heard of. The clients' comments about why they chose General over Golden were vague, but the one that Everest remembered highlighted General's "teamwork and everyone there understanding our needs," something that Golden had long been known for. Everest had joined Golden 14 months earlier in September 2022 during a period of substantial turnover in the company's executive team. Using their success in a previous role as a guide, they pushed Golden to reorganize work practices in its lower and midlevel ranks. Everest believed that greater specialization and division of work would unleash expertise and make individual contributors "an assembly line of The Conversation A possible reason for Golden's unsuccessful bids became clearer a few weeks ago when Julie Chen, the managing director responsible for one of these bids, charged into their office. Julie: Everest, we need to talk about the people you're hiring. These kids' work was terrible. For instance, when we put our proposal before the client, there was total misalignment between the spreadsheet numbers and the PowerPoint deck, little understanding of the client's corporate strategy, and no energy in the room. Everest: Julie, we're all disappointed, but I can assure you that we're as selective as we've ever been. We're hiring from the same schools, and we had more applicants than ever after our record year. Sometimes these things don't work out. Page 1 of 3 Page 2 of 3 Julie paused briefly before commenting as she left Everest's office. Julie: Believe what you want, but it's not your neck on the line when we lose a deal we should have won. This is a slow-motion catastrophe that's your job to fix. During the following weeks, Golden continued to lose deals. It was having difficulty recruiting new MBA graduates, and turnover among its most-promising employees continued despite an increase in base salaries that made Golden the best-paying firm in the industry. No one responded to emails after 4:30 p.m. Finally, a post from an ex-employee went viral: "1 started at Golden expecting a lifetime career. I left a meaningless job. #AllthatglittersisnotGolden. Everest left the office that night at 7:30 p.m. When they stepped into an Uber, they looked up at the dark office floors where Golden was headquartered. Those same floors looked like a beehive of activity when they left the office at 10:30 p.m. after their first day at Golden the previous year. As they thought about the meeting with Gregory, they wondered what they would say. Fast Facts: Golden, Inc. ⚫ Industry: Financial services • Headquarters: New York City, New York, USA NOT COPY OF Revenue: USD $22 billion (in 2022) ⚫ Profits: USD $2.5 billion (in 2022) The Ask 1. Help Everest diagnose what is happening at Golden and prepare for their meeting with Gregory.

Quick Case Golden Careers: Money Isn't Everything Harvard Business Review The Scenario HBP No. 7984 Everest Gibson, Vice President of Talent at the investment banking firm Golden, Inc., looked out over "The Farm" where banking analysts and associates, the company's most junior employees, sat in long lines of cubicles. Just 30 minutes earlier, Golden's CEO Richard Gregory had emailed them. From: Richard Gregory To: Everest Gibson NO DON COPY COPY POST Re: Employee survey results Everest- I just saw the results from our most recent Q2 2023 employee survey. Besides the mass resignations and declining productivity that we've seen this year, morale continues to drop. If these trends continue, we will lose the people who will keep Golden on top. Let's meet tomorrow morning. I want to hear your plans for reversing these bands. Rich Golden Careers: Money Isn't Everything HBR Quick Case productivity" while enabling Golden to hire employees with a range of skills who would not need to ramp up a learning curve whenever Golden pursued opportunities. Soon after this realignment, Golden's revenue and profits had soared. Its market share of deals also increased. Golden's leaders were ecstatic about the positive results, particularly because the bonus pool was the largest in company history. Stock analysts praised Everest for turning Golden into "an efficient machine" that somehow also provided the best compensation on Wall Street. Everest was surprised, then, when several of Golden's best associates quit shortly after their annual bonuses. Their exit interviews suggested various complaints: • "I knew I would be working crazy hours, but I'm not a machine." • "I have no idea how my work connects to the whole deal." • "I have no input into anything besides the assumptions I make the zillion spreadsheets I do, and my manager changes those most of the time." OTVORYOR POST Everest attributed the complaints to younger employees having unrealistic expectations and Golden's cultural resistance to any attempts to change. Everest expected these issues to resolve themselves as the reorganization's benefits became clearer, so they were dismayed when Golden lost two deals to General Capital, an upstart competitor that few at Golden had heard of. The clients' comments about why they chose General over Golden were vague, but the one that Everest remembered highlighted General's "teamwork and everyone there understanding our needs," something that Golden had long been known for. Everest had joined Golden 14 months earlier in September 2022 during a period of substantial turnover in the company's executive team. Using their success in a previous role as a guide, they pushed Golden to reorganize work practices in its lower and midlevel ranks. Everest believed that greater specialization and division of work would unleash expertise and make individual contributors "an assembly line of The Conversation A possible reason for Golden's unsuccessful bids became clearer a few weeks ago when Julie Chen, the managing director responsible for one of these bids, charged into their office. Julie: Everest, we need to talk about the people you're hiring. These kids' work was terrible. For instance, when we put our proposal before the client, there was total misalignment between the spreadsheet numbers and the PowerPoint deck, little understanding of the client's corporate strategy, and no energy in the room. Everest: Julie, we're all disappointed, but I can assure you that we're as selective as we've ever been. We're hiring from the same schools, and we had more applicants than ever after our record year. Sometimes these things don't work out. Page 1 of 3 Page 2 of 3 Julie paused briefly before commenting as she left Everest's office. Julie: Believe what you want, but it's not your neck on the line when we lose a deal we should have won. This is a slow-motion catastrophe that's your job to fix. During the following weeks, Golden continued to lose deals. It was having difficulty recruiting new MBA graduates, and turnover among its most-promising employees continued despite an increase in base salaries that made Golden the best-paying firm in the industry. No one responded to emails after 4:30 p.m. Finally, a post from an ex-employee went viral: "1 started at Golden expecting a lifetime career. I left a meaningless job. #AllthatglittersisnotGolden. Everest left the office that night at 7:30 p.m. When they stepped into an Uber, they looked up at the dark office floors where Golden was headquartered. Those same floors looked like a beehive of activity when they left the office at 10:30 p.m. after their first day at Golden the previous year. As they thought about the meeting with Gregory, they wondered what they would say. Fast Facts: Golden, Inc. ⚫ Industry: Financial services • Headquarters: New York City, New York, USA NOT COPY OF Revenue: USD $22 billion (in 2022) ⚫ Profits: USD $2.5 billion (in 2022) The Ask 1. Help Everest diagnose what is happening at Golden and prepare for their meeting with Gregory.

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Background

[Detailed company/case background tying directly to the context of the specific case study. Summarize data from the case scenario that is pertinent to solving the stated problem.]

Analysis

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Alternatives and Evaluation

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Conclusion

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References

Include any references used.

The “Golden Careers: Money Isn’t Everything” case examines a seeming paradox: a company that is in turmoil despite having been a market leader in an industry that traditionally pays high salaries.

In your view, what are the causes of employees’ discontent?
What can you suggest that would help Everest Gibson, the VP of Talent prepare to explain the human resources problems at the company?
What solutions could you suggest?

https://hbsp.harvard.edu/coursepacks/1249676

Quick Case
Golden Careers: Money Isn't Everything
Harvard
Business
Review
The Scenario
HBP No. 7984
Everest Gibson, Vice President of Talent at the investment banking firm Golden, Inc., looked out over "The
Farm" where banking analysts and associates, the company's most junior employees, sat in long lines of
cubicles. Just 30 minutes earlier, Golden's CEO Richard Gregory had emailed them.
From: Richard Gregory
To: Everest Gibson
NO
DON
COPY
COPY POST
Re: Employee survey results
Everest-
I just saw the results from our most recent Q2 2023 employee survey. Besides the mass resignations
and declining productivity that we've seen this year, morale continues to drop. If these trends continue,
we will lose the people who will keep Golden on top. Let's meet tomorrow morning. I want to hear your
plans for reversing these bands.
Rich
Golden Careers: Money Isn't Everything
HBR Quick Case
productivity" while enabling Golden to hire employees with a range of skills who would not need to ramp
up a learning curve whenever Golden pursued opportunities.
Soon after this realignment, Golden's revenue and profits had soared. Its market share of deals also
increased. Golden's leaders were ecstatic about the positive results, particularly because the bonus pool
was the largest in company history. Stock analysts praised Everest for turning Golden into "an efficient
machine" that somehow also provided the best compensation on Wall Street.
Everest was surprised, then, when several of Golden's best associates quit shortly after
their annual bonuses. Their exit interviews suggested various complaints:
• "I knew I would be working crazy hours, but I'm not a machine."
• "I have no idea how my work connects to the whole deal."
• "I have no input into anything besides the assumptions I make the zillion spreadsheets I do, and
my manager changes those most of the time."
OTVORYOR POST
Everest attributed the complaints to younger employees having unrealistic expectations and Golden's
cultural resistance to any attempts to change.
Everest expected these issues to resolve themselves as the reorganization's benefits became clearer, so
they were dismayed when Golden lost two deals to General Capital, an upstart competitor that few at
Golden had heard of. The clients' comments about why they chose General over Golden were vague, but
the one that Everest remembered highlighted General's "teamwork and everyone there understanding our
needs," something that Golden had long been known for.
Everest had joined Golden 14 months earlier in September 2022 during a period of substantial turnover in
the company's executive team. Using their success in a previous role as a guide, they pushed Golden to
reorganize work practices in its lower and midlevel ranks. Everest believed that greater specialization and
division of work would unleash expertise and make individual contributors "an assembly line of
The Conversation
A possible reason for Golden's unsuccessful bids became clearer a few weeks ago when Julie Chen, the
managing director responsible for one of these bids, charged into their office.
Julie: Everest, we need to talk about the people you're hiring. These kids' work was terrible. For
instance, when we put our proposal before the client, there was total misalignment between the
spreadsheet numbers and the PowerPoint deck, little understanding of the client's corporate strategy,
and no energy in the room.
Everest: Julie, we're all disappointed, but I can assure you that we're as selective as we've ever been.
We're hiring from the same schools, and we had more applicants than ever after our record year.
Sometimes these things don't work out.
Page 1 of 3
Page 2 of 3

Julie paused briefly before commenting as she left Everest's office.
Julie: Believe what you want, but it's not your neck on the line when we lose a deal we should have
won. This is a slow-motion catastrophe that's your job to fix.
During the following weeks, Golden continued to lose deals. It was having difficulty recruiting new MBA
graduates, and turnover among its most-promising employees continued despite an increase in base
salaries that made Golden the best-paying firm in the industry. No one responded to emails after 4:30 p.m.
Finally, a post from an ex-employee went viral: "1 started at Golden expecting a lifetime career. I left a
meaningless job. #AllthatglittersisnotGolden.
Everest left the office that night at 7:30 p.m. When they stepped into an Uber, they looked up at the dark
office floors where Golden was headquartered. Those same floors looked like a beehive of activity when
they left the office at 10:30 p.m. after their first day at Golden the previous year. As they thought about the
meeting with Gregory, they wondered what they would say.
Fast Facts: Golden, Inc.
⚫ Industry: Financial services
• Headquarters: New York City, New York, USA
NOT COPY OF
Revenue: USD $22 billion (in 2022)
⚫ Profits: USD $2.5 billion (in 2022)
The Ask
1. Help Everest diagnose what is happening at Golden and prepare for their meeting with
Gregory.

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