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Why I am Leaving Goldman Sachs: A Rhetoric Analysis

Part I: Critical Reading: Why I am Leaving Goldman Sachs

Every organization has a unique culture, some organizations have adopted just for the profit-based culture but some organizations are there yet working for the profit but keeping morality and integrity at the mark. Greg Smith, who is about to say goodbye to the 143 years experienced firm where he worked for a decade, he is saying goodbye because he thinks the firm has now changed all that culture which was once the core reason of the success of the Goldman Sachs. So, this is all about Greg Smith, who revelaed the reason and the sentence, Why I am Leaving Goldman Sachs, came out from his article and interviews.

Mr Smith, who has the privilege of advising two of the largest hedge funds on the planet, five of the largest asset managers in the United States, and three of the most prominent sovereign wealth funds in the Middle East and Asia, is a visionary person and he believes that firms can only cross obstacles and achieve milestones when the people who are attached with it are more conscious to serve for the people and thinking not too much for the profit. He believes that profit is by default integrated to the best services which should help the clients to make better profits.

A graduate of Stanford University, Smith, the author who wrote his little story which published in The New York Times on 14 March 2012 went viral, Why I am Leaving Goldman Sachs, it is also stated that on that time three million-plus people read his article from the Newspaper. So many videos and TV interviews were sketched. This shocking news devastated angry reactions of the business people and the politicians. So many news on social media, discussion panels, and headlines affected the ratings of the Goldman Sachs reputation, ratings, and the standing.

Part II: Researching Context: Why I am Leaving Goldman Sachs

During my extra google search, I also found that Goldman Sachs later defended the statement, Why I am Leaving Goldman Sachs, issued by Mr Smith via different articles and report writings. They explained the circumstances and told the investors and stakeholders of the firm that they have never changed their culture instead they’re carrying it since the first day and later covered the dialogues of Mr Smith saying that Mr Smith wanted to shift the job and that why he wanted a reason to be highlighted which influence him to write against the firm

I also went through different videos and interviews with Mr Smith with different anchors and channels about Why I am Leaving Goldman Sachs. They were more educational related that Mr Smith was telling the actual story and wanted to teach the students, fresh graduates and potential audience about giving top priority to the ethical standards before even thinking of the profits and personal growth. I further found that Mr Smith is nowadays teaching Economics and Business Ethics in different Universities and he kept himself in a tight schedule of attending seminars and giving a speech over there at different platforms of business and social world.

Part III: Analyzing the Rhetorical Situation

Now the question arises about the situation. What could be the situation in which this essay, Why I am Leaving Goldman Sachs, was written? Well, the author of the essay is the speaker himself. Actually, Mr Smith wanted to tell to the people, investors or business persons about keeping prior to the people’s interests first and create and maintain the ethical sort of culture for such organizations which are based on other people’s finances and investments. Actually, Mr Smith was exhausted from the changing situations and people’s interests of their basic priorities as he also told in the essay about leadership based on how much you earn money and give profit to the organization, no matter the person is current or ex-murderer or theft.

The audience of the essay is the general public, the author wanted to convey a message that he actually liked to be adopted within the organizations and points should become the basic fundamental principles, like providing best services, to be ethically good with everyone and everything around you, and set example based leadership. As I already wrote the reaction of the audience, actually the write-up was that time’s bombastic news, everyone on the social media, pr int media, and digital world uplifted the concept shared by Mr Smith. The firm was to be accountable and has to defend the statements written by Mr Smith. Whereas every business person and the politician showed their anger because this news really hurt them and their shares in the firm were really affected.

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Part IV: What/Why Table

Why I am Leaving Goldman Sachs – Ethos

Starting with the their use of ethos, the author and the writer told his credibility through his achievements, as he wrote that he has marked great achievements regarding helping the clients to invest in better opportunities, generated million-dollar investments through the firm and spend a decade working directly from the graduation with the firm which ultimately providing logic to believe in the credibility and character of the writer in the article.

Pathos:

Whereas, if we discuss the Pathos used in the article which suggests the target audience for thinking about the benefits of people/clients first before thinking of the one’s personal interests. This article had attracted many faces through the writer’s emotions and long visionary thinking. The writer firmly believes in the hardworking to generate better opportunities while doing the business in ethical circumstances, next he also emphasized to convince audience for loving and keeping the ethics culture at their workplaces alive. After this article, the author left the organization and joined the human cause of teaching at different levels about ethical business and its basic fundamentals to the people which also support to the argument and attracted many faces through his emotional appeals and personal behaviours/acts.

Logos:

Talking on the logic/Logos, we can find that just after the articles the firm and its management went shocked at what they have been doing or what they have done in the near past. There were many articles published which were defending the statement. Whereas people were also becoming more conscious with such sort of possible behaviours, and later many cases were found related to the manager’s fraud and are supportive of the article

WHAT the rhetor (author/speaker) does

 

WHY the rhetor (author/speaker) does it

 

Rhetor’s Thesis/Main Idea:

Maintain the ethical standards at our workplace

 

Why did the rhetor choose this thesis, or idea to study?

Because this idea can help many people more specifically bankers to work in ethical boundaries that will really help them to perform better

What is the rhetor’s purpose? To persuade, inform, criticize? Something else?

Mine persuade this article because I personally like to keep my working environment selfless and I wanted to inform and help in putting more eyes on this beautiful write-up  

Why does the rhetor choose this purpose? What effect does it create?

I choose it because I liked this idea. It can make a difference in the thinking process of readers.

Who is the creator’s intended audience?

Families, friends, and the general public as a whole.

Is there a reason the rhetor chose to write for this particular audience?

Not at all.

How did the rhetor use logical appeals? (logos):

The visionary people or business are always based on the strong and ethical cultural working environment, and this case has been proved in many places around us.

Why did he/she use these particular strategies of logical appeals?

Because people will put in the trash if there has no logic provided.

How did the rhetor attempt to appeal to the audience’s emotions? (pathos):

People intentionally and unintentionally love to be shown the right direction. Whereas the article helps individuals to choose the right people for their investments, and if they’re not right bound them to be right. 

Why did he/she use these particular strategies of emotional appeal?

To grab maximum eyes.

How did the rhetor attempt to make him/herself appear credible and trustworthy to the audience? (ethos):

By personal exposure and level of achievements.

Why did he/she use these particular strategies of ethical appeal?

To convince the audience through personal credibility and status. It really matters a lot.

Which of these strategies (logos, ethos, pathos)  is dominant?

Pathos

What diction does the writer use? Informal or formal language? Technical vs slang? Word choice, word arrangement, accuracy? Are certain words repeated?

Formal.

Why does the rhetor use this type of diction? What effect does it create?

Because the write-up was In Formal style, and the purpose of the article is also dialogued informal language as well.

What sentence structure does the rhetor employ? Are there fragments or run-ons? Are the sentences imperative, declarative, exclamatory?

Run-ons, and imperative sentences.

What effect does using this type of sentence structure have?

To just deliver the idea and learning the new things.

Read the AIDA and Rhetoric Analysis of TCS. Advertisement Analysis of Lee jeans VS Ranch

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Sanaullah Abro: PhD - SALU, Khairpur MS.MBA - Quaid-e-Azam University, Islamabad Digital Content Creator

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