Gillian Tett is a trained Anthropologist and so she analyzes the behavior of elite corporate executives of J. P. Morgan whose greed and single-minded purpose of wealth accumulation for themselves and their company led to the credit crunch and the current financial crisis.
The book is a brilliant expose of 227 thought-provoking pages describing what unguarded capitalism can do to the economy. In its pages, readers are led irretrievably through a maze of corporate greed, and learn how that youthful phenomenon corrupted a dream, shattered global markets and unleashed a catastrophe of international proportions.
The majority of these executives were still in their twenties when Ms Gillian Tett conducted her research; some were fresh out of college, only a few have been in the corporate realm long enough to offer some type of support to their proteges, yet none was offered. However, the most seniored one among them fell prey to this youthful phenomenon and became engrossed in this glamorous world of wealth creation.
Furthermore, instead of mentoring their proteges to act more in line with the company’s vision, these seasoned veterans of J. P. Morgan became willing pawns in this corporate scheme to get rich quick. The end result is a mammoth credit crunch and global financial crisis which caused this economic recession.
This book further fuels one’s contempt for this generation’s reckless disregard for a more ethical consensus toward making money. Nevertheless, the author goes beneath the surface of things and cut to where she wants her readers to see, that this unrelenting attitude of the group is what was feared most about this impending financial crisis.
Also, this book reminds readers of what is sorely missing in our world today when it comes to business. There is no mentorship. As a result, we are seeing a new generation with this reckless disregard for making money at any cost. The author was very earnest in bringing to light how our often repressed though youthful leaders of tomorrow will handle things as they venture into the corporate realm. It will be interesting to see how things shape up for them in the future. Perhaps it is a lesson for all of us, and we should take notice of this travesty of the corporate world.
Finally, this book is a must-read for anybody who wants to learn what corporate greed can lead to and how we often miss the point of what we want in life. Yet, by and large, this book is worthy of anyone’s efforts to at least give this valuable addition their honest thought. It will be well worth the effort. Also, it reminds one how mentoring is sorely needed in the corporate realm and without it how the corporate world will again find themselves in an ever-deepening financial crisis.