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The Gordon Gekko Effect: The Role of Culture in the Financial Industry [pdf]

19 points tylerdane 3 hours ago 10 comments

tylerdane 3 hours ago | parent

"The same factors that allow leadership to manifest itself through performance and teamwork also allow it to promote goals that lack a moral, ethical, legal, profitable, or even rational basis."

getpost 1 hour ago | parent

> "The point is, ladies and gentleman, that greed, for lack of a better word, is good." ... few people know that these words are based on an actual commencement speech delivered in 1986 at The speaker? Ivan Boesky, who would be convicted just eighteen months later in an insider trading scandal.

I did not know this! Thank you for posting!

parineum 59 minutes ago | parent

The whole character and his role in pop culture I find very frustrating.

The guy is the antagonist in the movie so you're not supposed to like him and he's written that way. He's a strawman and his whole speech is how the real version of him would sound filtered through the ears of someone who disagreed with him.

So you end up with people holding him up as an example that disagree and agree with him but the both of those groups are choosing the sides of a caricature that doesn't understand the point he's trying to make. It's weird.

lapcat 42 minutes ago | parent

Two problems:

1) Michael Douglas is extremely attractive and charismatic, so people like him even if they're not supposed to. Gekko seduces the viewer to the dark side like he seduced Bud Fox.

2) The movie never shows Gekko in jail, so you never see the true consequences.

paulpauper 37 minutes ago | parent

Prison sentences were so short back then, plus parole, that it was arguably worth it. it worked for Boeseky, Milikin and others.

jgalt212 18 minutes ago | parent

It only worked for Milken because he had so much money as to be bulletproof and could buy his reputation back.

keiferski 18 minutes ago | parent

It's the problem with most Oliver Stone movies, Scorsese movies, and many other directors: the premise of the film requires a charismatic antihero, and therefore the "bad guy" becomes cool and popular.

The directors always try to avoid this criticism by saying, "Well he goes to jail in the end," but I think it's a bit of a cop out.

I tend to agree with the idea that art should try to embody some moral values, which goes against a lot of contemporary thoughts on aesthetics. But I think it’s a basic fact that people look toward fictional characters as role models, directly or indirectly. Avoiding that responsibility is not good.

ghlaoop 11 minutes ago | parent

Gekko is the lead character and therefore the protagonist. Antagonists are faceless bureaucrats and later his mentee.

The Corleone family is also who viewers identify with in The Godfather.

Contrast with an Eastwood western, where he is the good guy or a guy better than the rest or at least with consistent morals.

dingaling911 1 hour ago | parent

I had two stints at a hedge fund, one a hedge fund supplier.

The fake self promotional bullshit is so tiring. I quit as a result of this. It's the same as big tech, not any different.

Jane Street SUPPOSEDLY follows a flat hierarchy which has less of these games. I'm not sure how true it is.

The way I think about it: you hire people who are literally self driven and then you constrain them for no reason just to make other people feel in control.

Or maybe I'm just not a good employee. My first job ever told me I'm a horrible employee.

thibsrn 3 minutes ago | parent

Thank you for sharing, it is a really interesting read. It expands on the different approaches that try to explain individuals' behaviors in a group. It is always good when there is some variety on HN and we get a bit of social sciences !