From: "Neil Callahan" <[email-masked]>
To: "'Eric Schwerin'" <[email-masked]>, "'Hunter Biden'" <[email-masked]>, "'Devon Archer'" <[email-masked]>
Date: Tue, 27 Apr 2010 17:02:47 -0400

Goldman Sachs (GS) Group's Mission Statement 

These 14 principles are the closest thing I could find to a mission
statement.

Business Principles

1. Our clients' interests always come first. Our experience shows that if we
serve our clients well, our own success will follow.

2. Our assets are our people, capital and reputation. If any of these is
ever diminished, the last is the most difficult to restore. We are dedicated
to complying fully with the letter and spirit of the laws, rules and ethical
principles that govern us. Our continued success depends upon unswerving
adherence to this standard.

3. Our goal is to provide superior returns to our shareholders.
Profitability is critical to achieving superior returns, building our
capital, and attracting and keeping our best people. Significant employee
stock ownership aligns the interests of our employees and our shareholders.

4. We take great pride in the professional quality of our work. We have an
uncompromising determination to achieve excellence in everything we
undertake. Though we may be involved in a wide variety and heavy volume of
activity, we would, if it came to a choice, rather be best than biggest.

5. We stress creativity and imagination in everything we do. While
recognizing that the old way may still be the best way, we constantly strive
to find a better solution to a client's problems. We pride ourselves on
having pioneered many of the practices and techniques that have become
standard in the industry.

6. We make an unusual effort to identify and recruit the very best person
for every job. Although our activities are measured in billions of dollars,
we select our people one by one. In a service business, we know that without
the best people, we cannot be the best firm.

7. We offer our people the opportunity to move ahead more rapidly than is
possible at most other places. Advancement depends on merit and we have yet
to find the limits to the responsibility our best people are able to assume.
For us to be successful, our men and women must reflect the diversity of the
communities and cultures in which we operate. That means we must attract,
retain and motivate people from many backgrounds and perspectives. Being
diverse is not optional; it is what we must be.

8. We stress teamwork in everything we do. While individual creativity is
always encouraged, we have found that team effort often produces the best
results. We have no room for those who put their personal interests ahead of
the interests of the firm and its clients.

9. The dedication of our people to the firm and the intense effort they give
their jobs are greater than one finds in most other organizations. We think
that this is an important part of our success.

10. We consider our size an asset that we try hard to preserve. We want to
be big enough to undertake the largest project that any of our clients could
contemplate, yet small enough to maintain the loyalty, the intimacy and the
esprit de corps that we all treasure and that contribute greatly to our
success.

11. We constantly strive to anticipate the rapidly changing needs of our
clients and to develop new services to meet those needs. We know that the
world of finance will not stand still and that complacency can lead to
extinction.

12. We regularly receive confidential information as part of our normal
client relationships. To breach a confidence or to use confidential
information improperly or carelessly would be unthinkable.

13. Our business is highly competitive, and we aggressively seek to expand
our client relationships. However, we must always be fair competitors and
must never denigrate other firms.

14. Integrity and honesty are at the heart of our business. We expect our
people to maintain high ethical standards in everything they do, both in
their work for the firm and in their personal lives.

 

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Neil Callahan

Rosemont Seneca

401 Greenwich Street, Suite 400 | New York NY 10013 | 212-933-9965

1010 Wisconsin Avenue, Suite 705 | Washington DC 20007 | 202-333-1880

917-945-9516 (mobile) 

866-749-8879  (fax)