Our Purpose and Values

Learn more about how we cultivate and harness world-class intellectual capital and expertise to solve our clients’ most complex challenges.

What We Do

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Serving Clients

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We aspire to be the world’s most exceptional financial institution.

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The culture of Goldman Sachs is defined by our people’s commitment to delivering the best service to our clients through collaboration, innovation, and a relentless pursuit of excellence.

"The culture of Goldman Sachs is defined by our people’s commitment to delivering the best service to our clients through collaboration, innovation, and a relentless pursuit of excellence."

"It’s We. Not I."

It’s We. Not I.

"We aspire to be the world’s most exceptional financial institution."

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Our Values

"Our Values"

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We prioritize collaboration and believe in the strength of the collective, creating a culture that fosters teamwork and belonging in the pursuit of professional and personal growth.

Partnership

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We lead with a service mindset, working to earn our clients’ trust and exceed their expectations by understanding and overdelivering on their goals.

Client Service

We hold ourselves accountable to the highest ethical standards, insisting on transparency and vigilance from our people as we learn from our experiences and make decisions that instill a sense of pride in our firm.

Integrity

We aspire to nothing less than excellence, striving for exceptional performance and superior results for our clients, our shareholders, and our communities.

Excellence

In 1979, John Whitehead, then co-head of Goldman Sachs, wrote 14 principles that articulate what the firm stands for. Over four decades later, they remain foundational to the Goldman Sachs culture.

Business Principles

"In 1979, John Whitehead, then co-head of Goldman Sachs, wrote 14 principles that articulate what the firm stands for. Over four decades later, they remain foundational to the Goldman Sachs culture."

"Business Principles"

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Our experience shows that if we serve our clients well, our own success will follow.

Our clients’ interests always come first.

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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.

Our assets are our people, capital, and reputation.

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.

Our goal is to provide superior returns to our shareholders.

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.

We take great pride in the professional quality of our work.

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.

We stress creativity and imagination in everything we do.

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.

We make an unusual effort to identify and recruit the very best person for every job.

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 people 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.

We offer our people the opportunity to move ahead more rapidly than is possible at most other places.

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.

We stress teamwork in everything we do.

We think that this is an important part of our success.

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 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.

We consider our size an asset that we try hard to preserve.

We know that the world of finance will not stand still and that complacency can lead to extinction.

We constantly strive to anticipate the rapidly changing needs of our clients and to develop new services to meet those needs.

To breach a confidence or to use confidential information improperly or carelessly would be unthinkable.

We regularly receive confidential information as part of our normal client relationships.

Every person at Goldman Sachs is committed to embodying our core values, deepening client trust, and acting with integrity.

Business Standards

"Every person at Goldman Sachs is committed to embodying our core values, deepening client trust, and acting with integrity."

"Business Standards"

/our-firm/purpose-and-values/code-of-business-conduct-and-ethics

Code of Business Ethics and Conduct

/our-firm/purpose-and-values/business-standards-committee-report

Report of the Business Standards Committee

/pdfs/migrated/our-firm/people-and-culture/bcs-report.pdf

Business Standards Committee Impact Report

Corporate Governance 

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