Speaking to Students

I was at the University of Texas this week speaking at the McCombs Business School VIP Distinguished Speaker Series. McCombs does an incredible job of welcoming speakers -- visits with the President of the University, Bill Powers, to Dean Gilligan of the business school, the Associate Deans, and two groups of students. It's hard to say which is more interesting, talking to the people who run the school or the students. Probably the students.

I love hearing about the aspirations of people who are just starting their careers. A lot of students want to reconcile idealism, ethics and the desire for a balanced, healthy life with the goal of working in a prestigious, high-paying job such as Wall Street.

That's not easy. Wall Street can be a great place to start a career. You are around very smart people all day and learn a lot. It's a good credential in the business world, although when you go to parties, you may find that people who went to work for Teach for America are considered to have done something even more prestigious. It's not a good idea to hang out all the time with people who work on Wall Street. That does tend to happen because of the hours you work and it promotes irrational thinking.

I was asked whether there are people like Gordon Gekko on Wall Street. The answer is no, not really. If Gordon Gekko actually worked on Wall Street, he wouldn't say greed is good. He would say that greed promotes the greater benefit of society by enhancing the free market, and he is serving the public welfare through his greed. He might even believe the b.s. he is spouting, because the only people he hangs with are other Wall Street people who are easy to convince that nonsense like this is true.