Don’t stop the music, let Goldman Sachs chief DJ if he wants
Goldman Sachs chief executive David Solomon will step down. No, not from his career at the top of the investment bank, but from what has been labelled his colourful side hustle – DJing.
DJ-D Sol as he’s known on the circuit will only play privately for family and maybe friends after some of the stiff suited men on the board of Goldman Sachs expressed discomfort at Solomon’s musical career.
Solomon apparently made the decision to pull back from DJing because it generated unwanted media attention and became an easy stick for bankers, grumpy over lay-offs and pay cuts, to beat their boss with.
Now, if Solomon had been skipping out on board meetings to drop some beats at his local club then of course, this would be a cause for concern.
But there has to be somewhere between the workplace wellness zealots who insist we “bring our whole selves to work” and those leading some of the top financial institutions being able to have even a smidgen of colour in their personal lives, yes, even if that brings media attention.
In contrast, Rachel Reeves, the Shadow Chancellor, is a known chess champion. It is something she has been applauded for and has only help bolster her image as someone to be trusted on the economy.
Is there really such a difference between DJing and chess? Both are hobbies, both take up time outside of the office, but only one tends to land you playing to crowds of people at Lollapalooza, a four-day music festival in Chicago.
We’ve long bemoaned the inability to ensure we have diverse people at the top of City firms. Now no one is suggesting David Solomon, as a DJ, is somehow the pinnacle of diversity, but if leaders are expected to close down their own interests and passions for the sake of their career, why would we expect others from interesting and underrepresented backgrounds to aspire to rise to the very top?
When we police the personal lives of our staff, it makes our institutions boring, stale places with little room for movement; this is the very opposite of London’s reputation, which has always triumphed because of our flexibility and ability to move (and yes, maybe even groove) with the times.
Having our bankers look like real people can only help instil faith in the institutions that they work for, and having our bosses look like they have a good time can only help attract and retain some of the best talent we can find.