Blankfein Llyod Blankfein is the current chief executive officer (CEO) of Glodman Sachs and has held that position since 2006. Blankfein is a native of the Bronx (New York City) attended Harvard Law School, graduating in 1979 with a Juris Doctor degree. He worked as a corporate attorney for a couple of years until beginning his Goldman Sachs career as a precious metals salesman in London in 1981.

Moving up through the ranks, he continued working for Goldman until, in 2006, he took over the reins of the company from the outgoing CEO and has run the company since that time. Blankfein is one of the highest paid executives in the financial industry. In 2007, he earned almost $54 million, following 2006 when he earned even more. His base salary during those years was approximately $600,000 so the remainder of his compensation was his bonus that was paid in cash, stocks and options.

What is interesting about Blankfein is that he continues to reap the rewards of a system that seems drastically skewed towards the large banking and financial institutions, while the little guy gets tossed on the scrap heaps of the financial world. He seems to be a leader (if one could call him that) who does not truly lead by example, unless of course the example is a bad...

At that time he testified that Goldman Sachs had no moral or legal obligation to inform its clients that it was betting against the very products that they were purchasing from Goldman Sachs to begin with. This lack of integrity is not a characteristic that most people would deem desirable in a leader, especially a leader who was in such a powerful position.
However, these characteristics are vividly evident in Washington and on Wall Street today, and in fact, are lauded as quite commendable. There are other characteristics that leaders are said to have that Blankfein does display, and perhaps his was not the only influence to be felt in designing financial products that have led to so much destruction.

Steve Case, former CEO and founder of American Online (AOL) once stated that a leader must have perseverance, passion and must care for people (Academy, 2011). Blankfein seems to share all three of these traits with Case. He has persevered through some of the rockiest and financially depressing periods in…