I found Robin Vince’s LinkedIn post last week… fascinating. He calls it a “full circle moment” with his Goldman buddy Lloyd Blankfein, yet it plays like another round of leadership cosplay. It might even be touching if BNY employees weren’t here describing a workplace stitched together with fear, offshoring, and corporate theater. Nothing says “excellence” like inviting a billionaire mentor to discuss humility lessons learned at Goldman while thousands of his BNY employees beg for clarity, stability, or even basic honesty.
Vince praises Blankfein’s lessons on uncertainty and values — meanwhile BNY’s workforce is drowning in ambiguity, morale is on life support, and “risk taking” mostly means gambling with people’s futures.
He talks about embedding values “every day,” yet avoids the very public concerns about layoffs, offshoring, collapsing trust, and a workforce treated like expendable inventory in a never-ending transformation cycle.
The real full circle moment won’t be a photo op with a retired Goldman titan. It’ll be when Vince realizes that inspirational quotes and curated leadership moments don’t fix morale, don’t slow attrition, and don’t rebuild credibility.