Learning to Love Your Corporate Culture Summary and Analysis

Michael begins his first day of work at Salomon Brothers with a walk around Wall Street. He feels like a lottery winner with his undeserved M.B.A. pay of $42,000 that doubles what his London School of Economics professor earns at twice Mike's age. Salomon is the most profitable firm on Wall Street and dominates the entire bond market in 1985. Ironically, bond traders are considered boring at parties and are relatively uneducated despite their risk-taking and money-making skills. Salomon traders' undisclosed commissions add a tiny fraction of each multi-million dollar transaction at each step along the way. The author compares commissions to second and third helpings of dressing in an overstuffed turkey. The Federal Reserve initially stuffs the bird with actions like Chairman Paul Volcker's fixing the money supply in late...