Why Does Goldman Sachs President and COO John Waldron View Himself as COO First and President Second?
John Waldron is a busy man. He\u2019s almost a year into his role as Goldman Sachs COO and President, and he\u2019s also a father of six. In this episode, Waldron demystifies his day-to-day and explains why he\u2019s even more focused on executing on the title \u201cCOO\u201d than \u201cpresident.\u201d \u201cMy role right now really is to first learn the firm and understand the inner workings of the firm, and so that\u2019s a really operationally intensive job, thus the chief operating officer component,\u201d says Waldron. \u201cThe president job comes into play more on an external basis where you\u2019re out with clients, with governments, with regulators and other external constituencies where that title has real resonance.\u201d Waldron also discusses how younger employees can identify and invest in mentors, as well as the importance of recharging out of the office. For Waldron, that means getting home for dinner with his family if he has to head out to a client event later in the evening. \u201cI\u2019ll have a little bit of peanut butter and jelly and then I\u2019ll have a steak tartare later on,\u201d he tells podcast host Jake Siewert.