After reading Liar’s Poker and Predator’s Ball, which depict the rise and fall of Salomon Brothers and Drexel Burnham respectively, one would think a definition of ethics in corporate culture equates to something that limits profits. Michael Lewis, author of Liar’s Poker, worked for Salomon Brothers during its heyday of bond trading, even being admitted to the upper-most echelon of the corporate world – the Big-Swinging Dick club. Lewis takes a humorous view of the rise and crash of Salomon Brothers, one that ended with $290 million in fines, the banishment of its CEO from running a brokerage, and jail time and fines for bond trade Paul W. Moser. In Predator’s Ball we see a business climate where corrupt corporate executives are often in league with high ranking political figures. This analysis will compare and contrast the business climate portrayed in each work, and then relate this climate to the business climate in contemporary corporate America.
The environment at Salomon Brothers resembled a bunch of milquetoast Harvard graduates thrust into a world of kindergarten bullies. Brilliant little boys were in charge with a Big Swinging Dick mentality during a bull market, one that Congressional legislation helped paved the way for enormous creation of wealth at the expense of investors. Such a mentality was fostered by the corporate culture that used the symbolic ritual of the game Liar’s Poker as a model of corporate behavior and guts. Egotistical bond traders recklessly created enormous levels of wealthy at the expense of clients. CEO John H. Gutfreund once challenged trader John Meriwether to one game of Lair’s Poker for one million dollars, no tears. Meriwether’s reply was called insane by Gutfreund, but firmly demonstrates the business climate of the company and era: “No, John, if we’re going to play for those kinds of numbers, I’d rather play for real money. Ten million dollars. No tears” (Le...