By Liz Hoffman 

Goldman Sachs Group Inc.'s more than 34,000 employees arrived to work Monday to find a voice mail waiting. "This is Lloyd," it began.

Chief Executive Lloyd Blankfein then delivered a denunciation of President Donald Trump's immigration ban, which restricts immigration from seven Muslim-majority countries and freezes the U.S. refugee program. "This is not a policy we support," he said. "Being diverse is not optional; it is what we must be."

With that, Mr. Blankfein, a Democrat who supported Hillary Clinton for president, drew a sharp distinction between himself and Goldman alums who have embraced Mr. Trump. The latter group includes his former lieutenant, Gary Cohn, now director of the White House National Economic Council, and Treasury Secretary nominee Steven Mnuchin, a former Goldman partner.

Mr. Blankfein's message isn't a bolt from the blue, though. A decade into his tenure -- and appearing more firmly ensconced than ever following recent turnover in the executive suite -- Mr. Blankfein has appeared more comfortable speaking out on controversial issues, at least internally.

"I don't wake up in the morning looking for things to opine on, and without a business interest, it's just Lloyd Blankfein with a microphone, " he said in an interview Monday with The Wall Street Journal. "But where there's an issue that affects our people and their ability to do their jobs, I think as CEO I'm not only licensed but obligated to say something."

Days after a gunman killed five police officers in Dallas last summer, for example, Mr. Blankfein also sent firmwide voice mail similar to this weekend's, urging a frank discussion about race and bias.

"I have said in the past that it's not appropriate to use the Goldman Sachs platform for social issues when the firm has no special expertise or direct business interest," Mr. Blankfein said, reading from a script he wrote himself, people familiar with the matter said. "But these are exceptional circumstances."

Such stances, even if expressed internally within the firm, strike some Goldman observers as Mr. Blankfein looking to build a legacy. Having survived the financial crisis and set Goldman on a more diversified business path to navigate new regulation, he has appeared more introspective in recent public appearances.

In a recent television interview, he said he wanted Goldman to be "viewed as important and a positive influence on the American economy and culture."

And while former colleagues have gone into government with the Trump administration, it is widely acknowledged that such avenues likely wouldn't be open to Mr. Blankfein in any future Democratic administration. That is because of deep opposition within that party to Wall Street executives serving in top government posts, along with Goldman's lingering stigma from the financial crisis.

The emergence of Goldman as a firm that is seeming to embrace social values -- even when uncomfortable or, as is the case this week, politically risky -- also comes as the firm has sought to smooth its rougher edges in the wake of the financial crisis.

It has launched initiatives to support small businesses and female entrepreneurs and launched podcasts. It has revamped its recruiting efforts in the hopes of bringing in a more diverse class of junior bankers, and tried to free those same young employees from grunt work.

In commenting on the Trump administration's immigration ban, Mr. Blankfein joined a host of corporate executives voicing concern. These included his counterpart at Morgan Stanley, James Gorman, and tech leaders such as Apple Inc.'s Tim Cook.

Their responses reflect that in finance and tech, big, global companies rely on the ability to recruit overseas and move their employees around freely. Goldman has identified about 100 employees world-wide that might fall under the umbrella of the ban, a person familiar with the matter said Monday.

But Mr. Blankfein's critique was blunter than statements from other Wall Street firms, more in tone with opposition from tech companies. That is notable since Goldman, as a highly regulated financial firm, is subject to far greater government scrutiny than Silicon Valley.

And Goldman, along with other financial firms, has been viewed by investors as a beneficiary of an expected rollback of regulation by the Trump administration, along with potential tax cuts and pro-growth economic policies. Those factors have helped push Goldman's shares sharply higher, allowing Mr. Blankfein and others to personally gain millions of dollars.

Critics have chided Mr. Blankfein's moves are public-relations efforts to shine the firm's public image. Some senior executives believe Goldman was disproportionately blamed for the financial crisis because it was seen as aloof and lacked the public goodwill enjoyed by retail banks.

Still, Mr. Blankfein's willingness to speak out on social issues reflects Goldman's roots. Founded by German-Jewish immigrants, the firm's initial exclusion from Wall Street's upper tier instilled among its early leaders an affinity with outsiders and a focus on social justice issues and progressive politics, current and former executives say.

That thinking coincides with Mr. Blankfein's own personal beliefs, even if other Goldman heads, such as former chief executive and Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson, have been on the other side of the political spectrum. In 2012, for instance, Mr. Blankfein endorsed gay marriage, and Goldman signed on to legal briefs opposing the Defense of Marriage Act in a case before the U.S. Supreme Court.

Following his firmwide voice mail last summer, Mr. Blankfein moderated a conversation about race with black partners at Goldman's New York headquarters. Edith Cooper, the bank's head of human resources, published an essay on LinkedIn about her experiences as a black woman coming up Goldman's ranks -- not all of them pleasant -- and urged employees to share their own.

Write to Liz Hoffman at liz.hoffman@wsj.com

 

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

January 31, 2017 02:48 ET (07:48 GMT)

Copyright (c) 2017 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
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