Bully Market My Story of Money and Misogyny at Goldman Sachs

A rare insider’s account of Goldman Sachs, revealing the entrenched discrimination and harassment at the upper echelons of this elite institution—and how to fix a broken system—from one of their top women.

Throughout her career, Jamie Fiore Higgins became one of the few women at the highest ranks of Goldman Sachs, and the only one she encountered with four children. Spurred on by the obligation she felt to her working-class immigrant family, she rose through the ranks and saw it all: out-of-control, lavish parties rampant with substance abuse; affairs flouted in the office; and most pervasively, a culture that discriminated against—and actively harassed—the few women and people of color employed at the company.

Despite Goldman Sachs having the best talking points and statistics, Fiore Higgins soon realized that these were just the veneer covering up an abusive culture. Though women are recruited at equal rates as men, there’s a large exodus after five years, then another drop-off several years later. In Higgins’s experience, the misogyny and discrimination tend to worsen the longer you work there. She could see the challenge in her male counterparts’ eyes: they knew how much harder the hefty paycheck was to leave the longer you stayed. They could treat their female colleagues however they wanted because lawsuits weren’t viable. The company operates like an exclusive club with strict rules that reward certain behavior. When she walked through their doors, Fiore Higgins experienced how high payouts and stress eroded what had considered were her iron-clad values. She decided to walk away once she realized that the increasing balance in her bank account wasn’t worth the decline in her character.

Now she’s here to sound the alarm and offer a hopeful story. Fiore Higgins sees the next generation, which includes younger women and a more diverse workforce, refusing to comply with outdated and harmful work practices. She has clear, actionable ideas for creating a fairer workplace that all companies can benefit from. Both a revealing, rare look at the industry and a top Wall Streeter’s personal experience, Bully Market is an essential account of one woman’s experience in a flawed system that speaks to the challenge and urgency for change.

Jamie Fiore Higgins worked as a managing director at Goldman Sachs. One of just 8 percent of Goldman employees to earn the managing director title, she was the highest-ranking woman in her department. An active member of the Women’s Network Committee, Fiore Higgins spent her workdays running the trainee and internship programs, recruiting, and managing top equity clients and $96 billion in stock. Living in New Jersey with her husband and four children, she is a trained coach, working with teens to hone in on their leadership skills, high school, and college graduates as they begin careers, professionals as they navigate the workforce, and those in midlife looking to reinvent themselves. She is also a contributor for Medium and Thrive Global.