James P. Gorman Quotes
If you look for a problem long enough, and you can’t find it, the possibility exists that it doesn’t exist.
His firm was not very vulnerable to that risk. However, reporters have been so frequently been lied to by corporations and politicians that many have reached the point where they hear a rumor that something is true, and then they assume it is and devote their energies to proving it. Gorman was intellectually right, but practically so many other corporate executives and politicians have prevaricated that there is not enough trust for a rational process.
James P. Gorman, CEO Morgan Stanley, Statement to a financial reporter who for months had been asking him about his company’s strategy to cope with its “exposure to the Euro Crises in Europe.”
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Lincoln Steffens and Ida Tarbell had written exposes of business misconduct and lax government enforcement of laws. Politicians and business leaders were outraged and wanted something done to prevent this embarrassment and the riling up of the voting public. The President, a reformer himself, and a personal friend of Lincoln Steffens, took what seemed like a middle ground, where the government would not interfere with the 1st Amendment rights of the Journalists provided they did not go too far. But of course everyone had a different idea of “when to stop” so there never was a practical limit.
This statement demonstrates the transformation from the Communist era where the press was considered simply as another organ of the state. Before that, it was an instrument of the Czar. This is one of the world’s most firm statements of journalistic independence although recent Russian regimes have moved to limit journalistic independence.
James Patrick Gorman is an Australian-American financier who is the chairman and chief executive officer of Morgan Stanley. He was formerly Co-President and Co-Head of Strategic Planning at the firm.
