Morning Coffee: What if Goldman Sachs, JPMorgan & Morgan Stanley chose CEOs like this? Private equity's pain

efinancialcareers.com:

When chief executives are selected in investment banks, it tends to be a closed door affair. The outgoing leader chooses the next, and there is often some fallout. David Solomon's ascension at Goldman Sachs resulted in his unsuccessful opponent, Harvey Schwartz,joining Carlyle Group. Jamie Dimon's succession machinations at JPMorgan seem to have been partly responsible for Vis Raghavan's exit to Citigroup. Only Ted Pick at Morgan Stanley was chosen by James Gorman in a peculiarly bloodless baton-handing, although it remains to be seen whetherAndy Saperstein and Dan Simkowitz will stay long as number twos. 

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What, though, if it were different? What if it wasn't up to the outgoing CEO to choose his/her successor (with help from the board), but if all the senior staff got to vote in a democratic process and candidates had to produce suitability manifestos to win.

This is what happens in large partnerships, where partners with significant equity in the business have a say over who leads them. It's what happens in the big accounting and professional services firms. 

“It can be a great laugh,” one Big Four veteran says of the process to choose a new leader. It's mostly because the candidates aren't much good at selling themselves, he tells the Sunday Times. «They can be stilted and out of their comfort zone,” he observes. Another insider says it's like, „being robocalled by a politician.“ 

Those calls are now happening. Elections are underway at PWC. The process is surprisingly open. The Times says any equity partner can apply to lead the firm: they simply nominate themselves to a supervisory board of senior partners. This board puts candidates through psychometric tests and