The thing that Vikram Pandit remembers most about joining Morgan Stanley in 1983 is the way a small firm preserves its culture.
![]() |
“I was interviewed by many of the partners,” recalls Pandit. “And the dominant theme was doing first-class business in a first-class way. It was a big driver of people’s behaviour, of how they conducted business and ultimately their careers.” President and chairman Richard Fisher was a big influence. He was an early enthusiast for computerized analysis of financial data. “Modern finance theory was just beginning to be put into practice,” says Pandit.