He Punched Her in the Face

It seems stranger than fiction, but apparently it really happened. The story involves a man named Jonathan Kaye, a millionaire banker with a company called Moelis and Cie.

How did Kaye manage to have his picture splashed across tabloids like The Daily Mail and the New York Post? Well, he punched a woman in the face, with cameras rolling, in beautiful downtown Brooklyn. It happened on Saturday night. The punch knocked the woman to the street. 

Kaye is married. He is the father of three. His problems began when he was confronted by a group of anti-Semitic protesters who incoherently label themselves-- Queers for Palestine. 

The New York Post reports this side of the story:

An investment banker caught on video slugging a woman in the face during a Brooklyn Pride event lashed out during an argument about the war in Gaza, a source said.

Millionaire Jonathan Kaye had clashed with members of an anti-Israel LGBTQ group before he shockingly laid out the woman, a source close to Kaye with knowledge of the situation said Monday – as his Park Slope neighbors described him as a rude, antisocial curmudgeon.

“They were marching, they had a flag, and Jonathan simply said something along the lines of, ‘you guys are on the wrong side,'” the source told The Post.

“From there about four people from the group came up to him, they circled him and threw red liquid on him,” the source claimed. “He tried to back away, but he was either chest-bumped or fell to the ground, smashing his knee and slicing his leg.”

The source claimed that after that, he got up and used only the amount of force that was necessary “to get out of there,” noting that Kaye has no history of violence and no criminal record.

Clearly, he was provoked. Clearly, queers for Palestine are missing a few little gray cells. Do they know how homosexuals are treated in Gaza, or under Islamist rule? Do they know that in those places homosexuality is a capital crime, punishable by death?

On the other side, while it seems clear that Kaye was provoked and was defending, it is also true that he would have done better to ignore the group in the first place. He might have been justified to punch a woman in the face, but still, it does not look very good.

Anyway, among the curiosities in this case is this: Kaye is something of a moral philosopher. He has offered up opinions about how best to conduct oneself in the world of investment banking.

Obviously, the press is especially agog over Kaye’s recommendation that young bankers learn empathy. The word is on everyone’s lips these days, so its usage does not mean very much.

Anyway, Kaye is on his firm’s Managing Committee and has happily shared his wisdom:

He shared that he advises his mentees and aspiring bankers that they won't have the 'freedom' to work in the roles they want until they 'achieve one precious thing - judgement'.

'Any job that you want to have eventually in finance - whether it's advising companies, managing money, deploying capital or leading a company operationally - you're going to have that position because of judgement,' Kaye said.

He argued that while entry-level positions in finance and investment banking 'really accelerate your judgment in a way that's remarkable', the most successful people in the industry 'really invest in your experience' at the company as a whole.

'That means not just hard work, but focus on putting yourself in firms, in positions, and with people who can give you the most packed volume of experience that you possibly can,' he advised.

'Pay attention and focus on the people, you admire because they're likely succeeding for a reason.

'So yes, you should learn the hard skills as fast as you can, but in the end it's really the skills of grit and resilience, learning how to listen, understanding what is motivating other people, and empathy - those are the indispensable skills that separate you from a calculator.'

Good judgment would have told him to avoid confronting maniacs on a public street. No matter what they had been yelling at him.

And consider some of Kaye’s other advice, advice which one can certainly accept.

Consider this:

Kaye told the LSE Podcast last year: 'I learned some of the basic concepts that probably seem obvious but when you're in your 20s you kind of have to learn them all from scratch. Those are things like doing what you say you're going to do, being consistent, carefully managing your reputation, carefully managing difficult people, and staying away from toxic people.'

Did you see that? Stay away from toxic people and manage your reputation. Both good pieces of advice.

Unfortunately, when you punch out a woman on a public street, your own reputation is very likely to suffer. 

Moelis & Co., a New York-based investment bank where Kaye is a managing director, said Monday that one of its employees has been placed on leave after being involved in a “serious incident” in Brooklyn on Saturday.

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