What it Takes by Stephen Schwarzman

What it Takes by Stephen Schwarzman




Read: October 2021

Well written memoir by one of the most successful asset managers of all time, Stephen Schwarzman, founder of Blackstone. Most of the books written by otherwise successful CEOs are unreadable. Not this one.

However, the book may be well written, but the story itself is nothing to write home about. Its a usual success story of a super successful entrepreneur. He is born in a middle class family, is good at academics and sports, goes to some of the top colleges, gets recruited by the top banks, then does well there, branches out on own, and builds a mega corporation. There are no heroic episodes, no thrills of ups and downs, just a well written diary. There are flashes of brilliance in deal making, philanthropic activities in the end, dabbling in political ambitions in the middle, and so on.

Stephen Schwarzman is born in a Jewish small business family. Is a decent athlete. Goes to Yale on sports abilities. Leaves sports, concentrates in studies. Gets into an I-bank as a junior analyst. Is moderately successful. Goes to Harvard for his MBA. Joins Lehman where he quickly rises through the ranks to become chief of M&A department at the age of 31. After a merger, he and his boss, Pete Peterson, former commerce secretary, start Blackstone, named after translations of Schwarz (black in German) and Petros (stone in Greek). They get few lucky breaks and their astuteness in investing means that they don't have to struggle long for success. Schwarzman has few advices, the chief among them is aim big, given that the effort required for either small or big goals are the same. Secondly, he advises on hiring the '10s', the best.

The book will hardly leave with you any emotions.


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