What It Takes: Stephen A. Schwarzman's Journey to Excellence - Lessons Learned Along the Way

paramesh: The best book on Business, I would suggest to read this book those who are interested to build large scale businesses and build best talents and culture in the organization. 39B dollar deal with SAM and the way it handled to sell most of it on deal closing day itself is outstanding smart work. Worth to read and re-read.

India on Nov 29, 2023

Thiago Guedes: Livro muito interessante para quem gosta de biografias de executivos e profissionais do mercado financeiro.

Varias lições de alguém que trilhou um caminho de sucesso.

Brazil on Aug 31, 2023

Jasmine H: I like to read about people who have boot-strapped their way up in life and the battles they faced along the way. I lost interest when he glibly mentions spinning off the advisory business for $100 million in the first year or two. I enjoyed reading his rules for success at the end of the book. May pick it up and finish it later.

United States on Jun 14, 2023

C. Wallace: Interesting read on the ability to continue pushing forward and have big goals.

United States on Apr 28, 2023

Julien P.: Un incontournable pour tout entrepreneur en devenir. Le livre ne cache rien de la difficulté rencontrée lorsque l'on veut bâtir quelque chose de grand et montre pourquoi il faut toujours viser l'excellence.
Très agréable à lire.

France on Apr 15, 2023

Victor: As I always do, I got into this autobiography looking for those by-the-roadside gems of advice you can only glean from living through it.

And I got plenty.

Learning from the 35,000ft finance view, I greatly appreciate lessons in business interpersonal relationships and investment tips & tricks.

I especially loved the deal making advice borne of decades of mega deal experience. Learning about identifying market cycles, when to get in on bottomed-out market cycles, how Blackstone evaluates each deal (a rigorous process I must say), among others.

At the end of the book, there’s a list of 25 lessons for business & life. If you don’t read anything else in this book, hit that list. It literally summarizes the most pivotal parts of the book.

If you’re looking for a fireside chat w/ a brilliant mind, keen to learn about an entrepreneur’s life & worldview, pick this up.

Be ready to bear w/ a few chapters of philanthropic work, working w/ Trump & China that may bore some.

United States on Jun 18, 2021

B.Sudhakar Shenoy: Rags to riches is an adage. When the economy or business cycle takes an unexpected and swift downturn, as often it happens, we have stories of riches to rags. The story of Blackstone, cofounded by Stephen Schwarzman is about building great institutions that can not only survive, but also thrive with every challenge. Schwarzman shares with us this fascinating story, with candour and courage, deep insights, and personal notes, with lessons on learning, leadership, love, and a legacy to be proud of.

Schwarzman belongs to a middle-class Jewish family in suburban Philadelphia, brought up in 1950’s, absorbing the core values of integrity, straightforwardness, and hard work. As a kid, he was paid ten cents per hour for folding handkerchiefs at the family’s linen shop. Unhappy with his pay, he once asked his grandfather for a raise to twenty-five cents an hour. “What makes you think you’re worth twenty-five cents an hour?’’ came the reply. There was no entitlement to higher wages just because the family owns the business.

Steve’s keen interest in athletics earns him a seat for undergraduate study at Yale. The story of Coach Armstrong training the team even in...

India on Jul 25, 2020

Liam Kelleher: The title of the book might make you think this book belongs in the self-help section. In reality the book is a biography of Stephen Schwarzman and is all the better for it.

Schwarzman gives each section and chapter a heading in the lesson in what it takes. But actually what really drove his success is not listed in a summary at the end of the book. He has worked 18 hours a day for years and sleeps 5 hours a night. To me, this is what it takes to have a heart attack but it is what it took for Schwarzman to become a wealthy and well known figure.

This book is a great insight into a how private equity investors think and operate. He goes through the many deals he has done in many industries. We are talked through his early life and career, leading to the creation of Blackstone (and anglophone construction of his name and his business partner). He covers how they too got into the business of high leveraged buyouts (LBOs). The company goes public, he makes a packet but the stress doesn’t end there. The financial crisis comes and they just about survive despite the intense pressure of a Chinese investors.

The final part of the book shines a light on his...

United Kingdom on Feb 11, 2020

Michael Noesen: Trying to be objective as possible here: It’s essentially a biography mixed in with tidbits of advice. For other financial readers, it reminds me of a mix between Michael Lewis’ Liar’s Poker (for the entertaining story) and Ray Dalio’s Principles (for the sage advice). Some complain that it’s not really a biography, that stories are non-chronological (which honestly it is, Steve just jumps from one topic to another - Maybe talking about Blackstone in one paragraph to then talking about personal events in another, but they’re all generally chronological. Sometimes he does do flashbacks); Others say that it’s not really a hand guide of “What it Takes” and, therefore, the book is mislabeled.

In my opinion, Schwarzman’s What It Takes: Lessons in the Pursuit of Excellence, is a good mix between a traditional biography, in-depth business stories that are engaging, and valuable pieces of advice here and there. Honestly, what else is it supposed to be? I haven’t heard Schwarzman is planning on writing another book, so this was the single piece of writing to capture all of his life. Simply put, I loved it. I started it over the Thanksgiving holiday and finished...

United States on Feb 01, 2020

FOA_NYC: If you are looking for a very readable book that will give you insights into how Steve Schwarzman built a half trillion dollar investment business, the China equivalent of the Rhodes scholarship, and became the confidant of US presidents, all starting from a middle class upbringing in Philadelphia, this is it. You will take away lessons that you can apply in your business or personal life. If you are looking for a detailed history of Blackstone and private equity, you will find some elements here, but this is not what this book is about really.

In full disclosure, this review is written with a direct and personal perspective, as I have known Steve through work at Blackstone, informing how I think about the book. It is genuine – written in the same voice as Steve’s weekly talks at Blackstone’s Monday morning meetings, except the book describes many of the most interesting episodes in his life, rather than just the last seven days.

Steve’s book captures what made Blackstone succeed. When I joined the firm, I was struck by how we were a market leader in private equity, real estate, hedge fund capital, and restructuring, even though the various businesses were...

United States on Oct 14, 2019