WHAT IT TAKES - Stephen A. Schwarzman

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ISBN: 978-1-4711-8955-5

Verdict:  👍👍

You have to respect Scharwazman for what he has achieved in his long life, reinforcing to some extent the old saying that ‘money makes money’.This book is worth reading if you are working in finance and is quite a nice read.

The book takes you down Stephen's memory lane and his life time of investing. It’s a short book and does lack clarity on the analysis, rules and logic applied on the business decisions.

The book is about Stephen and the people he knows and boy does he ‘name drop’, throughout the book, to the extent it was getting boring reading another name popping up towards the end. 

There are snippets on Blackstone’s Business Drivers/Methodology e.g. Blackstone’s three tests 
“It must have potential to be hugely rewarding for investors. It must add to Blackstone intellectual capital. And it must have a 10 in charge of it.”          p281 

Below are some of my best bits from the book;

  • There is insight into his Business world starting with the theme “The best executives are made, not born. They absorb information study their own experiences, learn from their mistakes and evolve.”                   p3
  • Stephen makes some great points indirectly about connections and to nurture them for the long game e.g. “Those early encounters and friendships have a way of reappearing throughout your life”                     p50 
  • I did like the Airport test – “Would I want to be stuck waiting at an airport with you if our flight were delayed”.                             p53 
  • “a lot of people fail because they start from a position of self-interest. What’s in it for me?p77  
  • “The harder the problem, the more limited the competition.“    p109 
  • “Don’t waste your time trying to reinvent the wheel. I Advised. There are plenty of wheels all around you, ready-made, just waiting for you to spin them faster, further and in new directions”              p165

“All my life, I have been looking and listening for patterns” Its like the old TV Show ‘name that tune’ the more songs you know, the more likely you are able to identify the songs from just one or two notes” p205 
I gave it a 👍👍 purely because, I got bored with the name dropping and I felt  that his choice of charity donations were more about putting his name on the door - a kind of legacy?  

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