“What It Takes: Lessons in the Pursuit of Excellence” is Stephen Schwarzman’s 2019 memoir that takes readers through select moments from his childhood to present daySchwarzman is the co-founder, chairman and CEO of Blackstone, the largest private equity firm in the world. He is one of the biggest “rainmakers” (his term) Wall Street has ever seen, as reflected in the size of his company, the deals they’ve done and his net worth. Additionally, he is a philanthropist and political donor.
Before I get into the review, while I usually cringe at comparing real people to characters from sensationalist Wall Street movies, I think it’s worth mentioning that based on how Schwarzman describes himself, he has a lot of Patrick Bateman from “American Psycho” in him.
Rather than going over plot points, I’ll cut to what I thought of the memoir. Through both his book and speaking appearances, I find Schwarzman to be extremely polarizing;some parts of him I strongly dislike and others I admire.
For what I disliked, he comes off as a close-minded person who seems to belittle almost everyone. I’m not the only one who’s held this sentiment, as he describes a few encounters with people where he basically received the feedback that he came off as a conceited jerk. It’s one thing to just be an egotistical maniac, but Schwarzman’s cold heartedness rubs me the wrong way at times. To play the devil’s advocate though, often, I believe his coldness and ruthlessness are somewhat valid.
Beyond just walking readers through what it was like to raise money and attract investors in an investment centered business, there were several things I liked about the memoir. First, he’s living proof that it’s possible to make billions of dollars without knowing calculus.
Above all, though, is how Schwarzman’s social life and inner monologue (at times) seemed to mirror my own, for better and for worse. Like me, from a very young age, he always wanted more and was never satisfied with what he had in front of him—which has helped and hurt us. We’ve both figured out that most people around us don’t want the same things out of life that we do, which is okay; it doesn’t make us better or worse than them.
He sacrificed almost everything, including friendships, relationships with his children, the ability to enjoy normal life experiences and his overall health to pursue his ambitions of making more money than everyone else and doing the biggest business deals. Through Schwarzman’s writing, readers will notice he’s envious of the experiences others got to have.
From his first job on Wall Street, fresh out of college, he was the richest among his peers, yet never had much else— to many, it might sound like a very painful, sad and lonely existence. However, just this year, he warned people about going through life with the same mindset he did, as it took a toll on his mental health. It’s tough to break out of for a lot of reasons, but occasionally I think I should tweak my mindset while I’m ahead. If one of my greatest idols warns me of something, I feel compelled to consider it at least a little bit. However, I’m after more than just money for money’s sake.
So, I enjoyed the memoir because Schwarzman reminded me of myself as I am right now, in a few key ways. It was only later that he admitted his mentality wasn’t the most conducive to a joyful and fulfilling life overall. The money, fame and power didn’t necessarily make up for everything he missed out on.
On another note, something that many readers will like is how Schwarzman seemed to disapprove of Donald Trump at least a little bit during his first term—mainly because the President was incredibly dismissive of his suggestions for economic and foreign policy. Whenever Schwarzman spoke to Trump, he’d basically get the response “yeah alright Steve buddy, I’ll think about it,” then proceed to do his own thing. However, just like many other memoirs I’ve read, he’s careful not to be too hard on President Trump.
I would recommend “What It Takes” to anyone interested in business in any form, especially finance. It is the memoir of the living Wall Street legend Stephen Schwarzman, who will go down in history as one of the greatest investors ever to do it.
