Streetwise: Getting to and Through Goldman Sachs

by Lloyd Blankfein

From the long-tenured head of an institution legendary for its culture of success comes a candid memoir of global leadership in an age of extreme turbulence.

“Lloyd Blankfein is scary smart about people, markets, and life generally. His 10,000 Small Businesses idea proved to be a huge winner, and I personally witnessed the time and effort he devoted to its success. During the 2008–2009 financial crisis, Lloyd acted decisively, and he tells the story of what happened with unique insights.” —Warren Buffett

When Lloyd Blankfein was attacked as a Wall Street fat cat, he had to smile, thinking of his precarious childhood in the notorious public housing projects of East New York, Brooklyn, and attending a high school so chaotic he didn’t feel safe leaving class to go to the bathroom in his time there. Harvard University was a total moonshot, and his outsider status never wore off, there or at Harvard Law. When he struck people as street-y, it wasn’t Wall Street they were thinking of. But if the chip never quite left Blankfein's shoulder, neither did a wry, resilient spirit and a lucid, democratic intelligence that saw through airs and found talent and ideas in unlikely places.

Streetwise is a delightfully honest, sharp and often very funny reckoning with the author’s education—in finance, human nature, and the workings of the world. It abounds with lessons about leading teams of brilliant, aggressive, competitive people and harmonizing them around shared goals; changing when times are hard and when they’re good; managing risk; and knowing a crisis is at hand before it swamps you so you can guide your team to the further shore. Blankfein is famed for his calm hand on Goldman Sachs’s tiller during the global financial crisis, and that story is told in full here, among many other decisive episodes.

Suffusing Streetwise is the author’s deep and abiding respect for the partnership culture of Goldman Sachs. We follow the never-ending work to protect and preserve that culture through all sorts of tumult—the challenge behind every other challenge. He is open about when he and the firm got it wrong, which was often enough, but the creative, risk-taking spirit was never snuffed—even as the fail-safes put in place to protect the firm and its clients held when they were needed the most. A powerful blueprint for the wise stewardship of a cause that is larger than yourself, Streetwise will inspire and inform readers throughout the global business community and beyond.

Genres: Business, Biography, Finance, Nonfiction, Memoir, Economics, Biography Memoir

400 pages, Kindle Edition

Published March 3, 2026

Reviews

[Cynthia · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a great book, very fun and interesting. I skipped some parts that were either too sophisticated for me in terms of finance and math; and some parts that felt like they came out of the annual report (and were repetitive; we know now that Goldman has a strong family/partner/community ethos, got it).
But parts of it are fascinating and funny. Blankfein is apparently famous for snapping out fast one-liners and he has a fast, funny, smart way of describing many things in very few words.
I compare this book to the Keith McNally autobio, which similarly feels very honest. He talks about his strengths and things he's proud of but he has a sense of humor about sharing criticisms other people have of him. In the photo section, he includes a "360 review" from people who work with him, that is fairly shattering. We know people love him, but we can also see how people um dont.
Worth the price of admission alone: His inside description of life at the top of the group that was trying to handle 2008 and the financial crisis. I had just finished Andrew Ross Sorkin's book 1929 and the descriptions of America's top bankers gathering to try and stop the bleeding back then is very similar to what Blankstein describes in 2008.
I continually compare new autobios to the recent Graydon Carter book, which is a fun snappy read and seems completely empty and phony. This book and the Keith McNally book are the opposite. They're raw, and honest and you feel while you're reading that someone else almost certainly has a different vision of what happened in this or that situation — but you feel that McNally and Blankfein would have no problem with that. The Carter book is a little bit more of a faux fairy tale.

[Suraj Sharma · Rating 5 out of 5]

first off, i despise wall street, like every ordinary fellow out there. the necessary evil of modern finance is not without its gems however, people being the most important asset. that said, the quality of modern bulge bracket investment bankers has been steadily declining like everything else covered by thick layer of entropy. this book stands out, reads less like a pompous memoir and more like an earnest collection of vignettes from a life. my reasons for reading and reviewing being personal, i could care less about new york and the people that run it. rating favorably because well, is perhaps my first and last banker biography. not saying the man is cream of the crop, but perhaps, given the times and the situations he steered through, the last of the greats.

[Gwyn · Rating 5 out of 5]

Lloyd is an excellent storyteller of his life. You don’t have to be a Wall Street/ finance expert to enjoy his book. He breaks everything down including what a slide ruler is (with some humor)

Fascinating learning the story of his life. From nothing to everything. Valuable insight into banking culture and running one of the biggest banks in the world. A wild and successful ride driving transformative change and crisis at Goldman.

[Sanford Chee]

Lloyd Blankfein on His Memoir, Risk Management and Leadership
https://youtu.be/GwM7To3pCZQ?si=LlJbg...

WSJ: Lloyd Blankfein Misses Being Goldman Sachs CEO—Mostly When There’s a Market Crisis
https://www.wsj.com/finance/investing...

[Philip Sheridan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great read. Really well written and obviously very interesting story given Lloyd's experience. Very candid and informative. I most enjoyed learning about how we thought about operating a partnership and maintaining the culture of the firm while it expanded and evolved. One of the better business books I've read recently!

[Dee · Rating 4 out of 5]

A solid 4 for the unique insight from a level-headed CEO who grew up poor in Brooklyn and went to law school. I may have liked it even more if I had a finance background or knew all the technical deals and departments/people mentioned.

[Susan Neuwirth · Rating 3 out of 5]

I’m giving it 3 stars but really it could be 4. Loved listening to it while driving although a lot of the finance things I didn’t quite bet. That said, he’s an engaging writer and great reader but it’s not a book for everyone.

[Bill · Rating 5 out of 5]

Amazing book as Blankenfein describes his life journey from the streets of NY to Goldman Sachs. Really enjoyed his personal viewpoint of what happened during the 1994 currency crisis and the 2008 financial crisis. Really worth the read.

[EM · Rating 4 out of 5]

Audio 4.5 Star
Enjoyed listening to the book
Great balance of personal and professional and career advice as well as details on the lessons on financial markets

[Kaili Jen · Rating 5 out of 5]

I worked a lot with Goldman Sachs when I was in banking business, Lloyd Blankfein seems to me the least likely CEO character in Goldman’s elite culture. I enjoy reading this straight talk book