What It Takes: Lessons in the Pursuit of Excellence

by Stephen A. Schwarzman

needed. I’ll never forget his patience and kindness. Teaching, I came to believe, is about more than sharing knowledge. You have to remove the obstacles in people’s way. In my case, the obstacle was the gap between my education up to that point and the education of my peers.

“Why?” “Because at Lazard, there are

But as a cycle grows riper, the number, size, and valuations of IPOs explode.

A successful IPO would raise permanent capital to invest in the firm and expand our reach.

the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China, the most valuable bank in the world.

Lehman,

Lehman collapsed becz of its culture

They are just looking at their own needs. But if those needs make sense and you create the right product to fit those needs, you can roll it out more broadly and your competitors will be left wondering how you figured it out.

To them, it was a sign of China’s restoration to the place it had occupied for thousands of years. I