I wrote a sixty-eight-page history of the company and its shifting value based not only on the trajectory of its stock price but on its prospects, the market trends, and everything else I considered relevant. I included appendixes and footnotes for clarification. Then I took this work of beauty to Herman Kahn on the partners’ floor. He wasn’t there, so I put it in the middle of his desk where he would see it as soon as he sat down. I went to my office and waited. A few hours later I got a call. “Is this Steve Schwarzman?” Herman Kahn was hard of hearing and his voice was loud, nasal,
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