Streetwise

Getting to and Through Goldman Sachs

De: Lloyd Blankfein

Narrado por: Lloyd Blankfein

The New York Times bestseller

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

"Funny, mainly blunt, unexpectedly vulnerable and rarely apologetic.” —Bloomberg

“No one has gotten inside the secret walls of Goldman Sachs and told the story of everything about it, warts and all. Now the man who ran it tells all—and it’s incredible.” —Jim Cramer

"Lively and insightful." —The Wall Street Journal

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.

a compelling rags to smarts and success story

Great origin story from a gifted storyteller. Lessons learned from the 2008 financial debacle from the inside was another highlight. There are Lessons in here for all of us.

His voice and candor.

In spite of his great success, he tells his story with a lot of humility. Terrific read.

long and detailed

good job Lloyd. you came from nothing to be a something. Maybe I messed it, but you forgot to thank luck in your epilogue.

Lloyd is my best friend from Brooklyn that got away and stayed true to the neighborhood

Adjacent to the financial industry as a graphic designer — I understand the trappings, challenges, conflicts, and light at the end of a tunnel type calamity of choice.

More Than Wall Street​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​

Streetwise is more than a Wall Street memoir; it is a practical course in leading under pressure, told by someone who spent decades making high-stakes decisions at Goldman Sachs. Listening to Lloyd Blankfein narrate his own story adds a steady, familiar voice to lessons that might otherwise feel abstract.

Working on the ground with the Goldman Sachs 10,000 Small Businesses program, I first met Lloyd nearly sixteen years ago. 10,000 Small Businesses is a fully funded initiative that invests in entrepreneurs through education, capital, and support. When he walked into a conference room and I introduced myself, he replied, “I know who you are.” For the leader of a global firm that funds programs like the Goldman Sachs 10,000 Small Businesses to recognize someone working on the ground was profound to me, and it reinforced a core theme of this book: people matter as much as deals.

The most valuable parts of Streetwise are the leadership jewels embedded in the stories: how to lead brilliant, competitive people and still align them around a shared goal, how to protect a culture while the organization scales, and how to stay calm and curious when the stakes are highest. His accounts of crisis, public scrutiny, and difficult trade-offs show what it takes to keep people at the center of decisions, even under intense pressure.

This audiobook does not just let you into Goldman Sachs. It will change how you see yourself as a leader and the people who paved the way for you to get there.