What It Takes

Lessons in the Pursuit of Excellence

By: Stephen A. Schwarzman

Narrated by: Stephen A. Schwarzman, Drew Birdseye

From Blackstone chairman, CEO, and co-founder Stephen A. Schwarzman, a long-awaited book that uses impactful episodes from Schwarzman's life to show listeners how to build, transform, and lead thriving organizations. Whether you are a student, entrepreneur, philanthropist, executive, or simply someone looking for ways to maximize your potential, the same lessons apply.

People know who Stephen Schwarzman is - at least they think they do. He’s the man who took $400,000 and co-founded Blackstone, the investment firm that manages over $500 billion (as of January 2019). He’s the CEO whose views are sought by heads of state. He’s the billionaire philanthropist who founded Schwarzman Scholars, this century’s version of the Rhodes Scholarship, in China. But behind these achievements is a man who has spent his life learning and reflecting on what it takes to achieve excellence, make an impact, and live a life of consequence.

Folding handkerchiefs in his father’s linen shop, Schwarzman dreamed of a larger life, filled with purpose and adventure. His grades and athleticism got him into Yale. After starting his career in finance with a short stint at a financial firm called DLJ, Schwarzman began working at Lehman Brothers where he ascended to run the mergers and acquisitions practice. He eventually partnered with his mentor and friend Pete Peterson to found Blackstone, vowing to create a new and different kind of financial institution.

Building Blackstone into the leading global financial institution it is today didn’t come easy. Schwarzman focused intensely on culture, hiring great talent, and establishing processes that allow the firm to systematically analyze and evaluate risk. Schwarzman’s simple mantra “don’t lose money” has helped Blackstone become a leading private equity and real estate investor, and manager of alternative assets for institutional investors globally. Both he and the firm are known for the rigor of their investment process, their innovative approach to deal making, the diversification of their business lines, and a conviction to be the best at everything they do.

Schwarzman is also an active philanthropist, having given away more than a billion dollars. In philanthropy, as in business, he is drawn to situations where his capital and energy can be applied to drive transformative solutions and change paradigms, notably in education. He uses the skills learned over a lifetime in finance to design, establish, and support impactful and innovative organizations and initiatives. His gifts have ranged from creating a new College of Computing at MIT for the study of artificial intelligence, to establishing a first-of-its-kind student and performing arts center at Yale, to enabling the renovation of the iconic New York Public Library, to founding the Schwarzman Scholars fellowship program at Tsinghua University in Beijing.

©2019 Stephen A. Schwarzman (P)2019 Simon & Schuster Audio

Great insight into Blackstone

Thoroughly enjoyed the book. It was a quick listen because I could hardly put it down. The author was not as good as speaker as Drew Birdseye, so I had to struggle a little with with his chapters. The book definitely shows you that everything is not easy in life you have to work at what you want.

Must read for biography lovers

Stephen has quite a story, great for any aspiring business person or entrepreneur.
Warmly recommend.

The Joy of giving

Education, honesty, integrity, willingness to help others, learning from failures and additional gems provided in an anecdotal manner in the book.

I almost had tears in my eyes towards the end of this book as I could feel the happiness which the author felt when he made other people successful.

I am in a similar field of vocational education which leads to people making successful careers and I could not agree more with the author that your purpose should be a greater cause . Anyone can make money like aggressive hostile takeover people like Carl Icahn but it should always be our objective to create value in whatever we do so that the maximum number of people benefit. If you make money by hurting a lot of people it would circle back to you .

We should all succeed and help others succeed because that’s the greatest joy.. the joy of giving.

Great book!

This is a great story about perseverance and success. I always like hearing other people’s stories about how they succeeded in their field. I also learned some great lessons that I can apply in my own life. Highly recommend!

Thought provoking and transparent

I enjoyed the book. As a business owner I felt it filled the gaps and shed light on real life experiences and expectations. Some authors share only what makes them look good. Mr. Schwarzman shares things that make him grounded and mentally tangible. This book was a delight and well worth reading.

Great insight - great lessons!! Thanks!!

Loved the book! Learned about privet equity, being focused on solving problems, looking for opportunity and trying to make a positive impact.

Thank you Mr Schwarzman for sharing your life lessons and story.

The lessons are valuable

I don't know much about Stephen A. Schwarzman before reading this book, not even his name. The purchase was made accidentally by my 3 years old daughter clicking the one click purchase when playing with my phone.

However, after reading this book, I found the advices from the author are quite valuable, which I found it very helpful and remind myself all the times.

Advice and WHY the advice means something

My business partner mentioned this book in conversation, so I had to pick it up. I have a physical copy, but lacked the time to sit and read it to completion. The narration was fine but to save time and keep me from getting bored I listened to the book at 1.3x speed.

Every chapter is a story of a major event and/or business turning point from Mr. Schwarzman's life. He ends the story with a piece of advice that he learned from that event. I think this is a very valuable book for this reason. Any one could write down their top 20 pieces of advice, but to have a story that was the root of the advice is wonderful. Thank you

Good read

I enjoyed the book as l was a partner on Wall Street for a number of years. It reminded me of my time there. Well done.

Genius Piece of Work

Mr. Schwarzman understands business and is able to teach it in a manner that can be understood and applied no matter if you’re a start-up or have been around the block a few times.