Lloyd Blankfein on career success
From How a Kid From Public Housing Became CEO of Goldman Sachs · · Michael Smerconish
“I wanted this book to be relatable. I'm no genius. I worked hard. I got smart enough. But opportunities came my way. I was working on Wall Street in a period where markets were trending higher. A lot of the ball bounced my way in a lot of ways and obviously I took advantage of it as other people did.”
On , Lloyd Blankfein, Former Chairman & Chief Executive Officer at Goldman Sachs, spoke about career success during How a Kid From Public Housing Became CEO of Goldman Sachs on Michael Smerconish.
About Lloyd Blankfein
Lloyd Blankfein, former Chairman and CEO of Goldman Sachs, has been promoting his new memoir, *Streetwise: Getting To and Through Goldman Sachs*, in a series of media appearances. He has discussed his upbringing in public housing in Brooklyn, attending Harvard as the first in his family to go to college, and his experience navigating feelings of imposter syndrome. Blankfein described his background as a "streety kind of background" that served as an "early imprint" on him. He also stated that he wanted the book to be "relatable," noting that he is "no genius" and that opportunities came his way as markets trended higher. In interviews, Blankfein has offered his perspective on financial markets and risk. He argued that financial crises are inevitable, using the metaphor of "dry tinder on the floor of the forest" to describe the accumulation of risk during periods of stability. He stated that the "real issue" in the market today is that "we haven't had a reckoning in a long time," leading to assets on balance sheets that "probably are marked too high." Blankfein also commented on the importance of authenticity, recalling advice he received that "everybody knows exactly who you are," and discussed the value of contingency planning over prediction in risk management.