Lloyd Blankfein on leadership
From Lloyd Blankfein 2026-APR-28 · · TorontoWealthGroup
“I was as nervous and as rattled as anyone, but I didn't have the luxury of being able to perform that way. You know, I think of an analogy, you know, you're on an airplane and the flight attendant, you know, is having a beatific smile. Now, I'm thinking as I look at that person, I'm saying, is she rattled? Now, I don't mind turbulence, but I'm very carefully attuned to the sounds of the engine. As long as those sound the same, but every once in a while it sounds a little different to me and I look at her face or his face and I go, I mean, if they look terrified, I would be terrified, but instead it's that beatific smile and calm and you, you know, your position requires it and so you do that.”
On , Lloyd Blankfein, Former Chairman & Chief Executive Officer at Goldman Sachs, spoke about leadership during Lloyd Blankfein 2026-APR-28 on TorontoWealthGroup.
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.