This is the story of how Steve Schwarzman, CEO of the world’s largest private equity firm, Blackstone, nearly got fired 🔥 in his first year working in banking.
In the past two years, Steve took approximately $2bn 💰in total compensation from Blackstone."
But here's the story of how he almost got fired in his first year at Lehman Brothers—and the lesson that shaped his success."
Early in his career, while working on a deal with Eric Gleacher, a no-nonsense ex-Marine who had just become a partner at Lehman Brothers, were headed to St. Louis to pitch a major deal.
Steve had prepared all the financials, but as they reviewed his work on the plane, Eric grew concerned.
Steve had made a significant mistake—an error that affected half of the presentation.
Eric, though calm, didn’t sugarcoat it. “This is a mess,” 🥴 he said, “but we’ll present anyway. Tear out the bad pages, and I’ll talk us through the rest.”
Steve was relieved—until he realized during the meeting that he had mistakenly torn out the good pages, leaving the presentation incomplete.😱
Eric managed to salvage the meeting, but the silence on the way back was heavy.
Just before boarding the plane home, Eric turned to Steve and said, “If you ever do that to me again, I’m firing 🔥you on the spot.”
That tough experience at Lehman Brothers became a foundational lesson for Steve.
He learned that finance like any craft...
💡 Demands mastery of even the smallest details:
Mistakes, no matter how small, can have huge consequences.
💡 Practice makes perfect:
It’s through repetition, practice, and making early errors that professionals truly learn their trade.
I remember my own boss, Abi, an ex-Merrill Lynch investment banker who taught me financial modeling and valuations, used to say...
"Sameer, in banking 99% correct is 100% wrong."😂😂😂
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