Streetwise - by Lloyd Blankfein (Hardcover)

Book Synopsis

"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.

Review Quotes

"The memoirs of an investment banker make for an unlikely page-turner, but Streetwise, Lloyd Blankfein's insider's account of his rise at Goldman Sachs is compelling, absorbing and also funny at times." --Roula Khalaf, Financial Times

"Funny, mainly blunt, unexpectedly vulnerable and rarely apologetic . . . Streetwise brings alive the culture clashes of trading desks of the 1980s, the milieu of Liar's Poker . . . A tough, insecure outsider finally found something that fit in a firm that demands consensus-building . . . [Goldman] is a unique, persistently original, paradoxical creation in modern finance. Streetwise is a son's loving letter in thanks." --Bloomberg

"Highly readable. Blankfein recounts his upbringing and career with amusing anecdotes ​as well as honest and at times brutal assessments of his fellow executives." --Reuters

"Lloyd Blankfein is scary smart about people, markets, and life generally. His 10,000 Small Businesses idea proved to be a huge winner, and I personally witnessed the time and effort he devoted to its success. During the 2008-2009 financial crisis, Lloyd acted decisively, and he tells the story of what happened with unique insights." --Warren Buffett

"Lloyd Blankfein has always been a straight shooter, but his journey from public housing to the heights of Wall Street wasn't a straight line. Streetwise is packed with important lessons about leadership, risk-taking, decision-making, and giving back." --Michael Bloomberg, founder of Bloomberg and Bloomberg Philanthropies and 108th mayor of New York

"Lloyd Blankfein rose through the ranks to the top of Goldman Sachs during Wall Street's most turbulent decades. Streetwise is a disarmingly honest account of his ascent over those years, full of insights about the changes in the business of finance, as down-to-earth and sharp-witted as the man himself, a must read for anyone who wishes to understand the power dynamics within a giant investment bank." --Liaquat Ahamed, Pulitzer Prize-winning author of Lords of Finance

"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. Hate him, like him, you must read him. I worked at Goldman and I knew none of this, because no one did. He's brilliant, he's comical, he's smarter than us all--arrogant and humble at the same time, an up-from-nowhere kid who is the great American story. He should know better than to reveal the secrets: maybe he couldn't help himself, maybe he couldn't live with himself. I loved the guy before and now call me in awe of him. You will be too." --Jim Cramer

"The best tool kit I've read about how to navigate going up the ladder in corporate life and how to lead and manage big business. And you also get the human story of a very warm and witty human." --Barry Diller

"Having survived every financial crisis from 1987 to 2008, Lloyd Blankfein has written an autobiography that answers the question: How did Goldman Sachs do it? Under his leadership, Goldman did more than survive Wall Street's biggest storms--it thrived despite them. Yet Streetwise is also a very personal story of American social mobility, describing with dry humor the challenges the author faced as he ascended from the housing projects of Brooklyn via Harvard to the heights of Wall Street. Every serious student of financial history will have to read Streetwise. Those who appreciate the gritty realities of the American dream will enjoy it, too." --Niall Ferguson, Milbank Family Senior Fellow, the Hoover Institution, and author of The Ascent of Money

"Entertaining." --Bloomberg

"Few leaders have demonstrated greater steadiness and clarity in moments of turbulence than Lloyd Blankfein. In Streetwise, he brings readers inside the defining moments of modern finance--from the volatility of emerging markets in the 1990s to the crucible of the 2008 financial crisis. What emerges is both a personal story of resilience and a leadership blueprint grounded in realism, humility, and conviction. Lloyd's reflections on culture, risk, and responsibility resonate far beyond Wall Street. Streetwise is essential reading for those who seek to lead with purpose and intent." --Ken Griffin, founder and CEO, Citadel

"Truly frank books by Wall Street giants are rare. But Lloyd Blankfein has written one. I highly recommend this for anyone interested in high finance at one of its most perilous times." --David M. Rubenstein, cofounder and cochairman, the Carlyle Group

About the Author