Fmr Goldman Sachs CEO: What Surviving The 2008 Financial Crisis Taught Me — Lloyd Blankfein
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What lessons did Lloyd Blankfein learn from growing up in public housing?
The world was so vengeful at the financial crisis they were looking for someone to set an example and it wasn't going to be Bear Stearns and Lehman and Merrill that didn't exist anymore and it wasn't going to be the big banks but it was going to be Goldman. People you know went after us which meant going after me and when I went through a long senate hearing that lasted hours into midnight and I was giving interviews after that till two in the morning after that and taking a car back to New York. That certainly wasn't fun, but again, I had the perspective. I knew at the end of the day, we did stuff right. People were clamoring for something. I didn't feel super exposed in any fairness sense, but I was tortured.
The Senate, after that hearing, Because they didn't get the satisfaction of showing that we were purposely trying to kill the market to make money, which of course we weren't, the committee chairman put out a referral to the Justice Department to investigate me for criminality. I didn't even know what the crime was. But the FBI, compliant as it is, did an investigation. I would get picked up. brought to the Southern District Office, interviewed with a court stenographer. That happened like three or four times. And, you know, your mind kind of says, whoa, some 34-year-old assistant attorney general could ask for a grand jury and do something.
How did Lloyd Blankfein navigate the challenges of the 2008 financial crisis?
Welcome to Open Book. I am your host, Anthony Scaramucci. Joining me today is Lloyd Blankfein. He is the former chairman and CEO of Goldman Sachs from 2006 to 2018. And he's the author of a book that I think should be the business book of the year. I don't know if the FT would qualify for that because it is a memoir as well. But to me, it is a strategy manual that for dealing with life. It's a rite of passage story, but also in here is how to manage a company going through a crisis. And Lloyd, by the way, it took me back memory lane. I left Goldman Sachs 30 years ago, hard to believe.
But I was there for the first- That is hard to believe.
I was there for the first seven years of my career. And you were very nice to me then, and you've been very nice to me now. So it's great to have you on.
What role did communication play in crisis management for Goldman Sachs?
But again, I love this book. And it starts in East New York, Brooklyn. I want you to take us back there, if you can, to talk a little bit about the precocious nature of your childhood, but also you were growing up in public housing. So take us there, because it's just an unbelievable, wonderful American story arc, Lloyd, of your career.
Well, I did grow up in public housing. My dad worked in the post office as a mail store. Actually, he had been, I remember in earliest memories, bouts of unemployment with my dad, unhappiness around the table. He got a job at the post office, civil service. He took the night shift because it paid an extra 10% night differential. And so unfortunately growing up, my dad worked nights. I think he had also for part of the time, a part-time job during the day. So I really wish I had remembered more conversations with him than I do. But we grew up in that circumstance. But by the way, so did everybody around us. And so part of the genius of America is that probably that 85% of the country thinks they're in the middle class, believes they're in the middle class, for all practical purposes, given the minimum standard of living that we have, are in a kind of a middle class.
How did Blankfein's upbringing influence his leadership style?
So I didn't know what there was necessary to strive for, but I did know that I didn't like growing up in the projects, going to the high school that I went to in the neighborhood I lived in and the neighborhood I traveled to. So I was very, very anxious to, from a very early age, leave and go to an out-of-town school. That was my big objective as a kid growing up.
I have so many things that I've underlined in this book, and there are personalities in this book that I remember from the firm that stayed at the firm with you and helped you manage the firm. But the best line, I told my producers this, the best line in this book is on page 21, Laurie Blankfein.
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Chapters
8 chapters
1
What lessons did Lloyd Blankfein learn from growing up in public housing?
0:00–1:12
2
How did Lloyd Blankfein navigate the challenges of the 2008 financial crisis?
1:12–2:00
3
What role did communication play in crisis management for Goldman Sachs?
2:00–3:23
4
How did Blankfein's upbringing influence his leadership style?
3:23–4:38
5
What insights does Blankfein offer about risk management?
4:38–5:26
6
How does Blankfein reflect on his career and personal growth?
5:26–6:30
7
What are the main themes in Blankfein's book 'Streetwise'?
6:30–7:24
8
What advice does Blankfein give for future leaders in finance?
7:24–52:08
Speakers
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