
What It Takes
Lessons in the Pursuit of Excellence
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Narrated by:
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Stephen A. Schwarzman
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Drew Birdseye
About this listen
From Blackstone chairman, CEO, and co-founder Stephen A. Schwarzman, a long-awaited book that uses impactful episodes from Schwarzman's life to show listeners how to build, transform, and lead thriving organizations. Whether you are a student, entrepreneur, philanthropist, executive, or simply someone looking for ways to maximize your potential, the same lessons apply.
People know who Stephen Schwarzman is - at least they think they do. He’s the man who took $400,000 and co-founded Blackstone, the investment firm that manages over $500 billion (as of January 2019). He’s the CEO whose views are sought by heads of state. He’s the billionaire philanthropist who founded Schwarzman Scholars, this century’s version of the Rhodes Scholarship, in China. But behind these achievements is a man who has spent his life learning and reflecting on what it takes to achieve excellence, make an impact, and live a life of consequence.
Folding handkerchiefs in his father’s linen shop, Schwarzman dreamed of a larger life, filled with purpose and adventure. His grades and athleticism got him into Yale. After starting his career in finance with a short stint at a financial firm called DLJ, Schwarzman began working at Lehman Brothers where he ascended to run the mergers and acquisitions practice. He eventually partnered with his mentor and friend Pete Peterson to found Blackstone, vowing to create a new and different kind of financial institution.
Building Blackstone into the leading global financial institution it is today didn’t come easy. Schwarzman focused intensely on culture, hiring great talent, and establishing processes that allow the firm to systematically analyze and evaluate risk. Schwarzman’s simple mantra “don’t lose money” has helped Blackstone become a leading private equity and real estate investor, and manager of alternative assets for institutional investors globally. Both he and the firm are known for the rigor of their investment process, their innovative approach to deal making, the diversification of their business lines, and a conviction to be the best at everything they do.
Schwarzman is also an active philanthropist, having given away more than a billion dollars. In philanthropy, as in business, he is drawn to situations where his capital and energy can be applied to drive transformative solutions and change paradigms, notably in education. He uses the skills learned over a lifetime in finance to design, establish, and support impactful and innovative organizations and initiatives. His gifts have ranged from creating a new College of Computing at MIT for the study of artificial intelligence, to establishing a first-of-its-kind student and performing arts center at Yale, to enabling the renovation of the iconic New York Public Library, to founding the Schwarzman Scholars fellowship program at Tsinghua University in Beijing.
©2019 Stephen A. Schwarzman (P)2019 Simon & Schuster AudioListeners also enjoyed...
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Story
You’ve got big dreams for your business, but the odds are not in your favor. You’re struggling to scale. Sometimes, it’s hard to stay profitable. You know you need expert advice to grow. CEO coach and executive thought leader Adam Coffey has been where you are. He, too, dared to dream of that elusive billion-dollar exit. Then he took his companies to triple digit growth.
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For high-schoolers
- By Martin Lambooy on 12-13-24
By: Adam Coffey
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Private Equity Deals
- Case Studies of Dealmaking from Capital Allocators
- By: Ted Seides
- Narrated by: Ted Seides
- Length: 12 hrs and 38 mins
- Unabridged
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There’s no more important sector of institutional portfolios or the global economy to understand than private equity. Private equity owned businesses are everywhere around us and touch every aspect of our daily lives. In Private Equity Deals, Ted Seides gives you an insight to the conversations that typically happen behind the closed doors of institutional investors and private equity managers. Through a series of case studies , Private Equity Deals shares the dynamics of deal making, companies, and ownership that make private equity a force in the world.
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“Inside baseball” on PE deals from the Sponsor’s perspective
- By Joel Katz on 02-20-25
By: Ted Seides
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The Dealmaker
- Lessons from a Life in Private Equity
- By: Guy Hands
- Narrated by: Simon Shepherd, Guy Hands - introduction
- Length: 10 hrs and 42 mins
- Unabridged
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The Dealmaker is a frank and honest account of how a severely dyslexic child who struggled at school went on to graduate from Oxford and become a serial entrepreneur. It describes Guy Hand's career in private equity, first at Nomura and then as head of his own company, Terra Firma. It looks in detail at the huge deals that Terra Firma has done over the years, involving everything from cinema chains and pubs to waste management, aircraft leasing and green energy.
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Very Interesting, rather self involved
- By Michael Bereslavsky on 03-06-24
By: Guy Hands
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Mastering Private Equity
- Transformation via Venture Capital, Minority Investments and Buyouts
- By: Claudia Zeisberger, Michael Prahl, Bowen White
- Narrated by: Nick Gallagher
- Length: 14 hrs and 29 mins
- Unabridged
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Mastering Private Equity was written with a professional audience in mind and provides a valuable and unique reference for investors, finance professionals, students, and business owners looking to engage with private equity firms or invest in private equity funds. From deal sourcing to exit, LBOs to responsible investing, operational value creation to risk management, the book systematically distils the essence of private equity into core concepts and explains in detail the dynamics of venture capital, growth equity and buyout transactions.
By: Claudia Zeisberger, and others
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The House of Dimon
- How JP Morgan's Jamie Dimon Rose to the Top of the Financial World
- By: Patricia Crisafulli
- Narrated by: Suzanne Toren
- Length: 9 hrs and 39 mins
- Unabridged
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Jamie Dimon is Wall Street's biggest player. Following the 11h-hour rescue of Bear Stearns by JPMorgan, his profile has reached stratospheric levels. And while the deals and decisions he's made have usually turned out to be the right ones, his journey to the top of the financial world has been anything but easy. Now, in The House of Dimon, business writer Patricia Crisafulli goes behind the scenes to recount the amazing events that have shaped Dimon's career.
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Intriguing
- By Jean on 08-28-16
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The Private Equity Playbook, 2nd Edition
- Management’s Guide to Working with Private Equity
- By: Adam Coffey
- Narrated by: Ron Butler
- Length: 3 hrs and 53 mins
- Unabridged
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Nearly half of all mergers and acquisitions involve private equity, but the world of PE can confuse even lifelong business professionals. For years, the #1 bestselling book The Private Equity Playbook has helped countless entrepreneurs, leaders, and CEOs like you successfully navigate the PE playing field. But much has changed since the book was released at the start of 2019. Adam Coffey knows the rapidly evolving PE game isn’t won with outdated tactics.
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Details and Relevant Information
- By Collis on 12-21-24
By: Adam Coffey
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Shut Up and Listen!
- Hard Business Truths that Will Help You Succeed
- By: Tilman Fertitta, Jim Gray
- Narrated by: Tilman Fertitta
- Length: 3 hrs and 49 mins
- Unabridged
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Tilman Fertitta, also known as the Billion Dollar Buyer, started his hospitality empire 30 years ago with just one restaurant. So he knows the challenges that business owners face, as well as the common pitfalls that cause them to go under. Over the years, he’s stayed true to the principles that helped him scale his business to what is believed to be the largest single-shareholder company in America, with more than four billion dollars in revenue. He’s also sole owner of the Houston Rockets. In Shut Up and Listen!, he shares the key insights that made it all possible.
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This is truth!
- By coco on 09-18-19
By: Tilman Fertitta, and others
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The Ride of a Lifetime
- Lessons Learned from 15 Years as CEO of the Walt Disney Company
- By: Robert Iger
- Narrated by: Jim Frangione, Robert Iger
- Length: 8 hrs and 45 mins
- Unabridged
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Robert Iger became CEO of The Walt Disney Company in 2005, during a difficult time. Competition was more intense than ever, and technology was changing faster than at any time in the company’s history. His vision came down to three clear ideas: Recommit to the concept that quality matters, embrace technology instead of fighting it, and think bigger - think global - and turn Disney into a stronger brand in international markets.
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Joins “Shoe Dog” as required biographies.
- By Matt S. on 01-02-20
By: Robert Iger
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Play Nice but Win
- A CEO's Journey from Founder to Leader
- By: Michael Dell, James Kaplan
- Narrated by: Michael Dell
- Length: 10 hrs and 35 mins
- Unabridged
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In 1984, soon-to-be college dropout Michael Dell hid signs of his fledgling PC business in the bathroom of his University of Texas dorm room. Almost 30 years later, at the pinnacle of his success as founder and leader of Dell Technologies, he found himself embroiled in a battle for his company’s survival. What he’d do next could ensure its legacy — or destroy it completely.
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Not perfect, but worth a listen
- By James S. on 11-09-21
By: Michael Dell, and others
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Never Enough
- From Barista to Billionaire
- By: Andrew Wilkinson
- Narrated by: Luke Daniels
- Length: 8 hrs and 45 mins
- Unabridged
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Once a barista in a small cafe making $6.50 an hour, Andrew Wilkinson built a business valued at over a billion dollars by the time he was 36—and yet, his path to success was anything but a straight line. In Never Enough, Wilkinson pulls back the curtain on the lives of the ultra-rich, sharing insights into building a successful business that has been called a “Berkshire Hathaway, but for internet companies,” and a surprising first-person account of what it's actually like to become a billionaire.
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Fire Your Ghostwriter
- By Leah C. Day on 08-22-24
By: Andrew Wilkinson
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Private Debt (2nd Edition)
- Yield, Safety and the Emergence of Alternative Lending
- By: Stephen L. Nesbitt
- Narrated by: Jim O'Hara
- Length: 9 hrs and 7 mins
- Unabridged
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In Private Debt: Yield, Safety and the Emergence of Alternative Lending, renowned investment advisor and industry leader Stephen Nesbitt delivers yet another essential resource for investors seeking to acquire private debt options in the investment market, including corporate direct lending, asset-backed lending, mezzanine lending, royalties, venture debt, structured credit (CLOs), specialty finance, and structured equity.
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Just the facts
- By Chris Brown on 07-14-24
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VC
- An American History
- By: Tom Nicholas
- Narrated by: Bob Souer
- Length: 13 hrs
- Unabridged
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VC tells the riveting story of how the industry arose from the United States' long-running orientation toward entrepreneurship. Venture capital has been driven from the start by the pull of outsized returns through a skewed distribution of payoffs - a faith in low-probability but substantial financial rewards that rarely materialize. Whether the gamble is a whaling voyage setting sail from New Bedford or the newest startup in Silicon Valley, VC is not just a model of finance that has proven difficult to replicate in other countries.
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Could have been better if it was a shorter book
- By Gaerbear on 12-19-19
By: Tom Nicholas
Overall an Excellent Listen
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The lessons are so powerful
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impressive story
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Great book, very inspiring.
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Best Book Ever
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My suggestion is when Drew Birdseye is reading turn up the speed because he talks slower than S. Schwarz.
Excellent autobiography of a true businessman
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Inside look on what happens at the highest level
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There is much hard work in his story. Hard work that pays off and not just for him but for countless numbers of others who benefited from his work
Listen to this book. Hear what Mr. Schwarzman is saying and apply it to your own life.
Engaging, Enlightening, Encouraging
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highly recommended
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A great read!
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