Quotes by Stephen A. Schwarzman - Page 2

After years of studying French in school, one of my professors said he'd really appreciate it if I didn't take any more French.
Stephen A. Schwarzman / Business Magnate
Professors
Studying
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I've always been comfortable with people who run things, whether it was the principal of my high school or the president of the university.
Stephen A. Schwarzman / Business Magnate
Principal
University
People School Always
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My first trip to China was 1990, and that was in a world where there were virtually no cars at all on the road, and everybody had bicycles.
Stephen A. Schwarzman / Business Magnate
Trip
Virtually
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Business is usually a team sport. There isn't one great person sitting there directing things. You can't run an effective business like that.
Stephen A. Schwarzman / Business Magnate
Business
Great Person
Sitting
Team
Run
Directing
Effective
Sport
Team Sport
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The Schwarzman Scholars is a program that was designed with Tsinghua University. They asked me to do something in honor of their 100th anniversary.
Stephen A. Schwarzman / Business Magnate
Anniversary
Designed
Scholars
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I'm pretty good on my feet. I'm pretty decent at bobbing and weaving, but there's only so long you can bob and weave when you don't have a good base.
Stephen A. Schwarzman / Business Magnate
Decent
Base
Pretty Good
Weave
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In life, you'll often find that having influence and providing sound advice is a good thing, even if it attracts criticism or requires some sacrifice.
Stephen A. Schwarzman / Business Magnate
Criticism
Providing
Sacrifice
Attracts
Life Good Advice
Good Thing
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One of the rules I've learned is that struggling to try and think your way into making an investment is usually the best way to not have a great outcome.
Stephen A. Schwarzman / Business Magnate
Best Way
Investment
Best Great Your
Best Great Way
Outcome
Struggling
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Preparing youth for employment requires training that is demand-driven to meet the needs of companies and ensure that young people are taught marketable skills.
Stephen A. Schwarzman / Business Magnate
Employment
Preparing
Ensure
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For future geopolitical stability and global prosperity, we need to build a culture of greater trust and understanding between China, America and the rest of the world.
Stephen A. Schwarzman / Business Magnate
Trust
America
China
Geopolitical
Greater
Needs
Prosperity
Stability
Understanding
Build
Rest
Global
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China on the world stage, in terms of interaction with the rest of the world, has been relatively very new due to the long isolation period until Deng Xiaoping's times.
Stephen A. Schwarzman / Business Magnate
Isolation
Due
World Stage
Relatively
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Most youth are lacking critical life skills that make them employable and, most importantly, able to keep a job - things like teamwork, decision-making, and time management.
Stephen A. Schwarzman / Business Magnate
Decision Making
Lacking
Management
Teamwork
Time Management
Life Time Youth
Importantly
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When you lose control of risk at a financial institution, you do a variety of unfortunate credit extensions or purchases - and all of a sudden, you've blown up your business.
Stephen A. Schwarzman / Business Magnate
Credit
Extensions
Financial
Risk
Unfortunate
Variety
Blown
Institution
Purchases
Sudden
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Sleeping at night is not a specialty of entrepreneurs. The entrepreneur who is sleeping soundly, something bad is happening to that person; they just don't know it's happening yet.
Stephen A. Schwarzman / Business Magnate
Entrepreneur
Night
Specialty
Person
Bad
Entrepreneurs
Happening
Sleeping
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I was in an interdisciplinary major - which was a new thing then - which was psychology, sociology, anthropology, and biology, which is really sort of the study of the human being.
Stephen A. Schwarzman / Business Magnate
Anthropology
Biology
Psychology
Sociology
Study
Human Being
Major
New Thing
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Deals really have to do with the overlap of what one side wants and the other side wants, and it's really just the discovery of where that overlap is and how you decide to get there.
Stephen A. Schwarzman / Business Magnate
Deals
Discovery
Overlap
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I'm concerned with China growing at double or triple the rate of the West, that there will be tensions. One needs to do something to start addressing misunderstandings and frustration.
Stephen A. Schwarzman / Business Magnate
Concerned
Frustration
Growing
Needs
Rate
West
Addressing
Double
Misunderstandings
Tensions
Triple
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I've lived through periods of illiquidity before. Asset prices come down. The economy slows or even goes into recession. Then the cycle re-starts. We buy at lower prices with less leverage.
Stephen A. Schwarzman / Business Magnate
Assets
Economy
Periods
Asset
Cycle
Leverage
Lower
Prices
Recession
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This country, of course, needs fundamental reform of our financial regulatory system, as I, and many other financial institution executives, have publicly advocated for a considerable period.
Stephen A. Schwarzman / Business Magnate
Executives
Considerable
Fundamental
Institution
Publicly
Regulatory
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Don't go into something you actually don't know much about, in the hopes that you're going to get really financially successful and rewarded... even though people think you're, like, terrific.
Stephen A. Schwarzman / Business Magnate
Terrific
People Know Go
Financially
Hopes
Rewarded
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Ironically, when a bunch of very smart people are sitting around a table for hours trying to figure out whether they should do something, that tends to not necessarily lead to the best results.
Stephen A. Schwarzman / Business Magnate
Smart People
Ironically
Tends
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As the world has become more predatory and aggressive, my impression is that the investment banking business has moved from being relationship-oriented to being increasingly transaction-oriented.
Stephen A. Schwarzman / Business Magnate
Aggressive
Banking
Impression
Investment
Predatory
Business World More
Increasingly
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What you find when you live in the United States, you live in the West, is that when somebody fails, it's never their fault. They always like to blame somebody other than themselves for a failure.
Stephen A. Schwarzman / Business Magnate
Blame
Fails
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I chose to start Schwarzman Scholars because I saw the potential for the world to become focused and unhappy with China, in large part because of the populism that was growing throughout the world.
Stephen A. Schwarzman / Business Magnate
Unhappy
Chose
Large Part
Scholars
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We need sobriety, rationality, and civility in the discussions on the regulation of financial institutions so that the banks can return in a robust manner to their central role in funding the economy.
Stephen A. Schwarzman / Business Magnate
Civility
Economy
Financial
Funding
Rationality
Regulation
Return
Robust
Sobriety
Banks
Central
Discussions
Manner
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In the Catholic schools, they spend much less money than the public schools, and they get amazing results. Private schools spend much more money than the public schools, and they get remarkable results.
Stephen A. Schwarzman / Business Magnate
Catholic
Remarkable
Catholic Schools
Less Money
Private Schools
Public Schools
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The biggest mistake I've seen people make with their careers is, when they're good, after two or three years - and they happen to be smart - they announce that they're going out to start their own firm.
Stephen A. Schwarzman / Business Magnate
Biggest Mistake
Careers
Firm
Announce
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When society starts moving in a way that becomes very negative, whether it's in the West or any other place, I've always found that it's very useful to have people around who actually know what's happening.
Stephen A. Schwarzman / Business Magnate
Any Other Place
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I don't feel like a wealthy person. Other people think of me as a wealthy person, but I don't. I feel the same as when I was a fifth-year associate trying to make partner at Lehman Brothers. I haven't changed.
Stephen A. Schwarzman / Business Magnate
Brother
Thinking
Wealthy
Years
Me People Feel
Associate
Brothers
Partner
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I like being in warm weather. I find that relaxes me. I like being near water. I like sitting on a beach and sort of hearing the water, watching waves break, looking at the shimmering. I find that really relaxing.
Stephen A. Schwarzman / Business Magnate
Beach
Hearing
Warm
Weather
Near
Relaxing
Waves
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We need to be able to identify and support young people who demonstrate interest and aptitude in entrepreneurship and business creation and give them tools to follow this path throughout their educational experience.
Stephen A. Schwarzman / Business Magnate
Aptitude
Creation
Educational
Entrepreneurship
Tools
Demonstrate
Identify
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I'm doing my sit-ups and watching CNBC. Suddenly, somebody starts talking about me on television... The business has gone into a weird zone of visibility. For those of us who have done it for a long time, it's strange.
Stephen A. Schwarzman / Business Magnate
Visibility
Zone
Time Business Me
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I love picking people. I started Blackstone, and we had no people, and now we have with our portfolio companies about 750,000 people all over the world. Everybody who is at a senior level has ultimately been picked by me.
Stephen A. Schwarzman / Business Magnate
People
Senior
World
Love World Me
Portfolio
Picked
Ultimately
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In a financial crisis, only the Fed, as the lender of last resort, might stand between our economy and financial catastrophe. We must leave the Fed with the flexibility to provide liquidity in order to stop a financial panic.
Stephen A. Schwarzman / Business Magnate
Catastrophe
Crisis
Financial Crisis
Flexibility
Liquidity
Panic
Fed
Lender
Resort
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I can't micromanage what anybody pays or doesn't pay. But the concept that half of the public isn't involved with the income-tax system is somewhat odd and I'm not saying how much people should do, but we should all be part of the system.
Stephen A. Schwarzman / Business Magnate
Odd
Concept
Somewhat
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The concept of fair value accounting is correct and useful, but the application during periods of crisis is problematic. It's another one of those unintended consequences of making a rule that's supposed to be good that turns out the other way.
Stephen A. Schwarzman / Business Magnate
Accounting
Application
Crisis
Periods
Turns
Unintended Consequences
Concept
Correct
Fair
Making
Problematic
Rule
Supposed
Value
Unintended
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What I've found in being around political people is they're willing to negotiate their ideology somewhere around 5 percent. They believe that's really stepping out. And it's really hard to do business when you only move 5 percent from your ideology.
Stephen A. Schwarzman / Business Magnate
Ideology
Negotiate
Stepping
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When I was much younger, I realized that when I was handling something very large, and I was on my own doing that, that my breathing rate would increase, and that would affect my ability to think as well as I normally would. So when that starts happening, I slow down.
Stephen A. Schwarzman / Business Magnate
Increase
Rate
Affect
Handling
Normally
Slow
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Today, whenever I'm under pressure to make a decision on a transaction but I don't know what the right one is, I try desperately to postpone it. I'll insist on more information - on doing extra laps around the intellectual parking lot - before committing. I take the same approach with people, too.
Stephen A. Schwarzman / Business Magnate
Parking
Parking Lot
Committing
Extra
Insist
Laps
Postpone
Right One
Transaction
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Doing a me-too business, because it's you - the only person who cares about that is you. The market doesn't care if it's you. The market is pretty much being served. You better have something that the world doesn't have, because even then, you might screw it up through your own ineptitude and inexperience.
Stephen A. Schwarzman / Business Magnate
Inexperience
Who Cares
Business World Your
Cares
Screw
Served
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I have a saying: There are no brave old people in finance. Because if you're brave, you mostly get destroyed in your 30s and 40s. If you make it to your 50s and 60s and you're still prospering, you have a very good sense of how to avoid problems and when to be conservative or aggressive with your investments.
Stephen A. Schwarzman / Business Magnate
Finance
Aggressive
Brave
Conservative
Destroyed
Good Sense
Old People
Prospering
Very
Avoid
Old
How
Still
Investments
Mostly
Problems
Saying
Sense
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Part of China's strategic planning is to make their universities among the top level of the world, and I think they understand you can't do that without the adoption of some of the principles of the great universities in the West; one of those is the ability to have free expression and discussion in the classroom.
Stephen A. Schwarzman / Business Magnate
Adoption
Classroom
Discussion
Free Expression
Planning
Principles
Strategic
Great World Free
Universities
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Every year, I speak to our new associates and give them this advice, although in my own words. 'This isn't like school,' I tell them, 'where you want to get your hand in the air and give an answer quickly. The only grade here is 100. Deadlines are important, but at Blackstone you can always get help in meeting them.'
Stephen A. Schwarzman / Business Magnate
Associates
Always Your Important
Deadlines
Grade
Meeting
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Stephen A. Schwarzman Quotes - Page 2

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