An interview with the CEO of Goldman Sachs, Lloyd Blankfein. In this interview, Lloyd discusses his beginnings and what he would tell his younger self on how to succeed. Lloyd also gives advice to entrepreneurs on building reliance and his perspective of the economy.
Q1 hedge fund letters, conference, scoops etc, Also read Lear Capital: Financial Products You Should Avoid?
Lloyd Blankfein Advice For Entrepreneurs The Economy And Being Resilient
Video Segments:
0:00 Introduction
2:43 Your beginnings?
6:48 How to deal with the ups and downs?
9:49 Betting the farm?
14:00 Where are we in the economy?
17:36 Hiring talent?
20:33 Why is it important for small businesses to connect to congress?
22:31 Advice to young?
24:00 Lighting round?
Transcript
So I knew I was going to interview you today Lloyd and I’m on my computer screen you get these free Microsoft pictures and the picture that I had I thought was perfect it was this rolling green hill. That was a farm. And I like where I grew up. This is like where you grew up right through did not get to that. But it was exactly why there were all these people in this room because you were the farmer you created this ecosystem. You made the soil right. You figure out how to make it rain and then you figured out the magic which is that you have the seeds that have this grit and intense. So it’s a big group I wish that I wish I deserved the credit. But I think this is a self generated group. I think you have a lot to do with the I got to meet Lloyd Blankfein in almost ten years ago now and LaGuardia was the anchor college for 10000 small businesses. And two things that I learned. One is the power of great ideas and the second is what happens when places like community colleges partnered with an incredible company like Goldman Sachs. And I want to say thank you thank you for that. Thank you for what happened for bringing community colleges into this and also for sale in some ways that it is a connection that is is meant to happen. And you saw us so you know I loved it and I love the job you did.
And I said as we were walking out because I had been running around there I got here and I said oh you’re going on with Gail and I said in my interview Hershey because I could do that because you’ve done such a spectacular job and I have to say you introduced me to that great institution LaGuardia which I just wasn’t familiar. Obviously I grew up in New York. Yes it is. Even though it’s in Queens and I grew up in Brooklyn I don’t like to stand in our way. But I learned a lot about what gets accomplished there and I’d say to this day I mentioned this to you before I always I don’t mean you know I go I peer at places but I’ve never done I never speak at graduations except in my life. One right on the graduation I ever spoke at college was LaGuardia. It’s great. I love it. So you know now that you know that LaGuardia has almost 700 businesses that have gone through and we had six days later so beginnings are important and I wanna ask you a little bit about your beginnings so people who are here in this audience are from all different walks of life and all parts of the country and I know that you grew up not just in Brooklyn but in public housing in Brooklyn. So can you talk a little bit about your journey. How are you. How are you guys here. If Goldman was always tidy or plans. Well no Goldman wasn’t always part I had no idea what Goldman was.
Even when I got to school I didn’t know what Goldman was in fact life is so funny because I never joined Goldman when I at some point I’ll just skip ahead and then I’ll go back. I interviewed a number of firms. Goldman didn’t hire me and a lot of fact a lot of firms didn’t hire me. I got a job at a small commodity trading firm which was acquired by Goldman. That’s how I got in. After I’d been turned down you just you know you have to be you know you have to be flexible. But of course then having rejected me just made me appreciate their wisdom more the more that’s to me at the time. But no I didn’t plan to do that I grew up as a you know I grew up in Brooklyn. For those from New York I grew up in the Linden Projects in East New York Brooklyn Thomas Jefferson High School and I would say I was. It was a it wasn’t bait in that I would go to college. And people around me. Some did went to college some didn’t. I had an older sister she didn’t go to college my parents my parents didn’t and I always wanted to go away to college and go away to college. And so I applied to the state university system the City University system and I did a went to a college night and I can’t remember was it probably wasn’t it my high school because lot of kids go to college for my high school and but I did go to somebody and there was a guy there from Harvard. I’m not kidding. And this shows the randomness and kindnesses and things happen. And he said you should apply to Harvard and I did. And I didn’t know any I mean now.
And of course I’ve moved on them. You know my kids only stand over them and torture them. You have to do this and dad eyes ninety five drafts gave me an application. And I wrote it out like you were like filling out your you know the immigration form when you come in from the airport. You asked the question I wrote the answer and I gave it my application and I didn’t get into my. And get into every school I got in there and so that was a good thing and I’m grateful to them somebody somebody 100 years earlier gave some money to the school set up financial aid for people blah blah blah.
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