Transcript
Lloyd Blankfein (0:00)
Foreign.
Allison Nathan (0:05)
I'm Allison Nathan, and today we have something a bit different for you. You're about to hear an episode of our sister podcast, talks @GS. In each episode of this show, you'll hear a conversation about leadership and industry transformation recorded in front of a live audience at Goldman Sachs. This particular episode features our former chairman and CEO, Lloyd Blankfein in conversation with our current chairman and CEO, David Solomon. They discuss Lloyd's care, his leadership through the financial crisis, and his new memoir, Streetwise. It's a really interesting and fun conversation, and we hope you'll enjoy it.
David Solomon (0:43)
So we're thrilled to be joined today by Lloyd Blankvine. Lloyd served as our chairman and CEO from 2006 to 2018. After serving as President and Chief Operating Officer under Hank. Lloyd played a big role in building a lot of our sales and trading businesses. Earlier in his career, played a huge role in shaping the firm's approach to risk management. But he's probably best known for his humor and for leading the firm through the financial crisis and its aftermath. His leadership at that extraordinary time made him one of the most respected corporate leaders, not just on Wall street, but around the corporate world. And today, we're excited to have Lloyd here to talk about his forthcoming memoir, Streetwise Getting to and Through Goldman Sachs. And so, Lloyd, first of all, welcome back to Goldman Sachs, and it's great to have.
Lloyd Blankfein (1:35)
And David, listen, thanks so much, Crixus. You've been terrific through this whole process. So thanks for. Thanks for the support and helping to promote it.
David Solomon (1:43)
Absolutely. Well, the book really starts your childhood in Brooklyn to your journey to your time at the firm and all the lessons you learned along the way. And so I want to kind of walk through some of that. And I know a lot of people in this room don't know that the former CEO of Goldman Sachs used to sell peanuts at Yankee Stadium.
Lloyd Blankfein (1:58)
I did, yeah.
David Solomon (1:59)
You did not beer. Because you weren't old enough to sell beer.
Lloyd Blankfein (2:02)
No, but I used to walk up, this is in the old Yankee Stadium, steep steps, and you have to go, and some guy, you made a commission of 7 cents on a $25 item. And some guy way up there would call you, and actually it was frankfurters, where you had to carry, like, in water and stuff. Like, weighed about 400 pounds. And you'd make a total of like, I think, two and a quarter cents if you walked up there and you made the sale. And you made the sale. And I used to do that stuff.
