Transcript
Introduction
“If there's one lesson I could pass along to kids today, it's this: the opportunities today are the very best they've ever been. You might have to look for them harder than in my day, but they're there. Boy, do I wish I was 21 again and just starting out. Like so many college kids today, I wanted to go to Wall Street and get rich. That's a good way to make a lot of money, but it's also a way to fail big, not to mention burn out fast. I learned early how essential it was to love the work I was doing. Sometimes I look back and wonder, how did this all happen and then the answer comes.
I was at a place where I was having the time of my life. I still remember what Hudson Whitenight said to me 60 years ago, ‘if you really love your work as much as I think you're going to, you're going to be a big success.’ So I'm saying to a kid, I learned that ex post facto, you should learn it upfront. Yes, I've been lucky and you can't learn good luck. My old man used to say to me, you could fall in a bucket of s***, and come up with a gold watch and chain, but we all fall in that bucket from time to time.
What distinguishes the winners from the losers is the ability to turn adversity around through resilience and creativity. I still love my work today, all of it. At 82 years old, I'm still excited to get out of the bed in the morning, still charged up about what the next deal might bring. And though the money, my enthusiasms have brought me has enabled me to live well and help others, I can honestly say that if it came down to it, I would pay to go to work every day. How many people can say that?”