---
product_id: 173884070
title: "What It Takes: Lessons in the Pursuit of Excellence"
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---

# What It Takes: Lessons in the Pursuit of Excellence

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## Description

What It Takes: Lessons in the Pursuit of Excellence : Schwarzman, Stephen A.: desertcart.in: Books

Review: What a Story of Blackstone! - The best book on Business, I would suggest to read this book those who are interested to build large scale businesses and build best talents and culture in the organization. 39B dollar deal with SAM and the way it handled to sell most of it on deal closing day itself is outstanding smart work. Worth to read and re-read.
Review: Excellence and Integrity - Rags to riches is an adage. When the economy or business cycle takes an unexpected and swift downturn, as often it happens, we have stories of riches to rags. The story of Blackstone, cofounded by Stephen Schwarzman is about building great institutions that can not only survive, but also thrive with every challenge. Schwarzman shares with us this fascinating story, with candour and courage, deep insights, and personal notes, with lessons on learning, leadership, love, and a legacy to be proud of. Schwarzman belongs to a middle-class Jewish family in suburban Philadelphia, brought up in 1950’s, absorbing the core values of integrity, straightforwardness, and hard work. As a kid, he was paid ten cents per hour for folding handkerchiefs at the family’s linen shop. Unhappy with his pay, he once asked his grandfather for a raise to twenty-five cents an hour. “What makes you think you’re worth twenty-five cents an hour?’’ came the reply. There was no entitlement to higher wages just because the family owns the business. Steve’s keen interest in athletics earns him a seat for undergraduate study at Yale. The story of Coach Armstrong training the team even in harsh winter, and Steve’s kind gesture in gifting a pair of Adidas spikes to his relay teammate Bobby, who could not afford to buy one, are clear examples of leadership, teamwork and the spirit of giving and sharing that are exemplary virtues. Schwarzman builds Blackstone on the solid twin principles of Excellence and Integrity. Excellence for him is giving 100 percent on everything. A five percent underperformance could mean a hue setback to investors in a hypercompetitive and uncertain business environment. Integrity is the true middle-class values of honesty, hard work, respect for others and always doing what you say you will. This requires courage. In the real estate business, there are multiple ways of presenting property values, depending on whether it is to the investor, or tax authorities or to someone else. Blackstone puts an end to this dubious practice and always presented the one true value. Yet, it emerged phenomenally successful in the real estate business that is plagued by nefarious practices throughout the world. Truth alone Triumphs. Hiring the best people is a non-negotiable at Blackstone. Mediocrity and complacency are prescriptions for disaster. Blackstone’s management team has been with them for eighteen years on average and the tenure of senior managing directors is ten years or more. “Such longevity is rare in the financial services industry”, says Schwarzman. The final chapters are about giving back to society. “I have long believed that education is a passport to better lives. A good education has the power to affect whomever it touches for the better” he says. His liberal donations to Tsinghua University, Yale, MIT, and Oxford are aimed at creating a better world for the next generations through quality education cutting across continents, cultures, and technologies. In the spring of 1987, when Schwarzman and his co-founder Pete Peterson went to MIT to raise seed money for Blackstone, the only person whom they could meet was the janitor. “Oh. It’s Friday. They have left a while ago,” he said. Steve and Pete came back empty handed and fully drenched in the unexpected heavy rain. October 2018, MIT Campus. It was final day of MIT’s three-day event to launch Stephen A. Schwarzman College of Computing covered by CNBC for global live streaming. As Schwarzman leaves the stage, Rafael Reif, President of MIT leans in: “Wow, I’ve never seen that before in my almost thirty years at MIT.’’ Schwarzman: “What was that?”. Reif: “A standing ovation.” Fortunately, Steve was denied twenty-five cents an hour by this grandfather. He was destined to build a fortune, with Excellence and Integrity.

## Technical Specifications

| Specification | Value |
|---------------|-------|
| Best Sellers Rank | #500,542 in Books ( See Top 100 in Books ) #123 in Entrepreneurship (Books) #19,640 in Biographies & Autobiographies (Books) |
| Country of Origin  | USA |
| Customer Reviews | 4.5 4.5 out of 5 stars (4,038) |
| Dimensions  | 15.24 x 3.05 x 22.86 cm |
| ISBN-10  | 1501158147 |
| ISBN-13  | 978-1501158148 |
| Item Weight  | 1 kg 50 g |
| Language  | English |
| Print length  | 384 pages |
| Publication date  | 17 September 2019 |
| Publisher  | Avid Reader Press / Simon & Schuster |

## Images

![What It Takes: Lessons in the Pursuit of Excellence - Image 1](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/71xeKpYSNEL.jpg)

## Customer Reviews

### ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ What a Story of Blackstone!
*by P***H on 29 November 2023*

The best book on Business, I would suggest to read this book those who are interested to build large scale businesses and build best talents and culture in the organization. 39B dollar deal with SAM and the way it handled to sell most of it on deal closing day itself is outstanding smart work. Worth to read and re-read.

### ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Excellence and Integrity
*by B***Y on 25 July 2020*

Rags to riches is an adage. When the economy or business cycle takes an unexpected and swift downturn, as often it happens, we have stories of riches to rags. The story of Blackstone, cofounded by Stephen Schwarzman is about building great institutions that can not only survive, but also thrive with every challenge. Schwarzman shares with us this fascinating story, with candour and courage, deep insights, and personal notes, with lessons on learning, leadership, love, and a legacy to be proud of. Schwarzman belongs to a middle-class Jewish family in suburban Philadelphia, brought up in 1950’s, absorbing the core values of integrity, straightforwardness, and hard work. As a kid, he was paid ten cents per hour for folding handkerchiefs at the family’s linen shop. Unhappy with his pay, he once asked his grandfather for a raise to twenty-five cents an hour. “What makes you think you’re worth twenty-five cents an hour?’’ came the reply. There was no entitlement to higher wages just because the family owns the business. Steve’s keen interest in athletics earns him a seat for undergraduate study at Yale. The story of Coach Armstrong training the team even in harsh winter, and Steve’s kind gesture in gifting a pair of Adidas spikes to his relay teammate Bobby, who could not afford to buy one, are clear examples of leadership, teamwork and the spirit of giving and sharing that are exemplary virtues. Schwarzman builds Blackstone on the solid twin principles of Excellence and Integrity. Excellence for him is giving 100 percent on everything. A five percent underperformance could mean a hue setback to investors in a hypercompetitive and uncertain business environment. Integrity is the true middle-class values of honesty, hard work, respect for others and always doing what you say you will. This requires courage. In the real estate business, there are multiple ways of presenting property values, depending on whether it is to the investor, or tax authorities or to someone else. Blackstone puts an end to this dubious practice and always presented the one true value. Yet, it emerged phenomenally successful in the real estate business that is plagued by nefarious practices throughout the world. Truth alone Triumphs. Hiring the best people is a non-negotiable at Blackstone. Mediocrity and complacency are prescriptions for disaster. Blackstone’s management team has been with them for eighteen years on average and the tenure of senior managing directors is ten years or more. “Such longevity is rare in the financial services industry”, says Schwarzman. The final chapters are about giving back to society. “I have long believed that education is a passport to better lives. A good education has the power to affect whomever it touches for the better” he says. His liberal donations to Tsinghua University, Yale, MIT, and Oxford are aimed at creating a better world for the next generations through quality education cutting across continents, cultures, and technologies. In the spring of 1987, when Schwarzman and his co-founder Pete Peterson went to MIT to raise seed money for Blackstone, the only person whom they could meet was the janitor. “Oh. It’s Friday. They have left a while ago,” he said. Steve and Pete came back empty handed and fully drenched in the unexpected heavy rain. October 2018, MIT Campus. It was final day of MIT’s three-day event to launch Stephen A. Schwarzman College of Computing covered by CNBC for global live streaming. As Schwarzman leaves the stage, Rafael Reif, President of MIT leans in: “Wow, I’ve never seen that before in my almost thirty years at MIT.’’ Schwarzman: “What was that?”. Reif: “A standing ovation.” Fortunately, Steve was denied twenty-five cents an hour by this grandfather. He was destined to build a fortune, with Excellence and Integrity.

### ⭐⭐⭐⭐ Great! but confusing
*by V***Y on 4 August 2020*

The Lessons provided in the book are very good however it does feel like an biopic without an continuation that goes back and forth that makes the reader confused often

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*Last updated: 2026-02-02*