The Exchanges

Q And he once used to, he was aiming to join a community in South Carolina, but he ended up by mistake in North Carolina, you said?

A Yeah, he was going to Marion, South Carolina, and, uh, he got on the wrong train out of New York. And ended up in, um, in Raleigh, North Carolina, and didn't know really where he was. So he spent the night there, and the next day, the, one of the managers of the train station said, look, there's a family in Charlotte, North Carolina, from Syria, and I'm gonna put you on the train to, to Charlotte, and he got there, and they had a coffee shop, and, ah, they employed him for a while, and then from there, he was able to make enough money, and He was a peddler. He went on a wagon from kind of the rural community around Charlotte and my hometown, Mooresville, North Carolina, selling everything from cloth to shoes to, you know, pins, needles, whatever you needed, he sold. And over time that morphed into a wholesale grocery business.

AI assessment note: “Yeah, he was going to Marion, South Carolina, and, uh, he got on the wrong train”

Q That's a huge compliment. You mentioned, cause originally doing business in Japan, it sounds like one of the difficulties, which I've noticed as well, is it's hard to get a no. They'll, they'll, they'll always say yes. But so how, how'd you get past that to the point where you were able to get more done with them? Is it just building trust? What, what is it?

A It's simple. It's just building trust. I mean, um, When I'd go to Japan, I guess you've been to the karaoke bars when you're in Japan. You want to go to karaoke? I'm going, man. Let's go. You want to drink sake? I'm drinking. Let's go. You want to play golf? Let's, let me take you to one of the best golf courses in Asia, and we'd play golf. So we built a relationship, but more importantly, the office was run by Japanese nationals. And we, they would come spend time with us in New York, and then we empowered them to run the office. So when people saw me or Dick Fisher or other senior people going to Japan and really being part of the Japanese management team and the way we interacted with them, I think that really gave us a great kind of boost in reputation. These are the people we want to work with and work for.

AI assessment note: “It's simple. It's just building trust.”

Q Hearing the stories, it felt like you really liked just, like, being one of the guys on the floor, like, joking around, getting in trouble with them. Like, how, like, how would you bond with the people you'd work with? Is that, was that on purpose that you're joking with them to get to know them?

A Well, I had a great, um, teacher, mentor, a guy named Dick Fisher, who ended up at, at one point running Morgan Stanley, and I worked for him, and, um, I saw the way he treated people, and, and he also gave me a great lesson, Because, ah, I was a pretty tough manager, and I remember he said to me, he said, John, you got the biggest firm, you got the biggest gun in the division. Your goal is never use your gun. Sit down and talk to people, and get them to change without intimidating them. So to do that, I moved my office to sit in the middle of the trading floor, and, ah, that way you could tell who was doing well, who wasn't doing well. And people come in my office and chat with me once they got used to having me on the floor all the time, but it really kept me involved in the business and also helped me see who the leaders were and coming up in the organization that you have more responsibility.

AI assessment note: “So to do that, I moved my office to sit in the middle”

Q John, we started The American Optimist to push back on a lot of the pessimism and cynicism we're seeing from a lot of people in our country, especially from some of our, our young people. What would you say to people about the future of America? What's a good reason to be optimistic?

A Well, number one, it's a democracy. Number two, I think the American people at the end of the day are smart. And even though you have cyclical changes in political leadership, we, we get our balance and we come back and get into the middle of the road if that's where we need to be. Or in some cases we, we get to the sense that we need to be a lot more disciplined and a lot more, uh, direct with our allies. And I, and I think it, I think it's a pendulum that moves back and forth. But when you look at this country, um, I couldn't be more optimistic. Just think at our educational level, how it's changed, and how, you know, a lot of things you've done, how computers have made these young men and women starting, you know, my granddaughter, when she was four years old, had a computer playing around with it, and now at age 14, it's like part of her body. She can do anything, and I think they're much more educated in, in the sense of what's going on globally, and it's not as focused on What's in New York state or in just the United States. So technology, I think, has really opened the door for global kind of coming together. So I'm, I'm really bullish on where we're going to go.

AI assessment note: “Well, number one, it's a democracy. Number two, I think the American people”

Q more about trading and market and sales. Like what, like what, why were you so successful? Why were you able to, to, to grow in the order and become a CEO? You're obviously a great leader who inspires people. Was it a combination of, of Being good at the sales and getting people to work for you to perform, or like, like, why were you able to climb so quickly?

A Well, I, I think a lot of it is just, I like people, and I can engage and talk to people. I've really never met a stranger. Um, I remember on one of my trips to the Middle East, uh, the banker was taking me to Saudi Arabia, and we were seeing all the, you know, important people in Saudi and their roads, and when we finished, we come out, he said, John, I didn't have to give you one prop. You talked solidly with these gentlemen for 30 minutes, and we've had four meetings like that. So I've never had any issue engaging and talking with people. Some people may say I speak too much, but, ah, so I was very comfortable with it, and, ah, I, I got into the securities business, and then I said, you know, I'd like to be in the institutional business, and, and Smith Marty gave me the opportunity to do that, and I was in the municipal bond business for a while, And then I got approached by others, you know, would you come and join us? And I went to a few other firms. And eventually, I ended up at Morgan Stanley. And, ah, I mentioned it earlier, when they offered me a job, I turned them down. And it was a private partnership. I would say, of the 35 partners, 20 of them probably went to Princeton. And the rest of them probably went to Yale or, or Harvard.

AI assessment note: “I think a lot of it is just, I like people, and I can engage”

Q was actually even much tougher for women, you know, 30 years ago on the street compared to anything that they face in the technology world today, and, and, and was that, was that the case in your experience? Obviously, you talk, told stories of reaching out and working with women and helping them, but, but was that the case overall back, back 3040 years ago? Was it, was it tougher?

A Yeah, it was. There were very few women on Wall Street, and I think there was a view about, you know, they want to raise a family, they're really not dedicated, and then you had, Superstars, like a Mary Meeker, like a Zoe Cruz, who ended up being president of the firm. And all they needed is a chance to show their, their, uh, talent. And I think the flexibility, uh, of the firm, giving them the break they needed, uh, whether it was to take care of a child or have a child. I mean, we were, well, we want talent. And if you only focus on men, you've lost 50% of the talent base. And the women are just superstars. I mean, Zoe Cruz is an outstanding trader and manager, did a great job. Mary Meeker did the same thing. So it just seemed natural, you know, to, to see these women in, in, in roles that, uh, show real leadership. My wife, Christy, who's really focused on healthcare from scratch, has started a whole initiative on healthcare. And, and her father was a physician and, He, she saw how he treated patients and she has a real focus on medicine and how clinics should be much more engaged with the patient versus take two pills and call me tomorrow.

AI assessment note: “Yeah, it was. There were very few women on Wall Street”