Stephen Schwarzman, Blackstone CEO and Author of What It Takes

Stephen Schwarzman, the co-founder and CEO of Blackstone, discusses his experience building one of the world’s leading investment firms.

On building Blackstone: “You have to pass up little things and only do really, really big things. So, that was our plan… We’ve been doing this since 1985 because knowledge is power. In finance everybody thinks the same, more or less.… So how do you win the game? You have to have knowledge other people don’t have. And to do that, you have to produce that knowledge and then you have to figure out how do the pieces fit? How do you see something in one area that tells you what’s going to happen in another area?… Seeing patterns leads you to other opportunities.”

On his outlook on US-China trade: “One piece of advice for you all that comes not just from this situation, but from others that we’ve all worked on… that when there’s something that’s doable, usually you should hit it. Because time wounds all deals. And so, the deal that ultimately will be made isn’t as easy for some of the participants as a deal you could have made a year and a half ago.”