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Usually ships in 1 business days | | | | | | Goldman Sachs, the nation's leading investment firm, with a solid-gold reputation and a first-class list of clients, began as a family business in a lower Manhattan basement in 1869. The secrets behind the remarkable success of Goldman Sachs since then are revealed in unprecedented depth in this fascinating and authoritative narrative history of the firm. Former Goldman Sachs vice president Lisa Endlich draws on her insider's knowledge and access to all levels of management to bring to life a unique company that has long held its mystique intact. The most stunning accomplishments in modern American finance are explored through the story of how Goldman Sachs reached its summit. Goldman Sachs: The Culture of Success provides a rare and revealing look inside an institution -- until recently the last private partnership on Wall Street -- and inside the financial world at its highest levels. Included here, in a new chapter, is a first look at the history behind the firm's landmark initial public offering. | | | |
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| | Product Details | | Author: | Lisa Endlich | | Paperback: | 336 pages | | Publisher: | Touchstone | | Publication Date: | March 09, 2000 | | Language: | English | | ISBN: | 0684869683 | | Package Length: | 9.2 inches | | Package Width: | 6.1 inches | | Package Height: | 1.0 inches | | Package Weight: | 0.8 pounds | | Average Customer Rating: |  based on 46 reviews |
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| | Features | ISBN13: 9780684869681Condition: NewNotes: BUY WITH CONFIDENCE, Over one million books sold! 98% Positive feedback. Compare our books, prices and service to the competition. 100% Satisfaction Guaranteed
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 OUTSTANDING BOOK! HIGHLY RECOMMENDED! Oct 30, 2009
This is probably one of my favorite books. I've read it several times. The bad reviews do not portray this book accurately and I think it should be rated more highly on Amazon. It is an excellent read for anyone wants to know more about the history and culture of Goldman Sachs.
The book is very broad and analyzes the many success and failures of Goldman Sachs from its founding in 1869 up to the IPO in 1999. It does an excellent job of presenting the many challenges that Goldman Sachs faced over the decades and how senior management dealt with those challenges.
The book contains a wealth of information regarding Goldman Sachs history as well as some biographical information, which is otherwise difficult to find.
What I personally liked most is the highly personal and vivid descriptions the author gives of the senior partners who helped shape Goldman Sachs throughout the decades including the early Goldmans and Saches, Sidney Weinberg, Gus Levy, John Weinberg and John Whitehead, Robert Ruben and Stephen Friedman, Hank Paulson and Jon Corzine, etc.
You really get a sense how they think during their tenure at the firm and how they operated the firm.
It is one of my favorite books and I highly recommend it.
 A good, but narrow view of Goldman and Financial Markets History Dec 20, 2008
If you liked reading books on the history of finance, I think this is worth the read: it definitely gives you some insight on how Goldman, the most prestigious investment bank since the mid 80's is run, and a decent view on how it shifted from a firm build on strong client relationships, lost in a sea of bigger fish, to a powerful sales and trading behemoth that was unmatched in any of its focus areas.
If you are looking for a broader view of financial history, however, this is not it. It's very Goldman focused (and I found a bit slow at the start), and delves more in depth on the trading side that came to dominate in the 90s, which I would guess is because that is where the author came from. It does do a good job of explaining the tension between bankers and traders, but it doesn't have the sheer balance between deifying its subject and history like The House of Morgan or the entertainment value of Liar's Poker. As a result, if I didn't have much background in financial markets, I would find it harder to read as the book would seem to jump around (and need more context than it gives).
Unlike Morgan, Goldman wasn't as dominant as it is today until more recent history (the 80s), so I found it wasn't as interesting to learn about Goldman's past in such detail, I would have rather seen a more personal account in the boom years, or a more financial markets history focus at the beginning to balance out the fact Goldman wasn't always the leader. As the book moves on to the 90s, however, I think she does do a great job of explaining the lessons learned at Goldman in the early 90s around risk management, which you see in it's (at least relative) financial discipline as compared to its peers. The seeds planted by the capital crisis in 1994 at Goldman definitely did reap rewards as Goldman built a much stronger set of risk management controls than its peers, allowing it to better navigate the sub-prime crisis it arguably helped create. Unfortunately I felt there were still gaps in the Goldman corporate strategy in the book, as some of analysis around senior staff and their actions appeared to be more hearsay-type information or speculation. It would have been great to have more C-level accounts of how Goldman worked, although it is well known that Goldman is notoriously clandestine about its inner workings.
Turning In Their Graves Sep 19, 2008
I regarded the book as a story about risk, and how it evolved over time. I wonder how GS founders would view the AIG meltdown.
1 of 2 found the following review helpful:
 A good, but broad history on this firm Mar 15, 2008
I really wasn't sure what to expect from this book judging by the sub title of this book; "The Culture of Success." I sort of went in expecting something about how Goldman Sachs' culture was superior to others in a very detailed manner. That's really not what this book was; this was basically a pretty broad overview of the Goldman Sachs history. In retrospect I think I preferred it to be the firm's history than what I had initially thought it was would be. It does discuss how important culture was to the firms development though, so that was in the book, but it was more of a historical perspective overall.
The author takes you back to the beginning on how the firm began by running promissory notes in the late 1800's in New York. I thought this was fascinating since I knew next to nothing about the firm before delving into this book. Maybe that's why I enjoyed it so much, it was a wealth of new information for me. I thought Lisa Endlich did an excellent job in bringing the reader through the history. She brought us through the firm's humble beginnings all the way to the firms IPO in the late 90's when it was considered one of the most dominant power houses in the financial world.
One of the parts that I found to be the most interesting was some of the family history concerning the Goldman's and the Sachs' during the great depression and moving into World War II. The Goldman in one of the top positions at that time was extremely proud of being a German Jew and longed to retire back to Germany. Unfortunately history would not make this a pleasant situation since shortly after he returned to Germany Adolf Hitler was named Der Fuhrer. I couldn't help but feel bad for the man since, from what Lisa reports, he embodied a lot of elements that Hitler would respect in a person. Pride for ones homeland being the primary factor for what is important to Hitler. This is made very clear to anyone who sits down and actually reads "Mein Kampf." Goldman had to return to the U.S. quite disillusioned with everything.
For those interested in the history of markets the book also covers the time frame when the American firms tried to enter into the European market and all the difficulty that came from that. In the 1980's there were multiple scandals with traders, some of which hit home to the firm. She brings us through all the agonizing hardships and gives a pretty interesting inside look into the leaders at the time. It was interesting to note that Goldman Sachs was usually one of the last firms to make any move it deemed risky, but would let other firms go in and make mistakes. However, this kind of an attitude would have to change over time as the markets became even more competitive. The book finally closes with the discussions about Goldman Sachs issuing its first IPO (Initial Public Offering). This was a huge thing for a firm that had lasted as long as just a partnership. You get an inside look into the board meetings and what was going through the partners' heads during this major event in the company's life.
There isn't as much focus on the technical financial workings of Goldman Sachs, a few figures are quoted here and there. I did find some of the history here interesting, especially about the creation of Block Trading and Hedge Funds. These are things that are used throughout the market place today. However, if you're looking for some deeper financial workings on Goldman Sachs this isn't the book you want to pick up.
I thought this was a great read by the time I finished. I found it incredibly fascinating to see this firm develop throughout the years and didn't realize the immense impact it had on the market place. Some of the language use is great because it tells some of the more humorous parts, such as in the 1980's how investment bankers/traders were the most hated people in the country, lower than lawyers! I thought some of these little anecdotes were brilliant to include because it gave a slightly lighter mood to a read that could have been overly dry. I'll admit that this isn't a book that most lay readers will pick up, only those of us who are in the economics, business or investment fields. Sure some lay people may enjoy it, but I can't ignore the fact it's for a fairly specialized audience. I definitely recommend this if you're interested in reading a broad overview of the firm and its history since its inception.
2 of 2 found the following review helpful:
We are talking of billions here .. Oct 13, 2007
We all know last year profits at Goldman Sachs and the Big fat bonuses expected for its employees to receive. What is it that these guys do to obtain such level of profits?, well that was the reason to read this book. I never thought this book would be that interesting, the whole history of the Goldman and the Sachs, both jewish immigrants families, and the following consolidation of the firm along the years, its ups and downs, make this book an easy reading.
The idea for me was also to understand a little about investment banking and other concepts such as equity trading, long term capital management and others. To tell you the truth, I need further reading but the spark is there and I want to learn more of this subject. I cannot finish this review by saying that also in this book you learn some of the aspects of running this big firm and few lessons of experience by some of the best in this field like Sidney Weinberg and Robert Rubin, both pillars of a company that now may be called a culture of success.
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