The Real Deal: My Life in Business and Philanthropy
by Sandy Weill and Judah S. Kraushaar
Published by Warner Business Books
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Reviewed by Nick Capo, Assistant Professor of English, Illinois College
Sanford "Sandy" Weill, the retired chairman of Citigroup and an active philanthropist, has an interesting story. Raised in reasonably prosperous circumstances mostly in Brooklyn, Weill started as a stockbroker and steadily rose to become a leader in the financial services industry.
Weill uses his life to support a list of success lessons. Perhaps the most important is to accept the occasional failure as a necessary part of achieving. "I vividly remember losing sleep because I had made some bad stock calls and lost money for my clients," he tells us, but he insists, "Don't dwell on defeat." Weill identifies other key traits: passion for what you do, willingness to work hard to learn, courage to take calculated risks, the ability to put together a competent team, and the vision to set ambitious goals.
His story has broad appeal because of his energetic efforts on behalf of Cornell University's Weill Medical College, Carnegie Hall, and the National Academy Foundation. Cornell recently announced a $4 billion fundraising campaign, and a large portion is for the medical school. As Weill says in his book, he wants to help to put "Weill Cornell onto a path where it will become one of the world's top medical colleges." Sandy Weill believes in excellence, and his book is oriented around this theme.
His account of Citigroup's bruising battle with Attorney General Eliot Spitzer is illuminating. Fallout from the Enron and WorldCom scandals landed on many of the largest financial services companies. Weill ferociously defends most of Citigroup's actions, while still acknowledging many of the formerly common but questionable practices in the industry. His criticisms of the other professions that bear at least some responsibility for the debacles--law, accounting, and journalism--are on target. His anger with "aggressive public officials and an unscrupulous press" undoubtedly echoes sentiments shared by many who have become the target of political-media frenzies.
An informative story about a man who has achieved colossal success and is still making history, The Real Deal should satisfy not only business-oriented readers but also any reader curious about the character of high achievers.
Armchair Interviews says: Positive book about character in business.