Tearing Down the Walls
Book

Tearing Down the Walls

How Sandy Weill Fought His Way to the Top of the Financial World and then Nearly Lost It All

Monica Langley
Free Press, 2003

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Editorial Rating

9

Qualities

  • Innovative

Recommendation

Monica Langley follows Sandford Weill, a shy Jewish boy from Brooklyn, through his youthful struggles against adversity, his journey to the absolute top of the financial world and his tainted success. Seen through the prism of Weill’s tumultuous career, the financial world is small, despite its importance, internally more like a village than a city. The book just confirms your suspicions that practical finance bears almost no resemblance to what you learned in economics class. getAbstract.com commends Langley for skillfully molding the saga of this titanic financier’s career into such a compelling, well-constructed narrative.

Summary

CEO of the Year

Sandy Weill appeared nervous as he prepared to address the CEOs assembled at the New York Stock Exchange, where he was to be honored as 2002 CEO of the year. He arrived in a chauffeured Cadillac, and entered through the VIP gate, with camera and strobe lights flashing around him. Even his Savile Row tux could not quite streamline his ample waistline, a silent witness to years of high living, gourmet food and excellent wine. A wide grin stretched across his face as he negotiated a path through a crowd of 200 of the world’s most influential senior executives. He had flown in his mother-in-law for the occasion. She had made her displeasure clear when her daughter had insisted on marrying Sandy back when he looked like an unemployed loser. He’d shown her. He’d shown them all. He’d shown the white, Anglo-Saxon Protestant anti-Semites who ran Wall Street - used to run it, that is. He’d shown them by taking over their precious banks and brokerage firms. He hired Wasps, and fired them. The elite, old money Jews - he’d shown them too. He was on top. Last year, Michael Dell was CEO of the year. This year, the honoree was Sandy Weill.

As he basked in the attention...

About the Author

Monica Langley, formerly a practicing attorney, has written on finance for The Wall Street Journal for twelve years.

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