Ken Griffin's Act Of Kindness
She was described by doctors as “untreatable and incurable”
“BizStory is useful because it makes me sound smart at work.”
- Goldman Sachs VP
Hello everyone.
I’ve spent most of this week at my kids end of school year events: Prizegiving Day, Speech Day, drama performances, an end of year party hosted in a billionaire’s back garden. None of which fully prepared me for my youngest’s birthday party at the weekend, which I dressed up as…well, you’ll see below. Also, apologies if you received 2 separate emails last week - bug fixed.
This week’s newsletter: Henry Kravis’ incredible art collection, how to buy a vintage Hermes tie, Jon Gray’s #1 piece of advice and Ken Griffin’s Hawaiian surprise.
The Ken Griffin Story You’ve Never Heard Before
Ken Griffin is the Billionaire Founder & CEO of one of the world’s most successful hedge funds - Citadel.
Here is the little known story of how he reacted when his executive assistant fell gravely ill…
In 2012 Susan Warmerdam - executive assistant to Ken at Citadel – was diagnosed with Stage 4 lung cancer.
Despite having never smoked in her life, the condition was described by doctors as “untreatable and incurable”.
The diagnosis was devastating.
Upon hearing the news, Ken offered his private jet for her “to go anywhere in the world for 10 days.”
Susan couldn’t bring herself to take him up on the offer right away, but after two years of successful treatments including surgeries, clinical trials and chemotherapy, she was miraculously given the all clear and declared cancer free.
Upon hearing the news of Susan’s full recovery, and knowing her 50th birthday was nearing, Ken offered the jet to Susan again...
She accepted and took her entire family on vacation to Kauai – “the Garden Island” in Hawaii.
“He was so happy I was going,” Susan said.
The family posed for a picture creating letters that said Mahalo or ‘thank you’ in Hawaiian and sent it to Ken.
It’s not the first time Ken has offered employee’s unique opportunities and perks.
He has been known to rent entire movie theaters for employees and their families, to ship in special frozen milkshakes for the entire office from Wisconsin.
He also sends employees who have recently become parents gifts such as cashmere blankets and reading chairs.
Ken is frequently asked in interviews the secret behind how he has grown Citadel from his college dorm room to global investment giant so quickly, to which he typically replies:
“Our people are our greatest asset”.
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Finance Culture
Are you a finance man of taste? Well, you’re probably not when compared to Henry Kravis. After making a boat load building KKR in the early 1980’s, Henry reportedly worked very hard to be known as a “man of wealth and taste”. He kept upgrading KKR’s offices to the most plush, prime real estate in NYC and San Francisco, then packed them full of rare oil paintings, ‘oriental’ carpets and $825 cashmere cardigans. At one point, Britain’s Princess Margaret (younger sister of Queen Elizabeth) made a stop off at the KKR office on one of her U.S tours, just to admire their art collection.
Give yourself 10 seconds to scan the below picture, then scroll down…
OK - now who is the first person you recognise in the Royal Box. Martin Freeman? Benedict Cumberbatch? Louis Theroux? Virgil Van Dijk? All wrong. The correct answer is Venkat - CEO of Barclays. The aura of James Bond, and the only person delivering a proportionate response to the point. Venkat does not sit in the Royal Box. The Royal Box sits around Venkat.
Blackstone President Jon Gray gave his annual speech to their summer intern class, with one small change. Usually an internal meeting, this year Blackstone invited a member of the press to join, taking quotes from Jon’s speech and creating a full write up in Business Insider. Usually behind a paywall, the article has been made free to read for everyone. Intriguing. Blackstone is light-years ahead of most finance firms in terms of media, communications - and growth, so it’s noteworthy they are making an internal meeting, external. In the speech, Jon emphasised how important it is to respond quickly: “responsiveness is a habit you can learn”. Anyone who knows Jon can attest that he is incredibly quick at replying. Given his career trajectory and insane achievements, this is probably something we should all copy.
Vintage Hermes Ties have been all over finance social media this week. There are some beautiful examples. Now that barely anyone wears a tie anymore, why not pick some up on eBay. Most are sub-$100, go with most white/light shirts and importantly - won’t also be worn by Keith from accounting.
Lastly, I won something! Kind of. Favikon creates an annual Top 200 Business & Finance Reporters on LinkedIn Worldwide. Obviously, they need to make the title catchier, but let’s ignore that as they’ve kindly put me in 7th place. Full list of 200 is here. The only snag is I’m not American, and not a reporter.
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Recommendation
If you have 30mins, this Ken interview is great. If you have 2mins, check this out.
I started an X/Twitter account and an Instagram account and will be posting short videos about finance culture. Give it a follow, if you like.
If this week’s edition was interesting, forward on to one person who might also like it.
Joseph Cass