Steve Schwarzman's Criminal Cover Up
Wild true story from the Vietnam War
Good morning, everyone.
This week’s newsletter includes: the unlikely story of a young Steve Schwarzman (Blackstone Co-Founder) giving the metaphorical finger to his Army bosses was probably not on your ‘to read’ list. But it’s a cracker…
How To Ignore Seniority
Stephen Schwarzman disobeyed direct orders - but uncovered a criminal cover-up in the U.S Army, and the Colonel fired every officer in his unit…
In 1969, the U.S was deep into the Vietnam War.
Long before Blackstone, a 22-year old Steve Schwarzman was called up to join the Army Reserve for basic training.
However, there was a problem...
Very quickly after joining, it became obvious that Steve’s unit never had enough food. Some mornings, there was no breakfast at all.
After 5am runs in full combat gear and long days of weapons training, recruits were exhausted, demoralized - and starving.
Steve remembered something the Colonel had said during the welcome speech:
“If you see something wrong, come and tell me.”
So he did.
Steve made his way into the officers’ quarters and told the clerk he wanted to meet with Colonel. The clerk looked up at the new recruit and responded:
“Get the f*** out of here!”
Steve refused to move.
So, the clerk called a Lieutenant.
A Lieutenant stormed in and yelled at Steve: “Who the f** do you think you are?”
A Captain arrived. Then a Major.
Each tried to intimidate Steve.
Each failed.
Before long, Steve’s silent protest meant he was sitting across the desk from a grey-haired Colonel. He calmly explained the food shortages, and how morale was collapsing.
“He was stunned”, Steve recalled.
The Colonel said nothing and sent him back to his unit.
Two days later, every officer in the company was dismissed. An investigation revealed officers had been stealing food from the soldiers and selling it for personal profit.
Steve was called back in to the Colonel - this time, not to be punished, but thanked.
No trainee had ever spoken up before.
Years later, Steve reflected on that time:
“Courage isn’t always about being loud. It’s about refusing to back down when you know something is wrong.”
Recommendation’s
Steve gave a fantastic Q&A to new Blackstone analysts about 6 months ago, watch it in full here.
A very rare recording of Steve answering questions at a Harvard Kennedy School student roundtable from 2008. Of it’s time, but some evergreen comments around leadership and business in general. Watch it here.
I created a YouTube video telling the story of Steve’s hidden skill that propelled Blackstone from scrappy start up to multi-billion dollar powerhouse. Watch it below.
The Skill That Built Blackstone
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Joseph Cass