Summary: Up Close and All In: Life Lessons from a Wall Street Warrior by John Mackey

• If you are looking for a book that combines a personal memoir and a business story, you might want to check out [Up Close and All In: Life Lessons from a Wall Street Warrior] by [John Mackey]. This book tells the story of John Mackey, the former CEO of Morgan Stanley, who helped grow the company from 300 to 50,000 employees over four decades, transformed a notoriously competitive culture into a successful and collaborative one, and lead the company through the 2008 financial crisis.
• To learn more about John Mackey’s life and career, his values and principles, and his insights and advice, don’t miss this opportunity to get inspired and informed by one of the most influential and respected leaders on Wall Street.

Recommendation

When young John Mack considered his future, he assumed he’d run a menswear store with his cousin in his home state of North Carolina. But a part-time college job at a securities firm altered his career trajectory. This fascinating, entertaining tale from Morgan Stanley’s former CEO provides remarkable insight into life on Wall Street. Mack takes you behind the scenes from the frenetic trading floor to sensitive boardroom conversations with America’s most prominent financial personalities. Bright, egotistical, ruthless and charming, Mack made brutally difficult decisions without wavering and saved Morgan Stanley during the 2008 financial crisis.

Take-Aways

Morgan Stanley CEO John Mack emphasized teamwork and cooperation in an industry that promotes greed and sUyed saving grace during the 2008 financial meltdown.

Summary

Morgan Stanley CEO John Mack emphasized teamwork and cooperation in an industry that promotes greed and selfishness.

John Mack – then head of Morgan Stanley’s Operating Committee – was going to an 8 am meeting at the company one day in 1992 when he noticed a deliveryman standing by the elevators holding a paper sack. After the meeting – roughly a half-hour later – the man was still standing there. When Mack asked whether the deliveryman had called the recipient who ordered his delivery, he replied, “Twice.”

Mack asked for the recipient’s phone number and dialed him. He identified himself and ordered the Morgan Stanley employee to come pick up his delivery.

“To me, we all have equal value, no matter what our job or how much money we have in the bank.”

Mack reprimanded the employee and told him he was being disrespectful to the hardworking deliveryman. And, Mack said, if the employee ever repeated that behavior, he’d fire him. Mack insisted that Morgan Stanley’s people treat everyone respectfully – both inside the company and outside it.

In four-plus decades on Wall Street, Mack observed that certain traits seemed dominant among investment bankers and traders. Fiercely competitive and aggressive, they are on a perpetual hunt for money, and many seem to believe they are more intelligent than everybody else. Admonishing an inconsiderate trader was Mack’s attempt to drive home his message about the necessity of mutual respect.​​​​

Mack believes making decisions is the basic task of leadership.

Whether you’re operating a business or bringing up a family, Mack insists that leadership at its core requires making pressurized decisions even when you’re unsure of the outcomes. Many so-called leaders, he says, avoid conflict, surround themselves with people who say yes to them, criticize their employees and see money as their “only motivator.”

“Leadership is a discipline, something you practice. Like salesmanship, some learn it more easily than others, but it can be learned.”

Naturally self-assured, Mack had to learn to instill confidence in his people and to prove to them that their collective abilities exceeded their individual strengths.

Mack joined Morgan Stanley because of its excellence and its traditions.

In his first four years on Wall Street, Mack worked for three companies, restlessly searching for a lucrative, rewarding position at a top-tier firm with a strong culture. He had declined an earlier offer from Morgan Stanley, but he soon realized he longed to be in a competitive environment where he could learn from bright, ethical colleagues.

“I realized that investment banking was an intense, cerebral business that required extraordinary attention to detail.”

Mack joined Morgan Stanley in 1972 to sell corporate bonds. He was impressed by the company’s rich traditions. Impeccably dressed traders sat at old-style rolltop desks. Employees ordered free lunches from fancy menus every morning and ate in a formal dining room staffed by white-gloved waiters. When Mack observed Morgan Stanley’s traditions of following such rituals and demonstrating genuine concern for its employees’ well-being, he felt that joining the company would give him the opportunity to be part of something larger than himself and his ambitions.

As Mack built new business at Morgan Stanley, he demonstrated the importance of strong corporate relationships.

Mack joined the newly-created sales and trading group where his job was to bring in new corporate bond clients. He soon was flying to appointments in cities throughout the United States, including Pittsburgh, home to Mellon Bank. Mack had established a fruitful relationship with the investment giant when he first started on Wall Street. Mellon Bank was his most profitable account, so Mack worked with it wherever he went.

“The client relationship is fragile. It has to be constantly watched over and nurtured.”

Mack’s relationship with Mellon led to the biggest deal of his young career. He spent significant time courting Chase Manhattan before the commercial banking powerhouse decided to give Morgan Stanley a sizable chunk of its business. Chase wanted Morgan to generate capital by offering five-year certificates of deposit (CDs). Mack reached out to his Mellon contact, Jerry Elm, and wound up selling $20 million worth of CDs.

Several managing directors, some of whom had previously never visited the trading floor, congratulated Mack on a sale that, in their eyes, showed ambition and held the promise that he would become an important asset for Morgan Stanley.

Mack learned from the managerial mistakes he made while running the sales department.

Mack had all the qualities he needed to excel at sales. Naturally outgoing, he enjoyed talking with prospects and learning about their backgrounds and interests. Cold calling was never a problem for him. Mack built such an impressive reputation in the industry that Salomon Brothers wanted to hire him. But Mack loved Morgan Stanley, and the company promoted him to sales manager after a few years.

Mack ran a tight ship. On his first day in charge of the sales department, he forcefully swept everything – phones, trash, cups, staplers – off the four desks that formed the hub, called “the turret,” where salespeople took incoming calls.” As the employees on the trading floor stared in stunned silence, Mack announced that the turret would be fully manned at all times – no exceptions. One afternoon, Mack found the phones ringing and the turret completely abandoned. He shoveled the contents of the desks onto the floor, crossed his arms and stood there waiting for the shame-faced employees to return. The turret was never deserted again.

“The entire foundation of sales and trading is managing the flow of inquiries and turning them into transactions.”

Mack regarded poor customer service as intolerable – especially since Morgan Stanley prided itself on its top-shelf treatment of clients. However, he faced a steep learning curve as a manager. He was hot-tempered, bull-headed and demanding. He publicly chastised under-performing salespeople. Obsessed with succeeding and rising through the ranks at Morgan Stanley, Mack admits to often disregarding his employees’ feelings.

Embrace feedback and criticism as knowledge you need in order to grow.

At times, Mack missed the excitement of selling and interacting with clients, but he remained determined to build the best sales team on Wall Street. He regularly joined his people on sales calls and provided candid feedback on their efforts. Mack insisted that his salespeople be brutally honest with him in discussing what they thought of his performance, Morgan Stanley and their industry. He sought, above all, candid face-to-face conversations and never feared or retaliated against honest feedback.

“It wasn’t enough to tell others the truth. I wanted to hear the truth from them. Otherwise, I wouldn’t improve as a manager.”

Mack believed that managers generally abhor criticism, so most employees fear the consequences of speaking up. He tried to create an environment in which his people felt comfortable sharing their authentic concerns. Mack figured that if Morgan Stanley spent time and money hiring the smartest people, he would be foolish not to welcome their input. He often told his staff members that he did not want blind obedience. Mack respected his people’s intelligence and wanted to know what they thought.

Morgan Stanley’s contested decision to go public provided an enormous windfall.

In November 1978, Mack’s rapid ascension through the company’s ranks culminated with an invitation to become a Morgan Stanley partner. In his eyes, the promotion marked the greatest achievement in his life up to that point, except for marrying his wife Christy and raising their three children. Mack was promoted to partner around the time that financial institutions began aggressively exploring international partnerships. Improved telephone technology, deregulation and other advancements, such as fax machines, made worldwide commerce a reality.

“Although I didn’t realize it at the time, this was a revolution. Globalization was the future. It would transform the financial services business.”

Several years later, Mack sat on a small committee that decided to take Morgan Stanley public in March 1986, a monumental step because the company had always been privately owned. The committee worried that the influence of outside investors could jeopardize the special essence and culture of Morgan Stanley. The older partners were happy with the status quo, but a handful of the younger ones, such as Mack, saw disaster down the road if the company didn’t embrace necessary changes.

Morgan Stanley made 20% of its stock available at its IPO with an opening price of $56.50 per share, and investors were eager to buy. The stock closed at $71.25; Morgan Stanley sold more than five million shares and raised $300 million.

“Mack the Knife” expected every employee to be a cut above.

When you’re a manager, firing employees comes with the territory. Failing to act perpetuates team dysfunction and demoralization. Mack thought carefully before letting someone go, but he acted swiftly when necessary and stood firmly behind his decisions. One day during the period when he was in charge of the company’s Fixed Income Division, he fired several traders at closing time. Some screamed and cursed at him, but Mack stood his ground without flinching or responding. That’s how he earned the nickname “Mack the Knife.”

“I wanted traders, salespeople, support staff – everybody – to feel accountable for the advancement of Morgan Stanley.”

Mack considered dishonesty a firing offense. Once the accounting department bounced a flagged expense report back to him because one of his team members had tried to file for the cost of personal restaurant dinners as client meals. Mack called the man into his office, held up the report and told him that his behavior was unacceptable. The employee, who knew better than to argue, simply got up and left. Mack told his remaining staff members that anyone who tried to cheat Morgan Stanley was also cheating every one of his or her co-workers.

Mack displayed saving grace in the midst of the 2008 financial meltdown.

The call came at roughly 5 pm on Friday, Sept. 12, 2008. Tim Geithner, president of the New York Federal Reserve, summoned Mack and several of his CEO competitors to a 6 pm emergency meeting. A week after the Treasury Department had taken over Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, the financial giant Lehman Brothers stood on the brink of collapse. Bear Stearns had gone out of business in March, scaring Morgan Stanley enough that it stockpiled a $131 billion strongbox. Geithner insisted that the CEOs devise a plan to save Lehman Brothers and avoid a catastrophic collapse of the financial system.

“Tim had my attention, but the truth is, I thought ultimately the US government would step in.”

Lehman’s Chapter 11 bankruptcy filing the following Monday was the largest in United States history. Morgan Stanley’s stock prices plummeted. The firm needed a cash infusion to stay in business. Mack tried to project confidence and reassure the company’s employees. But the stock dipped to $11.70 on Sept. 18. While frantically trying to secure funding from Mitsubishi, Mack received a conference call from US Treasury Secretary Hank Paulson, Fed chairman Ben Bernanke and Geithner. They offered a plan to save Morgan Stanley: it could file for bankruptcy or agree to be acquired by JPMorgan.

Mack expressed his deep respect for the three men, then hung up. He was unwilling to jeopardize the livelihood of 45,000 employees. He recalls, “I could tell that my pushback bucked up everyone in the room at Morgan Stanley. I could see it in their postures and on their faces.”

Instead of following the path of selling out or going bankrupt, Mack soon finalized a $9 billion deal with Mitsubishi that saved Morgan Stanley.

About the Author

John Mack spent 34 years with Morgan Stanley, including serving as CEO for seven years.

Genres

Biography, Business, Finance, Nonfiction, Leadership, Memoir, Personal Development, Wall Street, Banking, Management

Review

The book is a memoir and a business story of John Mackey, the former CEO of Morgan Stanley, one of the largest and most influential investment banks in the world. Mackey recounts his personal journey from a small town in North Carolina to the top of Wall Street, and shares the life lessons he learned along the way. He reveals how he built a strong and productive team, transformed a competitive culture into a collaborative one, and led the company through the 2008 financial crisis. He also reflects on his successes and failures, his values and principles, and his challenges and opportunities.

The book is a fascinating and inspiring read for anyone interested in the world of finance, leadership, and personal growth. Mackey is a charismatic and candid narrator, who does not shy away from sharing his emotions, opinions, and mistakes. He offers valuable insights into the inner workings of Wall Street, the dynamics of the financial industry, and the strategies and decisions that shaped Morgan Stanley’s history and future. He also demonstrates how he applied his core values of trust, integrity, and teamwork to his business and personal life, and how he balanced his professional and personal responsibilities. The book is full of anecdotes, examples, and advice that illustrate Mackey’s vision, passion, and wisdom.