I believe in what I call 'the surfer's theory.' You see a really, really big wave. You keep surfing, keep going forward. You just don't look back.
It's the details that make people distinct, that make them individuals.
You have to give people more than one chance. We hire people in job A, and if it doesn't work out, we try them on job B. We'll generally give them three different tries. You have to be more committed to training, but you know they have the right stuff because someone you think highly of has recommended them.
You can't make promises you can't keep.
What people really haven't thought about with real estate is, if you get tax reform, you're going to see real estate now... the velocity of selling and buying real estate will just kick.
Personally, I find it odd that they would name it One World Trade Center. Frankly, I think if they named it any company name, I would think it was - you know, the memorial is beautiful, but I don't know why they don't change the name. That just seems so odd to me.
People don't value strongly enough how much time they spend in the office. Imagine you could work with people you love - wouldn't work be great and staff turnover be lower? And your productivity higher?
For us to be successful, we have to kick our competitors' butt.
Our whole lives, did any of us actually think a quarter of a percent was actually an interest rate?
When you take away all the people whose shoulders a CEO stands on, the CEO is just a person.
I worked during summers on the foreign exchange desk as a dollar/yen broker for Noonan, Astley & Pierce. I used to write the chairman notes about how he could improve his business. And I met Bernie Cantor through this job.
Anything commodity-like will be sold online. The world is going to trade commodities like it trades stocks.
In 1997, clients balked at self-ordering. They thought it was beneath them. But in 1998, a sea change in perception came, thanks to the rise of the Net and online trading. The concept of doing it yourself was not crazy.
In this business, technology is life or death.
Haverford was there for me and taught me what it meant to be a human being.
Without parents, you sort of lose the gravity that keeps your feet on the earth.
With management and employees on the same side of the table, your interests are aligned, and shareholders look at you as one.
Washington is not the engine of the economy.
The people in Washington spend too much time in Washington, so they think Washington-centric thoughts.
New York is a spectacular place, and those who are jealous of the way we live our lives are always going to, you know, to strike out, and, you know, we're always going to be a target, sadly. London is going to be a target. You know, anywhere in the West, you're a target.
