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Tearing Down the Walls, How Sandy Weill Fought His Way to the Top of the Financial World… and Then Nearly Lost It All (平装)
by Monica Langley
| Category:
Biography, Corporate history, Banking, Business |
| Market price: ¥ 168.00
MSL price:
¥ 148.00
[ Shop incentives ]
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| Stock:
Pre-order item, lead time 3-7 weeks upon payment [ COD term does not apply to pre-order items ] |
MSL rating:
 Good for Gifts |
| MSL Pointer Review:
A most realistic biography of Sandy Weill and the history of City Bank. |
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AllReviews |
1 Total 1 pages 9 items |
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James B. Stewart (author of Den of Thieves) (MSL quote), USA
<2006-12-27 00:00>
At last, the defining business book of the decade is here. Sandy Weill emerges as not just the most compelling character on Wall Street today but a King Lear-like figure of towering ego, voracious appetite, and ruthless ambition that embodies the transformative power of American capitalism. The behind-the-scenes reporting is unparalleled, placing the reader in top-secret board meetings, lunches at the Four Seasons, and on board the corporate jets where real financial power is wielded. As fresh as today's scandal-filled headlines, Tearing Down the Walls is also a meticulously detailed history and a powerful narrative that grips the reader right up to the revelations of its final pages. |
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Ken Auletta (author of Greed and Glory on Wall Street) (MSL quote), USA
<2006-12-27 00:00>
Monica Langley has written what will surely be a contender for the best business book of 2003. Tearing Down the Walls is like a Chinese menu in which the reader is offered everything from Column A and B – a vivid biography of Wall Street titan Sandy Weill, an illuminating history of Wall Street, an inside-the-executive-suite look at how decisions are made, an explanation of why corporate America is sometimes ethically obtuse, a book that is anchored in fact yet reads like a novel. And like a Chinese meal, readers will feel full hours later. |
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Bryan Burrough (coauthor of Barbarians at the Gate) (MSL quote), USA
<2006-12-27 00:00>
No single figure looms larger in Wall Street history over the last 30 years than Sandy Weill, and until now no single book captures the his boundless energy, street-savvy intellect, and towering ambition. More than a riveting narrative of one man's relentless climb to the top of the financial world, Tearing Down the Walls is also a fascinating chronicle of how Wall Street changed in the 90s. Any business person interested in the current world of finance will want to devour the book now, and I suspect it will be mandatory reading on trading floors and in business school for years to come. |
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Chris Kuhns (MSL quote), USA
<2006-12-27 00:00>
This book could be considered a corner stone foundation marker in understanding what makes people relevant, even when they are not.
Sandy Weill shows how consistency and planning directed to delivering real value for others will result in producing positive results. Monica Langley describes well how a strong basis in fundamental value wins over adversity and fills in a vacuum.
The book does a good job in reflecting the transition from family to business and the process of creating an icon that Sandy Weill became with his challenges as a broker, American Express, Travelers and Citibank. As a reader, you can see how these companies needed Sandy's pivotal instincts to solve their problems and evolve. |
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An American reader (MSL quote), USA
<2006-12-27 00:00>
This is an inherently gripping story of Sandy Weill's half-century of ceaseless quest for colossal wealth, respect, and power - via a miraculously perfect record of successive corporate acquisitions that brought him from a humble beginning to the pinnacle of global finance. Thanx to Langley's own amazing feat of getting to interview Weill and seemingly every person that ever spent time working with him, we have a play-by-play account of all the famous corporate deals and dealings with rivals and key assistants. While the hundreds of anecdotes Langley tells mostly help to give a vivid picture of Sandy's operating style and personality, her story suffers from far too many superficial and redundant bits about Sandy's tendencies to sweat, over-eat and -drink, have his hands turn cold, and other melodramatic trivia that cluttered up this otherwise excellent saga of one of the century's most important business figures. |
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Spell (MSL quote), USA
<2006-12-27 00:00>
I like business biographies and specifically those concerning investment banking. Sandy Weill's career is so diverse with so many companies turned around that this book is the best I have read in detailing a man's lifetime case study. For those who may not be familiar with Sandy Weill, he started on Wall Street with a small firm as Wall Street was struggling with sheer back-office paperwork and quickly grew that into a force challenging Merrill Lynch. After a merger with American Express, Weill was eventually forced out. He returned to corporate management buying a Baltimore finance company in trouble, Commercial Credit. After merging with Travelers Insurance, Weill eventually merges with Citicorp creating the largest financial institution in the world.
What makes this book interesting are the character flaws of Sandy Weill. While he has strengths in cost cutting efficiency, he has many management flaws. Temper management, delegation of authority, public speaking are but a few of the flaws detailed in this book. Of particular interest is his relationship with Jamie Dimon, his long-time younger protégé, who is eventually let go and now runs Bank One.
There is one complaint I have with this book. At the takeover of Commercial Credit, there are significant discussions of the changes in management philosophy that are quite interesting. But after significant work and allusion of improvement, no report of financial performance was provided to demonstrate mathematically how positive the improvement was. Obviously, it was significant given the mergers that took place after the turnaround of Commercial Credit.
I must compliment the author on a thorough research job. It was clear from the dialog that this book would have been impossible without interviews with many different people including Sandy Weill. I did not find this book tipped to Weill's favor as a "fluff" piece but rather I thought the author balanced the good with the bad.
In summary, if you like business summaries dealing with finance you will like this book. |
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An American reader (MSL quote), USA
<2006-12-27 00:00>
Having only the most basic knowledge of the financial community, and knowing nothing about Wall Street, Langley's book is an absolute treasure trove of facts, insights and commentary of how Wall Street operated forty years ago to this very day. Her book well written, concise and totally comprehendible regardless of your financial know-how.
Sandy Weill has achieved the most incredible amount throughout his lifetime. No challenge was incomprehensible. From Corned Beef With Lettuce to Citicorp, the book details how the man today who shapes Wall Street overcame every imaginable obstacle.
High Street brands and personalities we are all familiar with come together in this fabulously orchestrated jigsaw which today has come together to form one of the most recognizable consumer financial firms today - Citibank. A tremendous read. |
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Rajesh (MSL quote), USA
<2006-12-27 00:00>
An excellent book - very well written in its explanation of the players and their thoughts and emotions during each phase of Sandy Weill's life. The author has captured the without too much bias either way, Sandy Weill's modus operandi on his way to the top. While the back stabbing and the political ways of corporate America are sometimes nauseating, there is also admiration for the focused manner in which this man has risen to the top and for the author who presented his journey through this book. I would highly recommend this book to anyone who is in the corporate world and especially to people in the financial sector. |
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Andy (MSL quote), USA
<2006-12-27 00:00>
The top business journalists in the world are the ones that research and pen the groundbreaking Page A1 stories in The Wall Street Journal. The Journal breaks these stories over and over again, and other news organizations simply trail in their wake. Monica Langley is one of these trailblazers. In Tearing Down the Walls, she expands upon a lengthy Page A1 profile she had written about Sandy Weill and details his Horatio Alger story.
The title refers to how Weill "had torn down one wall after another - barriers based on religion, class, even the law - to get to where he was." The cover blurbs refer to this book as 'riveting' (Forbes) and 'rollicking' (The Economist). That seems close to impossible for a business book, but 'Walls' is a well-written tale of a larger-than-life character. You'll blast through these 438 pages effortlessly.
It's also worth noting that based on Langley's reporting, Chuck Prince earned his stripes and was duly rewarded in getting tabbed as Weill's successor. And, Bank One (and now Chase) made a great choice in naming Jamie Dimon as its CEO. Dimon leaps off the page as the Crown Prince of Wall Street. Langley is clearly taken with the guy's obvious charisma and skills (Dimon seems to have this effect on everyone throughout the course of the book). |
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1 Total 1 pages 9 items |
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