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How Leaders Lead with David Novak

#61: Eric Gleacher, Mergers and Acquisitions Business Pioneer—Take the Right Risks

How Leaders Lead with David Novak

David Novak Leadership

Entrepreneurship, Business, Management

4.8596 Ratings

🗓️ 16 December 2021

⏱️ 43 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

From the United States Marine Corps to Wall Street, Eric Gleacher believes the world belongs to the aggressive. After one round of golf with the right person, the trajectory of his career changed as he pursued his dream of working in finance. After only four years at Lehman Brothers, Eric became a partner and was a large part of establishing the merger and acquisition department. Against the advice of many around him, Gleacher left Lehman Brothers to start his own firm. These risks and experiences have culminated in Gleacher’s book, Risk, Reward, Repeat. Listen as David and Eric discuss the indelible impact of the Marines, working with flawless integrity, and how to take the right risks. in this conversation, you're going to learn: The story behind Eric’s new book, Risk. Reward. Repeat How golf helped Eric get to Wall Street Where mergers and acquisitions all started What the Marines taught Eric about confidence, integrity, and leadership How to take risks in your career How the My Nickel argument can transform your meetings with potential clients Take your learning further. Get proven leadership advice from these (free!) resources: The How Leaders Lead App: A vast library of 90-second leadership lessons to stay sharp on the go  Daily Insight Emails: One small (but powerful!) leadership principle to focus on each day Whichever you choose, you can be sure you’ll get the trusted leadership advice you need to advance your career, develop your team, and grow your business.

Transcript

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0:00.0

Welcome to How Leaders Lead, where every week you get to listen in while I interview some of the very best leaders in the world.

0:10.7

I break down the key learning so that by the end of the episode, you'll have something simple you can apply as you develop into a better leader.

0:18.3

That's what this podcast is all about.

0:22.7

Today's guest is Eric Gleacher,

0:28.6

a former Marine Corps officer and investment banker who, along with a handful of others,

0:34.3

pioneered and developed the mergers and acquisition industry and transformed the face of American business by making big bets and calculated risks.

0:39.1

What you'll hear in this episode is that Eric believes the world belongs to the aggressive.

0:45.5

The way he leads is by taking risk, but we're not talking about delusional optimism here.

0:52.5

Yes, it's the leaders who are willing to take risks that will be

0:55.9

successful, but only if it's done in the right way and at the right time. Now, perhaps you have a

1:02.1

big decision coming up and you're wondering if it's worth the risk. I think you'll get a lot out of

1:07.5

today's episode. Perhaps this will actually be the boost that you need to

1:12.5

charge forward. So here's my conversation with my good friend and soon to be yours, Eric Leach.

1:23.2

You know, Eric, I want to first of all congratulate you on your new book.

1:29.2

What was the thinking behind the title, Risk, Reward, Repeat?

1:33.8

The thinking is that to be successful in this world where so much is going on so fast in so many places that a businessman, regardless of what kind of business he's in,

1:47.5

has got to be comfortable with taking risk. It won't happen unless you take chances,

1:52.1

and obviously all the chances don't necessarily turn out. So that's the risk. If you are successful,

1:59.0

I believe you have to reward those who helped you.

2:02.3

So in my case, the universities that gave me scholarships and afforded me the chance to go and various people.

2:09.1

And then repeat is that you hope you influence people to do some of the things that you've done.

2:15.9

In my case, it was philanthropy.

...

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