Masters of the Universe

By Ron Hart

April 17, 2008 12:26 pm

— “A friend, as it were, is a second self”
Cicero

After attending the championship game of the Final Four NCAA Championship and devastated by the result, I hosted some old friends in Florida this week. We planned to watch the Masters, and celebrate the 25th year of our friendship which began in the training program at Goldman Sachs. Friends came from as far away as London to catch up, reminisce and compare life’s lessons but, mostly for the golf and booze.
It took a fluky near death experience by one of the most liked guys in our class to get us all together. In the end, we were all glad we did.
If you have not had that poignant moment when you are sitting at dinner with old friends and you start to share reading glasses, then I hope someday that you will. And I hope you will smile about it the way we did last week.
It is truly amazing the financial success of our 25 young MBA grads of the Goldman class of circa 1983. None of the hires came from money, but set out on a quest to build something for themselves from scratch. Contrary to what you are told by the populist media, Wall Street does not look for rich, preppy and connected kids. They want the hungry, smart and creative ones with the energy and confidence to make things happen. They often employ the athletes or military school grads who know teamwork and how to compete.
And as hard as it is for the PC crowd to accept, historically successful hires are the guy’s guy types. Rarely does someone who starts in corporate America whining about how the company should do more about Global Warming or Tibet ends up being worth much. Correcting perceived societies wrongs and slights is not business’ goal. If you hire someone with a hyponated name you might as well hire an attorney to defend their inevitable law suit. They have a place for these folks, easily identified by emails that end in .org or .edu. Not business, where only the quantifiable tough survive.

We estimated over $4 billion of personal net worth had been earned by this crowd; mostly after leaving the firm in pursuit of entrepreneurial endeavors.
And in a country that boos the winners, most find it more sensible to downplay their success (those that do believe in this are named Trump) for fear of resentment or envy, we found comfort in sharing successes with those that could appreciate it the most. And as John McEnroe said, “Everybody loves success, but they hate successful people.”
Often the hardest thing about success is finding someone who is genuinely happy for you. It was clear that everyone there with us this week were profoundly proud of each other.
The confidence to take such business risks, and the ability to make a vision a reality, can be traced, kin some measure, to our becoming friends at that young age, in that time and place. The guts to become an entrepreneur can be gained from seeing friends do it, and with their encouragement.
Success can be measured many ways. Financial is what most look at, but not all of us. Some are so work involved that they do not have the ultimate benefit of wealth which is control of your time. There is a marginal utility of money. Health is indeed ultimate wealth. And the freedom money can give you and those you love are why we made all those sacrifices early in life.
Most in my crowd of the class of 1983 are now in pursuit of things that cannot be bought. Most have started foundations. Some, although late to their kid’s life, are focusing on them. And in the world that they have created that is different than their childhood, they are facing the challenges of raising appreciative and grounded kids. A few are testing their capacity for the enjoyment of wealth, which, contrary to popular wisdom, is not a given for a driven person.
And if there is one thing that we all agree on after 25 years of marriage and having daughters--- is that we do not understand women. We long since stopped trying to figure out why we men do what we do. At some age you just accept it.
It seems abundantly clear that the ability to nurture and maintain friendships is crucial to a person’s success in life. Any difficulties in business, family, politics, sports and the like can be made bearable with the advice of a like minded old friend.

Ron Hart is a Southern libertarian columnist who writes a weekly column about politics and life. He worked for Goldman Sachs and was appointed to The Tennessee Board of Regents by Lamar Alexander. His E-mail: RevRon10@aol.com