Stephen A. Schwarzman is the CEO and chairman of Blackstone, which he co-founded in 1985 and guided its development to become one of the world’s leading investment firms, with $538 billion in assets under management as of March 31. The firm, currently the largest owner of property in the world, recently launched new businesses dedicated to infrastructure and life sciences investing while also delivering investment management expertise and products to insurance companies.
In his talk as part of the Cobb Leadership Lecture Series at the University of Miami Patti and Allan Herbert Business School, Schwarzman will share some of his “inflection points”—the turning points where his most important life lessons were learned—detailed in his 2019 book, What It Takes: Lessons in the Pursuit of Excellence. Schwarzman credits his success to his ability “to see patterns and develop new solutions and paradigms,” as well as to “absorb information, study experiences, learn from mistakes, and evolve.”
Not only a successful businessman, Schwarzman has an extensive history of generous philanthropy, especially in education, culture, and the arts. In 2020 he signed The Giving Pledge, committing to give the majority of his wealth to philanthropic causes.
In June 2019 he donated more than $190 million to the University of Oxford to help redefine the study of the humanities for the 21st century. In October 2018 he announced a foundational $350 million gift to establish the MIT Schwarzman College of Computing, an interdisciplinary hub that will reorient Massachusetts Institute of Technology to address the opportunities and challenges presented by the rise of artificial intelligence.
Schwarzman serves on numerous international business councils, forums, and boards, and is the chairman emeritus of the Board of Directors of The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts. His long list of recognitions includes topping Forbes Magazine’s 2016 list of “Most Influential People in Finance” and inclusion in the 2018 list of the “World’s Most Powerful People.”
He is also the former chairman of the President’s Strategic and Policy Forum, which was charged with providing direct input to the president of the United States from business leaders through a nonpartisan, non-bureaucratic exchange of ideas.
Schwarzman’s lecture takes place from 5 p.m. to 6 p.m. on Sept. 17. Visit this site to register.
