Up Close and All In: Life Lessons from a Wall Street Warrior

From John Mack, former CEO of Morgan Stanley, an intimate personal memoir and astounding business story about how he helped grow Morgan Stanley from 300 to 50,000 employees over four decades, transformed a notoriously competitive culture into a successful and collaborative one, and guided the company intact through the 2008 financial crisis.

During his thirty-four-year tenure at Morgan Stanley, John Mack's goal was to build the strongest and most productive team on Wall Street. His ability to motivate his employees to do their best work, especially in times of crisis, was fostered by his willingness to slash through bureaucracy and stand up to powerful interests. A forceful personality, one journalist said Mack was "described as 'charismatic' so regularly that it could be part of his name."

In Up Close and All In, Mack traces his personal journey from a one-stoplight North Carolina mill town to a fortieth-floor corner office on Wall Street--and shares the life lessons he learned along the way. He developed a titanium-strength stomach for risk, stress, and competition while fighting to land accounts early in his career as investment banks fought like wolfpacks to take advantage of new deregulation, fielding business raids, booms, and busts. As he rose through the ranks, he learned to listen closely to the people on the front lines. This culture of trust and collaboration helped Morgan Stanley anticipate future trends before other firms, adapt quickly, and achieve record profits.

This riveting memoir includes both humbling lows--like when Mack made the difficult decision to leave Morgan Stanley in 2001--and exhilarating highs--such as when he made an eleventh-hour agreement with the Japanese bank Mitsubishi to save the company during the 2008 financial crisis, having refused to give in when top regulators pressured him to sell the firm for $2 per share.

With humor and honesty, Mack shares advice on both business and life. He explores how to keep group morale high, how to create a culture of team players, how to make difficult decisions when all eyes are on you, and more. From a singular man who's as unafraid to cry publicly as he is to anger some of the most powerful people in the world, this is an indispensable guide to living and leading well. It's a wonderful read written by a man who has a lot to teach us all.