Blackstone Group founder: When faced with a difficult choice, always choose long-term interests

[Editor's Note] Peter Peterson, founder of Blackstone, one of the world's largest asset management firms. Born in 1926 to a Greek immigrant family in the United States, Peterson held executive positions at McCann Erickson and Bell & Howell, a movie equipment manufacturer. Besides founding Blackstone, he also served as CEO of Lehman Brothers, Secretary of Commerce under the Nixon administration, and Chairman of the Council on Foreign Relations in New York. In 1962, he was selected by Life magazine as one of the 100 most influential Americans under 40.

His autobiography, "The Blackstone Beginning, My Apex," was praised by Buffett: "Peterson's journey is a remarkable story; his book reveals his honest attitude towards business and life, which is refreshing."

In his autobiography, Peterson summarizes his life experience as: "Looking back, the opportunities I encountered all became binary choices—immediate benefits or long-term benefits, and my choice was always—long-term benefits."

The article shared today is distilled from his autobiography, Peterson's seven most impactful life lessons, hoping it will be helpful to you.

I often encounter many people asking me for advice on their careers and lives, as if my experiences contain some valuable wisdom.

For example, in terms of career, one question many people are interested in is: Why was I able to obtain important positions in seemingly unrelated fields, such as advertising, manufacturing, and finance, at the age of only 30?

For example, how was I able to actively participate in public affairs without affecting my existing career?

Also, everyone seems to have an unspoken question: How did I become a billionaire? And so on.

My first answer is—some of my successes were due to good luck, but the editor felt this answer was perfunctory. He raised another question: Why did I have so many senior positions seeking me out at a young age? How did I respond to and choose among the opportunities that came my way?

To avoid turning the answer into career counseling, I must state: Our interests, hobbies, abilities, resources, advantages, and of course disadvantages, are all different, so there is no uniform standard for "how to plan a career"; moreover, I have never planned any long-term career path for myself; therefore, I cannot plan one for you.

What I can help you with is that when you read these principles and experiences, treat them as a link between various careers, and then ask yourself: Which ones apply to me? Which ones connect with my interests, abilities, advantages, and passions?

I have distilled these into seven life lessons, hoping they will be helpful to you...

Be sure to leverage your strengths, especially your comparative advantages.

The first lesson I learned is: Never be led by a job just because of its high salary, good benefits, good location, or a large office, etc.; you need to focus on: whether you can leverage your strengths, especially your comparative advantages, in your work.

My first job was in retail, using my relative disadvantages, so it ended in failure. After that, I truly learned to refuse job opportunities that weren't suitable for me, no matter how attractive they seemed. In the end, I found that the success or failure of my career did depend on my performance in my job, that is, whether I fully leveraged my advantages.

Students of Adam Smith will remember his timeless truth: leverage your comparative advantage. I find this applies equally to people and work.

Never be intellectually lazy.

After putting my comparative advantage into practice, I learned the second most important lesson in life: Don't be intellectually lazy.

Often think about the actual state of your company, your industry, and the entire economic environment. For example, in the advertising industry, it's not enough to be a so-called "genius of inspiration"; you also need to constantly return to the basics and think about what advertising is, what advertising can be, and what advertising should be.

In the two fields I've worked in, I've found that I'm not only attracted to micro-level problems, the specific tasks everyone has to do every day; but also many macro-level problems, abstract issues that pique my interest.

I like this—small yet grand, specific yet abstract.

The most important thing is commitment and taking action.

I was not satisfied with just knowing what I knew, or what I thought I knew. I wanted to record them, talk about them, and even spread them to others. In the process, the people I met were smarter and more enthusiastic and committed than the last. They not only reshaped my thinking but also expanded it.

So, in the process of writing and drafting speeches, I felt that just thinking and recording good ideas was far from enough, at least for me.

This became the third lesson in my life: For me, the most important thing is commitment and trying to take action; this means trying to improve situations I think are worth working on and trying to change things I think need to be changed.

That's why I've spent so much time working for or establishing various public institutions. These institutions have greatly expanded my social circle and helped me meet many people who share my ideas.

I'm committed to civic rights, fiscal responsibility, intergenerational equity, congressional ethics, charity reform, executive long-term performance bonuses, and so on.

So, at key moments in my life, I found that someone would occasionally prepare a board position for me—whether a for-profit or non-profit organization, or bring new business to my company, because they had fought alongside me in the above fields. And they clearly trusted my observations and judgment.

A typical example is the bipartisan Joint Budget Appeals Committee of the 1980s, where I, along with five secretaries of the Treasury and CEOs of hundreds of companies, called for the implementation of internal fiscal responsibilities within the government.

I never expected that extracurricular activities could become a contributor to my career. A key point of this lesson is: Don't participate in these activities just because they help you; my participation stems from my interest, and once the interest is there, the rest comes naturally.

Follow your interests; choose your next step carefully.

When many opportunities are before me (this happens often, I believe it happens to you too), I have to make difficult choices. Should I take all the opportunities, most of them, or just a few?

When my mind is active and I'm eager to try new things that interest me, I understand that these interests may ultimately lead to being scattered and hasty. Therefore, I will only choose one or two in the end.

My principle is very simple: follow my interests, or as philosopher Joseph Campbell said, "Follow your bliss."

How happy it is to work in a field that interests you! I am often attracted to board positions at well-known institutions to build better networks. But if it's not within my area of interest, I will refuse.

If I am particularly passionate about something in certain areas and willing to spend a lot of time on it, I will not only be happy to spend a lot of time and energy on these institutional matters, but also willing to participate in its management and fundraising activities (this is important).

Once again, I had unexpected gains. Because I was invited to serve as chairman, one of the top priorities of this position was fundraising, which in turn helped me build close relationships with more American political and business leaders.

Be true to your principles, your heart,

your moral standards

Lesson 5 is particularly important to me; it concerns how we should walk our life's path.

From my parents, I learned that I must be true to my principles, my heart, and my moral standards. It is because of their teachings that I dare to say "no" to those who are not worth my effort. Although saying "no" clearly brings some short-term losses, the long-term benefits will eventually appear.

I hope I can always abide by my principles, but there were two times when I didn't, and I paid a heavy price for it.

The first time, I plagiarized Roy Cohen's paper at MIT. My excuse was lame, and I even argued that I didn't really "plagiarize" his paper because I added "a lot" of my own things. I had vowed to be honest not only to others but also to myself. This time I clearly violated this principle, and I paid a heavy long-term price for it.

The second time, at Lehman Brothers, for a long time, I silently tolerated some intolerable behaviors of several partners because I was concerned about "getting along" and maintaining short-term interests.

In both of these incidents, there was a violation of principles or compromise for short-term gain or to avoid short-term pain, but at the cost of important long-term interests.

When it comes to principles, have the courage to say "no".

Conversely, when I kept my vows and adhered to my principles, even if it was unpleasant at the moment, I could achieve long-term benefits. My life experiences have without exception confirmed this.

At a series of important turning points in my life, I was able to say "no" decisively. I felt I had sufficient reason to say no, perhaps driven by moral factors, or perhaps intuition told me that the other party's character was flawed, or the feasibility of the project was questionable.

For example:

When I was at McCann, I met a boss who eroded the company's pension fund, disregarded the overall situation by buying oversized private jets, stole my work results, and incited me, a greenhorn, to seek the position of company chairman. However, at that time, I resolutely resigned, although I had not yet found a way out. This was a very difficult decision at the time, but I have never regretted it.

Another example:

During the Nixon administration, I insisted on maintaining my independent personality and refused to be used mercilessly as a pawn by the president. I may not have experienced some extraordinary events because of this, but I was able to get out before the Watergate scandal broke out. Maintaining an upright image in people's minds allowed me to encounter better job opportunities later.

In other words, the "no"s I said at that time seemed to push me into the abyss; but in fact, this was not the case, I was actually reborn from the ashes.

Finding the best balance between career and personal life

In fact, in this respect, my experience is basically a typical negative textbook that has not found a balance point. I have been through two divorces, and in the past, I didn't care about anything except work.

Sometimes, getting your life back means that your soaring career trajectory must slow down.

Taking my own career as an example, I know that refusing to be the CEO of Blackstone means losing more income. However, it also means that I can spend more time with my wife, children, friends, and various public affairs activities. And that's exactly what I did.

On our life's journey, no matter what adjustments we need to make, a basic principle is that without careful consideration, there will be no self-analysis; without distinguishing between priorities, there will be no choices. For most people, a balanced life is hard-won.

When faced with a choice, always choose long-term interests

Lesson 7 is about career advice.

My personal experience tells me: Don't be tempted by a job opportunity before you understand the situation. You can't just find a job that plays to your relative strengths; you also need to examine the shortcomings of the corporate culture; because these shortcomings will lurk like landmines, potentially destroying your career at any time.

Thorough investigation of future employers in advance can bring huge dividends and avoid many risks. If I had done such an investigation before joining Lehman, I might not have chosen to join it in the first place.

There are several points to note in the comprehensive investigation before considering taking on a senior position. People usually need to consider the following points:

1. What are the goals and values of this company? Is the political atmosphere here strong?

2. In addition to senior management, have you also communicated with your peers about how they view your work? What are their opinions on your joining?

3. Is the CEO turnover rate of this company high or low? If it is high, what is the reason?

4. Is the financial condition of this company healthy and stable? Does the company have any other major unresolved legal disputes?

Looking back, the opportunities I encountered all became a choice between two options—immediate interests or long-term interests; and my choice was always—long-term interests.

Source: Value World (ID: chinavaluenet), Author: Peter Peterson. Please contact us if there is any infringement.