One may think that the constant vilification and name-calling may not affect Lloyd Blankfein.
But it does.
Nonetheless, Lloyd prefers to cast away the stress by singing along to Lady Gaga, not taking a seat on a therapist's couch.
How we do know? The chief of Goldman Sachs was just profiled by Jessica Pressler of New York Mag, and as is often the case with a feature on Blankfein, we were alerted to some previously unknown, golden nuggets about his life.
1. He would have liked to be a nerd, instead the chubby youngster focused on being "funny and entertaining"
As a kid, "Blankfein was chubby and brainy. " I would have liked to be a nerd,” he says. “I didn’t even make it to that.” Woefully uncoordinated, he decided to focus on being “funny and entertaining” instead and became known around Thomas Jefferson High School for his Borscht Belt–style sense of humor."
Apparently while he was at Harvard, Lloyd "earned a reputation for his ability to memorize television jingles and popular songs."
And according to Presser, that's "a talent he still retains." “I was born this way,” Blankfein sings at the diner. “Born this way …” He recently attended a Lady Gaga concert with his 17-year-old daughter. “I am one with the popular culture,” he says."
Blankfein says he wasn't driven by desire for wealth or status
"[Blankfein] is impatient with the cliché of the striving kid from the projects. “It’s not like I was Jay Gatsby, staring over at East Egg, being like, ‘How do I get to be in that crowd?’ ”
Despite the stress of his job, Blankfein doesn't go to therapy. "I’m too blue-collar for that" he told Pressler.
"But a friend offers a diagnosis. “Lloyd did not covet a public persona,” says his college roommate David Grizzle. “And I think the vilification makes him sad.”
7. His swift rise through Goldman was because he's "human," and most CEOs aren't
The bank's former head of government affairs, thinks Blankfein’s rise through Goldman Sachs was as much to do with his "high EQ" as his "raw brain power."
Pressler writes, "He was interesting, a history buff, and fun to work with, ready with a joke whenever the mood got too tense. He’d stay late for an overseas call, if everyone else was, too. If someone’s father died, he’d understand taking a personal day." The former executive told her: "He’s just really a human."
Blankfein said: "It feels, you know, weird. Very weird. The idea that with all these things that have gone on in the world, and particularly institutions that really put the system at risk, that there would be all this focus on Goldman Sachs and me? That seems so weird."
9. The shouting on the trading floor was never going to be a hindrance to his ability to work
"When he arrived for his first interview at J. Aron & Co., a commodities-trading firm in New York owned by Goldman Sachs, Dennis Suskind, a partner, led him through a roomful of screaming traders to his office.
“Are you sure you can work in that?” Suskind asked, gesturing toward the floor.
Work in it?” Blankfein shot back. “I go home to it every night.”
“Lucas always tells me, ‘Don’t be yourself,’ ” Blankfein said before sitting down at the diner. “I always tell him to be himself,” Van Praag protested, although one suspects he was being economical with the truth."
When Blankfein was working as a lawyer in L.A., he discovered his penchant for gambling in Vegas. He particular, "he developed a fondness for the blackjack tables."
12. What he really, really misses, is a having a clear and quiet head
He told Pressler, "What I’d like to have is a clear head. I haven’t had a clear head in a while, to be honest. You know, I have the background noise of the investigations and the inquiries, or the kind of low roar of the crowd out there, or the press in the background who’s trying to find some gotcha thing they can write about. The thing I miss most is having a quiet head."
