#96 – Stephen Schwarzman: Going Big in Business, Investing, and AI

About this episode

<p>Stephen Schwarzman is the CEO and Co-Founder of Blackstone, one of the world&#8217;s leading investment firms with over 530 billion dollars of assets under management. He is one of the most successful business leaders in history, all from humble beginnings back in Philly. I recommend his recent book called What It Takes that tells stories and lessons from this personal journey.</p> <p>Support this podcast by signing up with these sponsors:<br /> &#8211; ExpressVPN at <a href="https://www.expressvpn.com/lexpod">https://www.expressvpn.com/lexpod</a><br /> &#8211; MasterClass: <a href="https://masterclass.com/lex">https://masterclass.com/lex</a></p> <p>EPISODE LINKS:<br /> What It Takes (book): <a href="https://amzn.to/2WX9cZu">https://amzn.to/2WX9cZu</a></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">This conversation is part of the Artificial Intelligence podcast.</span>&#160;If you would like to get more information about this podcast go to <a href="https://lexfridman.com/ai">https://lexfridman.com/ai</a> or connect with @lexfridman on <a href="https://twitter.com/lexfridman">Twitter</a>, <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/lexfridman/">LinkedIn</a>, <a href="https://www.facebook.com/lexfridman">Facebook</a>, <a href="https://medium.com/@lexfridman">Medium</a>, or <a href="https://www.youtube.com/lexfridman">YouTube</a> where you can watch the video versions of these conversations. If you enjoy the podcast, please rate it 5 stars on <a href="https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/artificial-intelligence/id1434243584">Apple Podcasts</a>, follow on <a href="https://open.spotify.com/show/2MAi0BvDc6GTFvKFPXnkCL">Spotify</a>, or support it on <a href="https://www.patreon.com/lexfridman">Patreon</a>.</p> <p>Here&#8217;s the outline of the episode. On some podcast players you should be able to click the timestamp to jump to that time.</p> <p>OUTLINE:<br /> 00:00 &#8211; Introduction<br /> 04:17 &#8211; Going big in business<br /> 07:34 &#8211; How to recognize an opportunity<br /> 16:00 &#8211; Solving problems that people have<br /> 25:26 &#8211; Philanthropy<br /> 32:51 &#8211; Hope for the new College of Computing at MIT<br /> 37:32 &#8211; Unintended consequences of technological innovation<br /> 42:24 &#8211; Education systems in China and United States<br /> 50:22 &#8211; American AI Initiative<br /> 59:53 &#8211; Starting a business is a rough ride<br /> 1:04:26 &#8211; Love and family</p>