QOTD: “This is not Silicon Valley, where failure is an option”

“The biggest mistake I’ve seen people make with their careers is, when they’re good, after two or three years — and they happen to be smart — they announce that they’re going out to start their own firm,” he said. “I have begged, literally begged — I’ve had people come over to my house on Saturday — and begged them not to do that, because they’re going to destroy their careers, because they’re not old enough yet, they can’t raise enough money yet, they don’t have enough credibility.

“And they sort of look at me and think I’m trying to discourage them so they’ll stay at Blackstone,” he added. “That’s actually not the case. If somebody really wants to go out on their own, they’re going to go anyhow. But the question is, when is the right moment, when do they have the right skills?”

“Every person who’s made that decision, in my view, has failed,” Mr. Schwarzman said. “Every one of them.”