Good for the Money
My Fight to Pay Back America
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4.2 • 14 Ratings
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- $11.99
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- $11.99
Publisher Description
Legendary CEO Bob Benmosche's astonishing memoir Good for the Money details how he pulled AIG back from the brink of bankruptcy and engineered one of history's most astonishing corporate turnarounds.
In 2009, at the peak of the financial crisis, AIG - the American insurance behemoth - was sinking fast. It was the peg upon which the nation hung its ire and resentment during the financial crisis: the pinnacle of Wall Street arrogance and greed. When Bob Benmosche climbed aboard as CEO, it was widely assumed that he would go down with his ship. In mere months, he turned things around, pulling AIG from the brink of financial collapse and restoring its profitability. Before three years were up, AIG had fully repaid its staggering debt to the U.S. government - with interest.
Good for the Money is an unyielding leader's memoir of a career spent fixing companies through thoughtful, unconventional strategy. With his brash, no-holds-barred approach to the job, Benmosche restored AIG's employee morale and good name. His is a story of perseverance, told with refreshing irreverence in unpretentious terms.
Called "an American hero" by Andrew Ross Sorkin, author of Too Big to Fail, Benmosche was a self-made man who never forgot what life is like for the nation's 99-percent; again and again, he pushed back against obstinate colleagues to salvage American jobs and industry. Good for the Money affords you a front-row seat for Benmosche's heated battles with major players from Geithner to Obama to Cuomo, and offers incomparable lessons in leadership from the legendary CEO who changed the way Wall Street does business.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
In this no-holds-barred, captivating memoir, legendary CEO Benmosche recounts leading the remarkable turnaround of "too big to fail" insurance giant AIG and shares leadership lessons from a stellar career. As AIG's fifth CEO in four years, Benmosche took on a seemingly impossible task and not only paid off the company's staggering $183 billion debt but also settled the account with a $22.7 billion profit. A self-made man whose father died suddenly when he was a child, Benmosche asserts that the brash, blunt style he developed as a "rambunctious" kid fueled his successes at brokerage firm Paine Webber, as CEO of MetLife, and at AIG. He also credits the early lessons in customer service he received from his mother, who ran a Catskill hotel following his father's death. Though Benmosche's candid accounts of his personal and family life lend the book an intimate and honest feel, his often irreverent look at the AIG turnaround is the most entertaining section, complete with skirmishes with the media, struggles to transform the corporate culture, and pitched battles with government appointees and Congress. This is a definite must-read for anyone who wants to learn about the financial crisis, turnarounds in business, or leadership.
Customer Reviews
Wonderful story about leadership
This is a must read. I worked at AIG during those turbulent times and Benmosche was an incredible leader. Everyone remembers the bailout but so many don't appreciate the impossible turnaround that he accomplished.
Great Motivator
I was affiliated with AIG during this tumultuous time, and I will never forget my interactions with Bob - he was dynamic, generous, and motivating - not to mention, always asking for the sale.
I could not put this book down - the candor and "balls" this man had in following through on objectives he set forth.
A great man, a great leader, truly a legend in the industry.