Jenrette: The Contrarian Manager

The Story

During his 40-year career on Wall Street, Dick Jenrette did things 'differently'. He co-founded the upstart firm Donaldson, Lufkin & Jenrette, and guided it into an international investment banking and securities powerhouse. Later, as CEO of Equitable, Jenrette spurned 'business as usual' tactics and transformed the venerable but floundering mutual insurance company into an asset-gathering, asset-management giant. Now Dick Jenrette, famed as the Great Contrarian, offers his candid account of the lessons he learned and the unorthodox approaches he took in becoming a Wall Street legend. He shows how unconventional thinking can help anyone running a department, a division, or a company to achieve success even in troubled economic times - and have fun in the process. Whether recalling the unorthodox steps he took as CEO to pull DLJ through a deep recession, or the strategies he used to rescue Equitable from near collapse, Jenrette emphasizes the hard-rock tenets of his Contrarian Philosophy: Problemscreate opportunities. Turn a crisis to your advantage, and adversity into a learning experience. Hire people who are smarter than you are. They'll make you look good. Scrap traditional corporate structures. Outdated hierarchies can't nurture your creative people. Beware of consultants, committees, and 'core competencies'. Constant reliance on them is a sure sign that your company's adrift. Use bad times to expand. When others run for cover, take decisive action; while others downsize, bring in new talent. 'Tomorrow is another day'. - Scarlett O'Hara was on to something. Every problem can't be solved right away ... and some simply go away. Enjoy the ride. 'To have fun' is DLJ's final corporate objective, the endpoint to any smart management philosophy. Dick Jenrette gives every manager a leg up on the competition with his eye-opening advice on how to: develop a contrarian business strategy ... make deep cost cuts w