NEW YORK

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An Interview with Steven Rattner

EDITORS’ NOTE Steven Rattner is It provides another example of companies. The most important thing he did the founder of how a very small group of people, was bring Cornell here to begin an engineering LLC. He is also the former Counselor the famous 1 percent, have done well school that will create a pool of talent that these to the Secretary of the Treasury and over the past fi ve or six years, and the companies can take advantage of. lead auto industry advisor (popu- rest of the country, the other 99 per- Will continue to attract larly known as the “car czar”). cent, has done a lot less well. talent as the cost of living continues to He began his career as a reporter Corporate profi ts have been quite increase? with before be- strong because companies have been New York is expensive but so is San coming an investment banker at very effective at holding down wage Francisco. Historically, businesses have been and Morgan increases, so that leads to stagnant able to locate in and still be Stanley. He joined Frères wages for most Americans and high highly profi table even with the higher costs in as a general partner in 1989 and, corporate profi ts, which translates to New York. The great advantages of talent, in 1997, became Lazard’s Deputy Steve Rattner high stock prices for people who can infrastructure, and transportation are all things Chairman and Deputy CEO. In afford to own stocks. companies need to be successful. 2000, Rattner left the fi rm with three other man- When you juxtapose the stock market with Will it be the public sector or private aging directors to found Quadrangle Group. income data and economic growth data, it gives sector that drives change? While at Quadrangle, Rattner managed the per- a very stark picture of the disparity between the A combination of both, but life gets com- sonal and philanthropic investments of Mayor 1 percent and 99 percent. plicated when one entity is asked to accomplish Michael R. Bloomberg, a role that he again oc- Does employment and unemployment too many things. cupies. He is a graduate of . need to be looked at differently today? In our system, a company’s foremost The job picture is defi nitely changing, partic- responsibility is to run an ethical business Do you project growth for the U.S. econ- ularly in the manufacturing area where it’s harder that produces product people want and cre- omy and how sustainable is it given the for us to compete globally with much higher ates value for shareholders. I don’t think asking number of issues it’s facing from around wage scales than in many other countries, including companies to be responsible for restructur- the world? Mexico, that have increasingly skilled workforces. ing the American economy to deal with to- I don’t see enough economic growth in the What it should be driving us to do is to day’s competitive pressures is their job. They U.S. at the moment. The White House recently focus on creating jobs in other areas where we should keep doing what they’re good at. It’s the revised down its growth estimate for 2015. In gen- are market leaders. These can be very good job of people in public life to use the tools of eral, most forecasters have consistently been too jobs in education, healthcare, IT, and other such government to move the economy in the right optimistic and all of that is very worrisome. Two services. direction. percent growth is not going to provide the kinds People come from all over the world to be Are all of your roles connected? Where of jobs and incomes Americans expect to have. educated in America or to receive healthcare, do you focus your efforts? What needs to change and is the and these are all exports – these not only are What I’m doing is somewhat intercon- proper dialogue to create that change even jobs but they count as exports as well. nected in that I manage a very large pool happening? We shouldn’t look down on those kinds of capital for Mike Bloomberg, which re- Unfortunately, there is no silver bullet or of jobs or sectors – there are some very good quires me to be informed not just about stock single policy change that would reverse the growth opportunities there for the U.S. prices and earnings but about what is going growth picture. Are you surprised by how quickly New on in the world. I read a lot and talk to people What we really need are a whole series York has become a tech center, and what to keep track of what is happening because of steps in Washington to restructure ineffi cient advantages does the city offer in that space? we invest in every kind of industry in every programs, to deregulate, and to institute new It’s quite natural for New York to have region. ideas that would promote growth. While there evolved as a tech hub. Millennials prefer living What satisfi es my desire to be a small voice is some dialogue about it in Washington, it’s all in urban environments and there is no greater in the wilderness on some of these issues is that just talk – there’s nothing in this area that’s actu- urban environment in the world than New York I can take that knowledge and turn it into an ally happening in Washington. City. It’s an attractive place for the young peo- op-ed piece or a appearance. Congress is essentially gridlocked, certainly ple who will create these companies and jobs. Is it diffi cult to remain optimistic today with respect to these kinds of new initiatives, so Also, New York has a huge amount of in- and do you feel the right issues are being it’s very dispiriting to see a situation where we tellectual capital. Not every aspect of the tech- addressed? still face signifi cant challenges and our elected nology revolution involves content and media I’m an optimist at heart. There is no leaders seem to be incapable of working to- but a lot of them do, and New York has an other country in the developed world that I gether to institute some changes. advantage there. would be more optimistic about than the U.S. Does the stock market performance In addition, when Mike Bloomberg was Fundamentally, we are an incredibly hard work- make sense in light of global economic mayor, he made New York City a friendly en- ing, resilient, and diverse country and my every issues? vironment for people to start these kinds of instinct is that somehow we’ll fi gure it out.• 176 LEADERS POSTED WITH PERMISSION. COPYRIGHT © 2015 LEADERS MAGAZINE, INC. VOLUME 38, NUMBER 4