4.0 out of 5 stars Chris Pettit, April 7, 2010
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This review is from: The Devil's Casino: Friendship, Betrayal, and the High Stakes Games Played Inside Lehman Brothers (Hardcover)
I spent 33 years at Lehman. As a VP and only a foot soldier, I witnessed from a distance much of what transpired at Lehman. I saw Dick, Chris, Joe, et al. "grow up" in the business. I saw and heard much of the yelling and screaming and phone tossing and banging on the desks over the years. Until, we became more civilized as we got down to the business of "one firm" and making money. While reading The Devil's Casino I enjoyed being able to match the faces to most if not all of the characters. I am in no position to pass judgment on anyone, nevertheless it does not diminish my disappointment in the actions by many of those I knew so well.I'd like to share two anecdotes about Chris Pettit. In one of his town hall meetings he said to the sales and trading team, and I'm paraphrasing, Come in each day write a few tickets, make some money and if your not being productive at 4:30 pm go home to your family get a good nights rest and come in the next morning ready to do it again. Don't rush out an by the Ferrari and the home in the Hamptons just yet. Another and more personal anecdote occured during the 1987 stock market crash. As horrible as Oct 19, Black Monday, was for me, Tueday Oct 20, 1987 was horrific. I was responsible for funding the Money Market business. We were short prior to the crash in a rising interest environment. Until the Fed came in and provided liquidity forcing interest rates much lower. We had to scramble to cover our shorts and even got long the market. We needed to finance these positions when many repo customers and banks were running for the hills. Nevertheless we got the job done and successfully funded the firm. At 6 pm that evening as the dust was clearing I felt a hand on my shoulder and as I looked up there was Chris Pettit saying to me "good job". Senior management should never have left the trading floors. The ivory tower did not suit them. I'm sure things would have been different. The book was a quick and fun read. Life goes on.
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