Mack and Morgan Stanley: The leader makes the difference
In my 24 years of writing for Fortune, I’ve focused on profile-writing, steadfast in my view that people, not systems, determine the fates of companies and economies around the globe. George Bush is proof positive (or negative, as the case may be) that the leader makes the difference. Now, as we watch Morgan Stanley (MS) get a lifeline from Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group (MTU), which is buying a $9 billion stake, and the U.S. Treasury, which helped give the Japanese confidence to make the investment, I’m thinking a lot about the personality of Morgan Stanley’s leader, John Mack.
Bear with me as I tout my own writing: The Fortune profile, “The Trials of John Mack“, that I wrote in 2003 when he was running Credit Suisse Group’s (CS) CSFB, presents as clear a view as any on how this relentless competitor thrives on pressure. I interviewed Treasury Secretary Hank Paulson, who was then competing against Mack as CEO of Goldman Sachs (GS), for that story. “At times when he ought to be down, he looks almost energized,” Paulson said about Mack. One of Mack’s closest pals, fabled Duke basketball coach Mike Krzyzewski, told me that when Mack seems exhausted, he tells his friend: “Are you an idiot? You’re going to kill yourself.” Typically, Mack shoots back: “I can see it getting better. I’m doing fine. How are you doing?”
I’ve kept in touch with Mack and written about him since 2003, through his ouster from CSFB (where he clashed with the board), through his wavering about returning to Morgan Stanley as CEO in 2005 (he’d left the firm in 2001 after 27 years, amidst disagreements with then-CEO Phil Purcell), through Morgan’s recent role in the Fannie Mae (FNM) and Freddie Mac (FRE) bailouts, and lately during the market madness. Mack has proved his mettle. Last week, he promised Morgan Stanley employees that the firm would endure “the rumor-a-minute environment,” as he calls it. With a little help from Paulson, Morgan and Mack are enduring. The stock is up 62%, to $16 a share, in midday trading. And, most critically, Morgan Stanley’s recovery is helping the markets rebound.
All financial stocks have lost about 2/3rd of their value, that is due to the lack of credit, and NOT specific to Mack. He’s a great leader. When things turn around, and they will, MS will come out of this with tremendous opportunities as most competition has been wiped out.
What a discrasefull commentary! How dare you giving praise to the man who is responsible for the destruction of countless lives and hundreds of billions of dollars of shareholders wealth. Shame on you.
Thank you for this. As a Morgan employee, I think most people look at us (our firm) as evil, with everything that has happened in the last two weeks. They don’t see that we’re in the same boat as everybody else… worried about our jobs, our future. John Mack has provided us comfort in knowing that he is trying his best to do what is right for the firm and its employees.
Please don’t forget he is responsible for all the rectless investment decision that drove MS to its knee.
Independent of ambition and competitiveness it also seems that Mack really gives a damn what happens to Morgan Stanley. By contrast, everything I’ve read suggests Dick Fuld was in denial for a long time (a likely indicia of self-absorption) and only looked for help when it was too late. When I worked at Credit Suisse I heard that Mack was a Southern gentleman as well as being quite a decent fellow. If true, he would have felt he was fighting for the MS shareholders and employees as well as himself.
It is up to $16 a share is nothing to brag about. This was a $50-$60 stock before Mack got there!
Esther Wojcicki: The last newspaper generationJournalism teacher and newspaper adviser at Palo Alto High School
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Patricia Sellers has written some of Fortune's most talked-about cover stories, including "Can Meg Whitman Save California?", Melinda Gates ("The $100 Billion Woman"), "MySpace Cowboys," Martha Stewart ("I cannot be destroyed"), Ted Turner ("Gone with the Wind") and Oprah Winfrey ("Oprah Inc."). And she has broken ground with insightful pieces on career management issues such as ego ("Get Over Yourself!"), and "Charisma: Do You Need It? Can You Get It?" Pattie chairs the annual Fortune Most Powerful Women Summit, the preeminent gathering of women leaders in business, philanthropy, government, academia, and the arts. And she has helped oversee Fortune's "Most Powerful Women in Business" cover package since its launch in 1998. She started at Fortune in 1984, covering the big consumer brand companies.
Jessica Shambora started with Fortune as a reporter in June of 2008, following a stint as assistant editor at Travel+Leisure Golf. Shambora has written for Sports Illustrated, SI Latino, Women's Health, and Triathlete. She is a frequent contributor to Postcards. 
it was media like you putting similar comments on Dick when morgage helped Lehman profits soured…MS is a good firm because of its heritage and history with governments/banks around the world including Japan, not because of a single CEO who hasnt done much after his return to MS…