Nothing is impossible! How Sidney Weinberg went from janitor to CEO.

Sidney Weinberg was born into a large Jewish family in 1891, one of 11 children. His father was a struggling liquor wholesaler from Poland. Sidney didn’t even make it to the 10th grade and left school without grades. Her nickname was Kewpie doll due to her small stature. Basically, his background was not that of the traditional Wall Street employee, much less that of the CEO.

At the age of 16 and after days of asking him if any of the Wall Street brokerage firms wanted him, Sidney finally managed to bluff himself into an assistant janitor job by paying $ 3 an hour at a small brokerage firm. That firm was Goldman Sachs.

Your responsibilities? Clean the mud from the partner’s galoshes and the dust from their hats.

However, he would not last long in this position. One of Sidney’s qualities was being very nice. One day they asked him to come to the Sach family home and the founder’s grandson opened the door, both physically and metaphorically; Paul Sachs.

Thus began the rapid rise of Sidney Weinberg.

Sidney was quickly promoted to the mailroom, which was completely rearranged for him. His potential was recognized and Sachs sent him to Browne’s Business College to learn calligraphy.

In 1925, through sheer determination and hard work, Sachs bought him a seat on the New York Stock Exchange, an event like no other.

In 1927 he was appointed partner and in 1930 he was promoted to senior partner.

From that point on Sidney Weinberg was the leader of Goldman Sachs until 1969, guiding it from the point of bankruptcy to the strongest investment bank in the world.

Lessons

Sidney wasn’t a financial wizard, he didn’t even graduate from high school! What chance did he have of becoming CEO of a financial superpower?

But he did.

“Start by doing what is necessary, then do what is possible, and suddenly you are doing the impossible.” Francis of Assisi

It would have been easy for Sidney to accept his fate, the janitor at a brokerage firm was quite respectable for someone of his background. But he was not satisfied. Sidney flatly refused. No apologies.

So how can this apply to your life? What can we learn from Sidney Weinberg?

If he was in the room with you now and you were explaining why you can’t do something or your “reasons” for giving up, what would he say?

Sidney the janitor.

ADHD

Sidney started out as a janitor at Goldman Sachs but rose to the position of CEO. Dude didn’t even pass the 10th grade and left school without grades. Still, he dragged himself through the ranks. Impossible? Probably. But he did.