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Ingvar Kamprad
Gary Cohn is the former president of Goldman Sachs. He struggled as a young boy in school because he has dyslexia, which made it difficult for him to learn to read. His academic troubles were often misinterpreted as misbehavior, which is partly why he was expelled from elementary school after trying to defend himself from a nun while she kicked him underneath a desk. Despite this, Cohn managed to graduate high school, at which point he started working as an aluminum siding salesman. While on a business trip on Long Island, Cohn asked for the afternoon off and made his way to Wall Street, where he heard an obviously wealthy man telling someone that he needed to get a cab to the airport. Upon hearing this, Cohn lied and said he was going to the airport, too, suggesting that they share a cab. On the ride, he told the man that he knew all about selling stock options, so the man told him to call him on Monday. They then set up a job interview, which is how Cohn started working at one of Wall Street’s most influential brokerage firms. Cohn excelled in this position and later became the president of Goldman Sachs. Gladwell outlines his story to demonstrate the benefits of having nothing to lose, since Cohn was so accustomed to failure because of his dyslexia that he didn’t hesitate to go out on a limb in a way most people would never consider.
Gary Cohn Quotes in David and Goliath
The David and Goliath quotes below are all either spoken by Gary Cohn or refer to Gary Cohn. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
).
Chapter 4: David Boies
Quotes
More important, most of us wouldn’t have jumped in that cab, because we would have worried about the potential social consequences. The Wall Street guy could have seen right through us—and told everyone else on Wall Street that there’s a kid out there posing as an options trader. Where would we be then? We could get tossed out of the cab. We could go home and realize that options trading is over our heads. We could show up on Monday morning and make fools of ourselves. We could get found out, a week or a month later, and get fired. Jumping in the cab was a disagreeable act, and most of us are inclined to be agreeable. But Cohn? He was selling aluminum siding. His mother thought that he would be lucky to end up a truck driver. He had been kicked out of schools and dismissed as an idiot, and, even as an adult, it took him six hours to read twenty-two pages because he had to work his way word by word to make sure he understood what he was reading. He had nothing to lose.
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Gary Cohn Quotes in David and Goliath
The David and Goliath quotes below are all either spoken by Gary Cohn or refer to Gary Cohn. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
).
Chapter 4: David Boies
Quotes
More important, most of us wouldn’t have jumped in that cab, because we would have worried about the potential social consequences. The Wall Street guy could have seen right through us—and told everyone else on Wall Street that there’s a kid out there posing as an options trader. Where would we be then? We could get tossed out of the cab. We could go home and realize that options trading is over our heads. We could show up on Monday morning and make fools of ourselves. We could get found out, a week or a month later, and get fired. Jumping in the cab was a disagreeable act, and most of us are inclined to be agreeable. But Cohn? He was selling aluminum siding. His mother thought that he would be lucky to end up a truck driver. He had been kicked out of schools and dismissed as an idiot, and, even as an adult, it took him six hours to read twenty-two pages because he had to work his way word by word to make sure he understood what he was reading. He had nothing to lose.
Related Characters:
Related Themes:
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
