Larry and I had occasion recently to dine at the University of San Diego (my MBA Alma Mater) with Frank Partnoy and several others from the Corporate Director’s Forum. Pictured here to Frank’s right is Cindy Richson, an expert in corporate governance and critical member of the organizing committee of the Corporate Governance Conference that Larry chairs each year since its inception five years ago. The group was gathered to discuss next year’s January Corporate Governance Conference. I was there as a spouse, so my view of the event was somewhat different.
My fascination was with Frank Partnoy, law professor at USD. First of all, he’s a very approachable and funny human being. Second, he is the most entrepreneurial lawyer/professor I’ve met in a long time. But third, and most fascinating to me, is the list of books that he has written, all seemingly devoted to uncovering the dirt on Wall Street and the investment world.
These books are entitled, in the order they were written, F.I.A.S.C.O.: The Inside Story of Wall Street Trader, followed by “The Match King,” about Ivan Kreuger, the infamous “Match King.” Kreuger was known as the “Match King” because he held monopolies on the sale of matches in many countries, but his financial empire extended to banking, construction, film, mining, paper, railways, and telephones. He was a statesman as well as a financier, and usurped Jack Morgan as the leading lender to Europe. He rescued France from bankruptcy, and nearly saved Germany. He charmed everyone, from President Hoover to Greta Garbo to the journalists who put his boyish face on the covers of Time and The Saturday Evening Post. Kreuger favored perception over reality. He believed financial statements were an art, not a science. When asked to name his three rules for success in business, Kreuger advised “silence, more silence, and still more silence.” He was found dead with a bullet through his heart. He was labeled by some pretty significant historians, among them John Kenneth Galbraith (a favorite of mine) and Arthur Schlesinger, Jr. as the greatest fraud in history.
Frank’s most recent book is called “Infectious Greed: How Deceit and Risk Corrupted the Financial Markets.” I can honestly say that I have not READ these books, cover to cover, but I have met Frank, and he’s a man with a mission and it’s a mission I heartily endorse.
Here’s what his website (www.frankpartnoy.com) say about Infectious Greed. “Recent corporate scandals have brought our attention to the dangerously complex and unregulated financial practices of some of the world’s most successful companies. Frank Partnoy, author of the riveting business bestseller F.I.A.S.C.O.: The Inside Story of Wall Street Trader, brings his impressive understanding of complex financial transactions and legal expertise to a fascinating tour of the institutions, scandals, and business cultures that brought us to this moment. In tracing the evolution of increasingly complex derivatives’ use over the past fifteen years–and an appetite for risk and return that made it possible–Partnoy demonstrates that despite the media’s narrow focus on Enron, it was only the tip of the iceberg. The culmination of a steady erosion of personal and institutional control, today’s financial landscape is loaded with ticking time bombs with far greater potential for harm and loss than any other period in our history.”
Go Frank, go! I hope this latest book sells as many or more than your previous books, and that the people who should learn their lessons do so. The dinner was delicious, and thank you again for sharing your roasted garlic.
