The Accidental Investment Banker: Inside The Decade That Transformed Wall Street

Investment bankers used to be known as respectful of their clients, loyal to their firms, and chary of the financial system that allowed them to prosper. What happened? From his prestigious Wall Street perches at Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley, Jonathan A. Knee witnessed firsthand the lavish deal-making of the freewheeling nineties, when bankers rode the wave of the Internet economy, often by devil-may-care means. By the turn of the twenty-first century, the bubble burst and the industry was in free fall. Told with biting humor and unflinching honesty, populated with power players, back-stabbers, and gazillionaires, The Accidental Investment Banker is Knee’s exhilarating insider’s account of this boom-and-bust anything-goes era, when fortunes were made and reputations were lost.

“A rare, ringside seat inside the madcap and often egomaniacal world of Wall Street’s Masters of the Universe . . . For would-be bankers, the book is an excellent primer on what it’s really like; for current bankers it will be a guilty pleasure.”
–The New York Times

“Finally we have someone willing to lift the curtain. . . . With refreshing candor and engaging prose, [this book] takes us inside the world of investment banking.”
–James B. Stewart, author of Den of Thieves and DisneyWar

“[Knee] captures the glories and agonies of his profession. General readers will marvel.”
–The Wall Street Journal

“Entertainingly indiscreet . . . Knee’s talent for wicked pen portraits is put to good use.”
–Financial Times

“For anyone who remembers the crazy boom times, and the even crazier bust, Jonathan A. Knee’s The Accidental Investment Banker is a must. This tell-all chronicles Knee’s time at Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley, revealing a world that rivals 24 in intrigue and drama.”
–Fortune

Reviews:

The book touches on the politics inside GS and gives you a better idea about how those that leave GS stay in touch. It helped a little with understanding certain people in my firm, and that's why it's somewhat informative about investment banking culture, but you read a couple of these books and realize that they're all the same - especially if you're already working in investments industry. I'd recommend more detailed books about Milken, those had a more lasting impression than this book, i.e. The Predators' Ball: The Inside Story of Drexel Burnham, and Barbarians at the Gate. Those are still very relevant to today's developments.

The author takes up into the life of investment banking, the personalities and the moralities of those in this world. This is very similar to all of the other book of this ilk. Its good meat and potatoes when describing the players and processies of this world.

This book starts off interestingly - giving first hand experiences and insight into the investment banking business. As it continues, however, Knee turns it more into a third person review. By taking away his personal experiences and making it more of "here is what was happening in the industry" I found myself impatient with him. I liked it more when it was hands on - when he goes at an arms length it is less impactful.Read this book if you want to know one person's version of what happened to the investment banking industry of late. Do not read it if you're hoping for a whole book of real stories of one person surviving this industry.

Jonathan Knee has penned an insightful and detailed memoir of his investment banking career at Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley, both leading Wall Street houses. The Accidental Investment Banker is helpful in that Knee has rendered the considerable service of describing what investment bankers actually do on a daily basis. Knee also offers a lucid analysis of the economic forces that transformed an industry that prided itself on its long-term advisory relationships into an industry that frequently competes directly against its clients. The rise of transactional investment banking, and the unhappy outcomes that it is capable of creating, is the central theme of Knee's book. Altogether, Knee's memoir is more thoughtful and detailed than Liar's Poker and similar memoirs.Criticisms: Knee's publisher has left many copy-editing errors in the final manuscript. This volume deserves better. For Knee's part, his narrative tends to extol the virtues of the top MBA institutions and the "white shoe" investment banks, while disparaging MBA education in general and the absurdities and excesses of investment banking in particular. A more generous and accurate view-- and I am surprised that "The Accidental Investment Banker" does not endorse it-- is that talented people and successful businesses are found in many venues, and that pedigree is no guarantee of success.

The cover of this is so misleading that you wonder what the publisher was thinking. This book does not do for IB what Liar's Poker did for fixed income trading (no slobbish bond salesmen throw telephones around here - though on a couple of occasions people make inappropriate comments at parties and iritate clients, and towards the end, during the internet bubble, they decide to dress down on Fridays, then, when the bubble bursts, they stop doing it again). What it delivers is a critical assessment of the state of the IB business, framed in terms of the author's own experience and observations of life at Goldman and Morgan, together with an apologia pro vita sua.Both are pretty good and pretty useful. If you work in any branch of professional services, then there is a lot of interesting stuff here (pitch books are, alas, not unique to IB) and it is also readable. Knee's prose is a bit, um, prosaic, he is not Michael Lewis, but it goes by easily - there is a bit of New-Yorker-itis (people are introduced as 'slim, handsome and elegant', even 'elfin' a couple of times - does no-one read Leonard's rules for writers?), but nothing on the scale of Barbarians at the Gate, which, it if it were not so unreadably, incompetently badly written, would be the Liar's Poker of IB. And there are some definite gems, such as the description of the Goldman IBS team as resembling 'a German olympic swimming team' (which is even better than 'the Chets') which must have made some people wince.In fact there is one possible reference to BatG here, where Knee describes the final negotiations in the sale of West, where he and his team successfully engineered that the 'right' bidder won an open auction, albeit at an extra cost of 50-100m (exhibit A in the 'apolgia'), to be compared and contrasted with the climax of BatG, where Felix Rohatyn efficiently extracted an extra 230 million dollars from KKR. Rohatyn would point out, in his defence, that there were no 'right' bidders for RJR, there were just different packs of predatory carnivores, and RJR was a public company, etc. True, but the parallel is still striking.Neither Goldman nor Morgan come out of the book looking very good, but Goldman definitely comes out far ahead of Morgan.What else? Knee crashed into the middle ranks, and moved up fast, so he does not say a lot about the endless diet of midnight pizza and the regular crashing under your desk in your suit which also go with the job, at least in my - very occasional - experience. There are also some interesting notes about Hank Paulson, which must have been written just before he left GS to be Treasury Secretary - Knee is, shall we say, not so impressed.In conclusion: Definitely worth reading, but not for the jokes, or the madcap anecdotes - there aren't any. Knee comes across convincingly as an honorable, intelligent and likeable man and he delivers a lot of useful information and analysis. Finally, I can also reassure him that his somewhat self-conscious author's pic at the back is enough to guarantee that no-one will ever describe him as 'elfin'.

Though-provoking and pleasurable read that will be greatly appreciated by anyone who has/is working in the realm of high finance or wants to know more about it. A must read for any young, up-and-coming banker. While most i-banking books have their share of good vignettes and war stories, what separates this book apart is the thought-provoking analysis of internal politics with crucial underlying dictums. Positives: -Great description of the how the latest boom-and-bust period and other factors have (negatively) affected i-banking. -Candid opinions and vignettes of people currently or recently active on the Street. -Edifying/applicable i-banking politics analysis. -Laugh-out-loud war stories.Negatives: -Knee's own importance is likely overstated in some parts, but cut him a break, he's an investment banker! -Knee's joy in waxing poetic about the 'old days' of investment banking is undeniably in part a pitch for his newer role at Evercore, but again, you have to cut the author a little slack here. -Some controversial political analyses - I don't have inside information to argue whether Knee's view is the 'true' view or not. At a minimum he is willing to put forth views on matters where, in this day and age, the vast majority of writers are too chicken to attempt. The book ties together (1) Knee's career path, (2) Knee's most entertaining war stories, (3) Analyses of the rise-and-fall of several key figures on the Street and (4) Knee's main story: the changing roll of investment banks and the reasons for this change. While some have argued that certain parts are off topic, I would say that these stories and analyses are crucial to understanding the time and Knee's reasons for taking his particular view of i-banking. Moreover, we are all wiser and further entertained for its inclusion. There's one point on which I take issue with Knee. He asserts that his primary reason for staying in investment banking is to influence decision making at the top ranks of corporations; however, if this is one's primary interest, I believe that this goal is better served by a career in private equity. I think this is a view that Knee, whether or not he agrees with it, should have addressed. That said, my zeal for this point is largely driven by my own career decisions, so I'd probably have a hard time claiming to be entirely without bias myself!

This book is what banking professors want to recommend as Summer Reading for their students. This story educates people about all the processes and industry terms that are only available through experience or from a drab textbook. You will learn about the author's education, how he got into banking, and how he has ended up where he ended up. Along the way, you will probably be startled to learn how much he and other top bankers make in a year. The new industry terms are fairly well defined so that people foreign to the industry are not left baffled.The vocabulary is not too challenging. I would think that this book would be more entertaining than educational for an industry professional.While not a world-mover, this book was terribly interesting and definitely educational. Although, that might just be my opinion.

As far as I'm concerned, Jonathan Knee's book is the best of the "life on Wall St" books out there. It isn't the most shocking (Monkey Business), nor about the biggest deal (Barbarians). But it tells the true story of his climb up the ladder (and the trends shaping the industry) with engaging, self-deprecating humor. I worked at DLJ during the "monkey business" years and never encountered any of the unethical frat boy moments recounted in Troob's book (guess I wasn't invited to the cool parties; ha). The Accidental Investment Banker doesn't dwell on the gutter moments of banking, nor does it glorify the industry. If you're considering a career in banking or just want to understand how the Street works (and laugh along the way), I highly recommend this book. Vince ScafariaCEO, DealMaven Inc.

We ordered this book for all our employees in the office. As an investment banking firm, they loved it.

Being an IB outsider myself but with strong ties to the industry (I make projects for them) I found the candid and diverse anecdotical stories portrayed here very refreshing from what you can usually read in the press or other publications. The high level analysis considering historical facts and the author proviliged access and relationships with modern legends of IB is very well articulated and brilliant.I would reccomend this book to anybody interested in the industry!

This book describes the personal journey the author had gone through during his decade in investment banking. He talks about what's involved in investment banking, office politics, the incentives that drive the hehavior of the bankers, dynamics of the competitive landscape the clients. He also quotes or put in a nontrivial amount of material that he did not experience first hand, in order to provide the background or history of stories or issues he's talking about. The author is quite candid, albeit with a trace of hidden bragging of his smarts and achivements.I have read "Monkey Business", "Liar's Poker" and "Goldman Sachs : The Culture of Success". Each book has its own strength. The strength of this book is description of politics, dynamics of the relationship between investment bankers and their clients.As writing style, this book is easy to follow, a pleasure to read. In a way, it reads like a story, keeps you wanting to find out what happended next. However, it is relative slow to go through this book, as least for me, because the book is actually quite dense.

Reading this book is like reading a primer about investment banking. It's not a bad read though. However, in my humble opinon this book does not match up to Liers Poker or Monkey Business.

I agree with the majority of prior reviews saying this book is on the whole an interesting and informative work. However, as a former i-banker, I find it hugely ironic that an author hailing from an industry that prides itself on attention to detail would publish a book that is littered with a surprising number or typos and grammatical errors. I would definitely recommend it to anyone with an interest in the investment banking universe, but I can't resist chiding the author (and his editors) for these tiny mistakes - especially given the book's modest length.

When I was eight or so, we moved from Houston TX to Greenwich CT. My Dad was a scientist, but many of my classmates had names like Greenhill or Biggs -- apparently they did something odd for living called "Investment Banking". I had never heard of Investment Banking (sounded kind of stodgy and boring) but I remember that nonetheless I came home from school in third grade and announced that I wanted to be an Investment Banker (which sounded pretty cool, although not quite as cool as "Headhunters", which I had learned a little about from Gilligan's Island -- spears, grass skirts, and the like.) At any rate, I had no idea at the time what Investment Bankers actually did, but I assumed I would eventually figure it out. I didn't.Here's what I knew: They worked long hours. They made lots of money. They did M&A and IPO's, and occasionally financed companies. A lot of them hated it. But I had no idea how they actually spent their day -- and I was curious -- was investment banking something that I would have been good at? (If I had majored in Economics instead of English?) The Accidental Investment Banker is a great introduction to the profession -- I didn't realize that i-banking is, at the top, a sales job (not unlike law and consulting). But of course like all of those other jobs, you have to slog some really hard and pointless hours to get there: creating "blue books" for clients. Which sounds to me like writing "decks" for consultants, and "briefs" for lawyers. Lots of work that really has fairly few real ideas, but justifies big price tags, and by all means has to look "professional".I also didn't realize that the bonuses were basically fixed in a range by class. I had always assumed a commission based compensation system.Anyway, Knee's book is terrific, even if you already know what bankers do, because you get an inside look and comparison between Morgan Stanley and Goldman in the 90's. He thinks banking as a profession has gotten too big and has lost its way/values, but its hard to think of any major business/industry that criticism doesn't apply to ("the kids these days"). This is a great place to start if you are interested in the subject; next I will check out some of these other histories that he has cited extensively, namely House of Morgan by Chernow, and Goldman by Lisa Endlich.I would add that it becomes clear that like say Michael Wolff (who wrote Burn Rate and has a similar style) that Mr. Knee is probably somewhat of an unreliable narrator and potentially a polarizing figure in person (you get a strong whiff of this from hints like his unapologetically messy office, or the mere fact he is willing to write a tell-all book)...but like Mr. Wolff he wears that more or less on his sleeve, so I don't have a problem with the fact that the narrative is unreliable. It is more fun to read between the lines.

Author Jonathon Knee's "The Accidental Investment Banker" provides a detailed but easily read account of the investment banking industry's own "bubble" - a period when Investment Banking Institutions were fundamentally transformed by the unprecedented number of deals that the forces they unleashed created. The investment banking boom of the late 1990s brought the ascension of a celebrity culture at banking firms and a fundamental shift in investment banking to a more aggressive, opportunistic, and transactional business model from one rooted in long-term client relationship and deeply held business values. With it, a significant line was crossed when the firms moved from agent to principal. Knee traces the roots of the "bubble" back to the emergence in the 1970s of sales and trading and M&A as profit centers - the seeds that changed the culture and structure of the investment banking industry. The cultural and structural evolution of the industry then converged with the boom calling into question historical values on which Goldman and Morgan where built. It is in this convergence that Knee tells his story gained from being an employee at both Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley. He does not disappoint as he provides an excellent behind the scenes look as the industry moved to a new world order in which individual considerations reigned supreme over institutional ones where the firm and the client reigned supreme. The behind the scenes story includes the battle between Phil Purcell and John Mack for control of Morgan Stanley which could be a book by itself - a detailed account of the Plebeians outwitting the patricians. Knee, a philosophy major, describes himself throughout as one who, unlike most of his peers, became an investment banker by accident rather than by design. He rose within a few years from a modest salary to compensation well into the seven figures. And he rose to the "King of Publishing" in the world of investment banking during the bubble to wind up at the end of his reign as the "King of Shitty Little Companies."Today, "the dirty little secret of investment banking is that these institutions are unsure of what there business model is and what role they really want to play. The emergence of the financial supermarkets has complicated the lives of investment bankers." With the change, a culture has emerged that undermines the integrity of investment banking in a way that will make it difficult if not impossible for these institutions to ever regain the role they once had.

While the title of the book may be a tad cute, this is a terrific book. I enjoyed it tremendously because the author writes clearly and honestly (if not beautifully) about his experiences in working for Goldman Sachs and then Morgan Stanley in the years leading up to, through, and after the boom of the 90s and the crash of the early 2000s. Jonathan Knee does not shy away from naming names and provides detail about how investment banking worked at his level in both firms, some history of investment banking, evaluation of how it has changed over time, what the implications of those changes are, and the cause and effects of the new regulatory regime after the crash and the big corporate corruption scandals.This may seem like a lot to cover in 230 pages, and it is. The book moves along well. It has some very entertaining aspects - especially when he is recounting war stories and we get to meet and learn about the work habits, peculiarities, and the rise and fall of such characters as John Thornton, Joe Perella, Jon Corzine, and Bruce Wasserstein. There are many other less well known names who add to the color of this tale, as well.The title refers to the less than typical way the author became an investment banker. Unlike the driven MBA student who spends every waking hour trying to crash the gates into the big investment banking firms, the author already had a career and was recruited into Goldman Sachs. A very unusual way to enter than firm, as we are told. The title also refers to the way in which he built his own area of publishing M&A. His discussion of why this worked for him is most informative. As is his discussion of why he left Goldman for Morgan Stanley. Since I have not worked in an investment bank, I cannot say for sure that it is exactly right, but it reads right. If you have read Michael Lewis' classic, funny, and beautiful "Liar's Poker", Roger Lowenstein's "When Genius Failed" and "Origins of the Crash", Alex Berenson's "The Number", Dan Reingold's "Confessions of a Wall Street Analyst", Andy Kessler's "Wall Street Meet", or any number of others, this book rings true. For me, it fleshed out a lot about how the Investment Banking trade works because Knee isn't focused only on the top players at each firm. He lets us know how it worked for the actual bankers - not exactly down in the trenches - but those who did the flying all over the world, put together the presentations, and were affected by the decisions and battles that took place above them.There is a chapter basically blasting the way MBAs are educated and while he has a few points, I think he is mistaken in his notion that the degree is less useful because two years only gives the student a cursory introduction to all the fields covered in an MBA. While that is certainly true, it misses the point of what a college education is. It IS an introduction to a field and is supposed to provide you a basis and skill set for continuing your learning on your own and in your profession. It is supposed to give you a broader exposure to business than you would ever get in a single career. Why? Because it will allow you at least communicate with others for whom that topic is their job. And it will help you understand the argot of the various business topics. No, an MBA will not make you an expert in anything, but no college degree short of a Ph.D. or a medical degree does. For most areas of knowledge, becoming an expert is something you accomplish when other people refer to you as one. I don't think most business people need a Ph. D. or to spend six to twelve years in school as medical doctors do. An MBA provides a toolkit and a foundation, not actual expertise. Anyway, this is a very good book. It seems particularly suited for business students interested in investment banking and a general reader who is fascinated by business and particularly in the way those banking houses on Wall Street work. Very much recommended.

Anyone with a mild curiosity about Wall Street and something of a flair for financial exotica will get a kick out of this. Most of the reviews I see are from people who participated in one way or another in the industry, which is not my case. For a general audience, in addition to understanding what these people actually do, there are a few salient points that make this a good read.First, Knee has a great description of why business school is a big waste of time -- I've recommended this book specifically to friends whose parents or relatives are hounding them to get an MBA. Along the same lines, Knee, a self-professed dillettante who did many things besides cut merger deals, reaches the conclusion that 90 percent of the people that go into investment banking never wanted to be bankers in the first place. Having never come close to this business, I can think of quite a few people that would fit into this category. I also liked the description of how the dot-com bubble did huge damage to the banks. A lot of people (like me) frequently assumed the investment bankers, who were the bookies of the fast and furious dot-com era Wall Street transactions, were the only ones who really came out ahead because of the commissions and fees they charged. Knee describes how the internet fury caused Wall Street's biggest banks to lose their best and brightest minds to the aspiring PickleLoaf.com's of the era, leading to a steady deterioration in the quality of bankers. Knee's tone is believable for an outsider, combining a necessary humbleness of describing much of his career as (implied by the title) accidental, but with enough self-confidence not to fall into false deference characteristic of inflated egos. If you're a Wall Street insider it might come across as a little slow.

If you have spent some time on, near or around the securities industry (Wall Street), you'll enjoy this book. It presents a lot of good info and perspectives on the investment banking business as practiced by the biggest such firms. Lots of good vignettes about key people. Very well written and readable. But, unless you have the indicated background or at least a passionate interest in the "Street," you may well find the Knee book too esoteric for you.

For those veterans of Wall Street, many names mentioned here were familiar. The anecdotes were credible if conforming to the expected stereotype. For us the read violated no sensibilities about content or style while reminding all that capitalism promotes occaisional bad behavior. The book was perhaps more interesting because of the familiarity. For non Wall Street participants the stories will reaffirm the myths. Rather than a particularly insightful visit to high finance. the tales were simply a variation of a common theme found everywhere money and power meet.

In the first category and having known most of the characters in this book, it was amusing but made me wonder why I worked in investment banking for so long (Money, just money!!).The aspiring bankers may reconsider their career choice after reading this. Better to go to private equity or the hedge fund industry!For the rest, a review of the incomprehensible, egomaniacal and childish power struggle of overpaid and insecure people working in Wall Street. One of the most interesting chapters deals with the survivors, those bankers who lose hundreds of millions of dollars for their firms but never get fired (Chris Harland, Knee's former boss). Knee's prose is entertaining and he offers a scathing critique of an industry in which he still makes a living.Book needs some editing (e.g., Wolfensohn is spelled as Wolfensen)

If you want to get a peek at the investment banking world, then this book is the one. I found the book to be entertaining and insightful. It is difficult to find detailed, objective accounts of Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley, and Jonathan provides that here. At times the book flips from one topic to another. The author also tends to get a bit too righteous at times. But overall, definitely worthwhile.

As an I-Banker at a regional firm I always enjoy reading books such as this. This is a mixed bag. Knee starts the book discussing his internship in London, what a "rookie" does, what he did well, what he did not do well, and why he didn't want to do this forever. But, after an MBA and a short career with an airline, he's back at it again, and with success. He "accidentally" fell into a role and used his wit to carve out a successful niche. This is where this book is at its best and an excellent, fast read. Unfortunately, it's not quite a full book and Knee feels the need to regurgitate a past history of Goldman Sachs, the excellent firm for which he works. This is where the book slows down and is totally out of character with the title. Given I had just read "Goldman Sachs: Culture of Success" written by Lisa Endlish to whom he refers liberally, this was really of no interest to me.Finally, we're back to his career change to Morgan Stanley in New York and now have a new problem, the total collapse of deals where bankers earn their money. This is quite interesting also. As I-bankers will attest, the business becomes ruthless with inter-fighting as everyone grabs for the few crumbs of income, people must be let go and mansions and egos must be protected.Overall, I love the book and I'd rather he had shortened the book and stayed on subject instead of spending 30% of time on a history lesson before jumping back to his career. So, be forewarned, it's good with a twist.

The Accidental Investment Banker is an excellent and entertaining history of investment banking. Mr. Knee uses his experience and knowledge to accurately describe both the intricacies of the job and the role investment bankers actually play. Most importantly, he provides thoughtful insight on trends in the industry over the past ten years witnessing firsthand the decline of relationship banking and the impact of the internet bubble.It should be required reading for anyone interested in investment banking or business in general.

A wonderful, entertaining and insightful personal account and study of the investment banking industry.

The Accidental Banker is a good book for those who buy every book in the genre; for anyone more discerning than that, it is a 'must leave.'The premise of the book is a personal memoir but the author is apparently too keen to maintain his relationships to engage in any personal stories really. So it turns into a partial memoir, the rest readable from old newspaper articles.He misses talking about the scandals in the closet of Goldman Sachs or Morgan Stanley. He was there when John Thornton ran Europe, and does not comment on the power struggle that caused Jon Corzine to leave, for John Thornton to then leave, for Rob Kaplan to leave, and so on and so forth, and how the investment banking side got eclipsed from the management of Goldman. What about the Morgan Stanley power struggle, about which he could have offered some information.The book itself is dilusional because it begins with the premise that Jonathan Knee, a VP hired at the salary and bonus of $225,000, was knowledgeable of John Thornton's inner circle or capable of knowing about it. In the period discussed, John Thornton had alone taken a baseball bat to the New York office and won, and had it not been the unusual talent of Lloyd Blankfein, and his fixed income commodities crowd, be running Goldman Sachs today. There could have been no confusion that Jonathan Knee was his Chief of Staff in New York, as he appears to think initially. So the disappointment reflected his own overly bloated ego.Thirdly, the book misses out the fact that his group heads, Peter Kiernan and others were replaced by Frank Connor, then still a VP. So if Mr. Knee's boss was a VP in New York, he was unlikely to be the powerplayer he claims to be.Fourthly, he gingerly offers information about David Lawrence, an ex-FBI agent, now an MD, but the scandal surrounding what Mr. Lawrence does is well known, certainly on the street, so the author could have said more without hurting anyone. Fifthly, his tenure at Morgan Stanley appears to have gone badly, because the author seeks to be nice to everyone but attack his employers based on public knowledge.The book thus fails to achieve any goal, it does not offer the truth, it does not offer scandal and it certainly does not analyze the business. It reads like a 150 page resume.