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The AIG Story
Selected as one of Motley Fool's "5 Great Books You Should Read"
In The AIG Story, the company's long-term CEO Hank Greenberg (1967 to 2005) and GW professor and corporate governance expert Lawrence Cunningham chronicle the origins of the company and its relentless pioneering of open markets everywhere in the world. They regale readers with riveting vignettes of how AIG grew from a modest group of insurance enterprises in 1970 to the largest insurance company in world history. They help us understand AIG's distinctive entrepreneurial culture and how its outstanding employees worldwide helped pave the road to globalization.
Corrects numerous common misconceptions about AIG that arose due to its role at the center of the financial crisis of 2008. A unique account of AIG by one of the iconic business leaders of the twentieth century who developed close relationships with many of the most important world leaders of the period and helped to open markets everywhere Offers new critical perspective on battles with N. Y. Attorney General Eliot Spitzer and the 2008 U.S. government seizure of AIG amid the financial crisis Shares considerable information not previously made public The AIG Story captures an impressive saga in business history--one of innovation, vision and leadership at a company that was nearly--destroyed with a few strokes of governmental pens. The AIG Story carries important lessons and implications for the U.S., especially its role in international affairs, its approach to business, its legal system and its handling of financial crises.
In The AIG Story, the company's long-term CEO Hank Greenberg (1967 to 2005) and GW professor and corporate governance expert Lawrence Cunningham chronicle the origins of the company and its relentless pioneering of open markets everywhere in the world. They regale readers with riveting vignettes of how AIG grew from a modest group of insurance enterprises in 1970 to the largest insurance company in world history. They help us understand AIG's distinctive entrepreneurial culture and how its outstanding employees worldwide helped pave the road to globalization.
Corrects numerous common misconceptions about AIG that arose due to its role at the center of the financial crisis of 2008. A unique account of AIG by one of the iconic business leaders of the twentieth century who developed close relationships with many of the most important world leaders of the period and helped to open markets everywhere Offers new critical perspective on battles with N. Y. Attorney General Eliot Spitzer and the 2008 U.S. government seizure of AIG amid the financial crisis Shares considerable information not previously made public The AIG Story captures an impressive saga in business history--one of innovation, vision and leadership at a company that was nearly--destroyed with a few strokes of governmental pens. The AIG Story carries important lessons and implications for the U.S., especially its role in international affairs, its approach to business, its legal system and its handling of financial crises.
352 pages, Kindle Edition
First published January 9, 2013
51 people are currently reading
245 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 17 of 17 reviews
December 5, 2013
I have to admit, I would never have purchased this book, but it was given to me as a gift and I know the kind folks who gave it to me will want to discuss it, so I read it and thought it was okay.
Greenberg comes off as a Randian protagonist, one of her first handers taken down by a loathsome crew of second handers that includes enemy #1 Eliot Spitzer, AIG board member Frank Zarb, Greenberg's replacement CEO Martin Sullivan, law firm Paul Weiss, Arthur Levitt, Timothy Geithner, Hank Paulson, and a whole host of others.
Extreme as the one-sidedness of Greenberg and Cunningham's story is, they support most of their statements very well, and it's easy to believe them. Perhaps Greenberg would even be a sympathetic character in all of this if he wasn't, well, constantly portraying himself throughout the book as some sort of caped capitalist crusader defending truth and justice across the galaxy. Neither Howard Roark nor John Galt would've told their own stories with so many asides about dinners with heads of state, ski trips with other corporate executives, and perilous flights on private jets. But then again, Roark and Galt probably just didn't enjoy themselves quite as much as Greenberg seemed to have done running AIG.
Regarding the US government's big takeover of AIG when it nearly collapsed a few years after Greenberg's ouster as CEO and forced resignation as Chairman, perhaps it wouldn't have all happened had Greenberg still been in charge. We'll never know. It makes a lot of sense to me that to run an insurance and financial products company that large, you need a dynamic leader keeping careful watch over all areas of the business, and that fragmented management falling asleep at the wheel could sink the company pretty quickly.
What bothers me is where, on page 259, Greenberg and Cunningham assert, "The government's approach imposed on AIG the costs of the risky businesses engaged in by Goldman and the [other banks]." Maybe I'm crazy, but when AIG decided to insure the moves being made by Goldman and these other investment banks, wasn't the assumption of the costs of those moves exactly what AIG signed up for?
Geithner and Paulson may not have been fair with AIG in the manner through which they took charge, but if AIG had just been lent some money by the Fed and then been allowed to negotiate with Goldman and those other banks over how many cents on the dollar they were going to repay, how long would the legal battle have lasted between AIG and the clients they insured? What would've happened to the US economy in the meantime?
Sure, AIG's financial products division may not have made the promises they made between 2005 and 2008 had Greenberg been around, but he wasn't, and they made them. I don't have a problem with the fact that AIG was forced to cover their bets when the shit hit the fan, even if Geithner and Paulson didn't play nice.
On a side note, every time the palatial estate of Greenberg's late mentor C.V. Starr, called "Morefar", got a mention, for some reason I thought of Castle Grayskull.
Greenberg comes off as a Randian protagonist, one of her first handers taken down by a loathsome crew of second handers that includes enemy #1 Eliot Spitzer, AIG board member Frank Zarb, Greenberg's replacement CEO Martin Sullivan, law firm Paul Weiss, Arthur Levitt, Timothy Geithner, Hank Paulson, and a whole host of others.
Extreme as the one-sidedness of Greenberg and Cunningham's story is, they support most of their statements very well, and it's easy to believe them. Perhaps Greenberg would even be a sympathetic character in all of this if he wasn't, well, constantly portraying himself throughout the book as some sort of caped capitalist crusader defending truth and justice across the galaxy. Neither Howard Roark nor John Galt would've told their own stories with so many asides about dinners with heads of state, ski trips with other corporate executives, and perilous flights on private jets. But then again, Roark and Galt probably just didn't enjoy themselves quite as much as Greenberg seemed to have done running AIG.
Regarding the US government's big takeover of AIG when it nearly collapsed a few years after Greenberg's ouster as CEO and forced resignation as Chairman, perhaps it wouldn't have all happened had Greenberg still been in charge. We'll never know. It makes a lot of sense to me that to run an insurance and financial products company that large, you need a dynamic leader keeping careful watch over all areas of the business, and that fragmented management falling asleep at the wheel could sink the company pretty quickly.
What bothers me is where, on page 259, Greenberg and Cunningham assert, "The government's approach imposed on AIG the costs of the risky businesses engaged in by Goldman and the [other banks]." Maybe I'm crazy, but when AIG decided to insure the moves being made by Goldman and these other investment banks, wasn't the assumption of the costs of those moves exactly what AIG signed up for?
Geithner and Paulson may not have been fair with AIG in the manner through which they took charge, but if AIG had just been lent some money by the Fed and then been allowed to negotiate with Goldman and those other banks over how many cents on the dollar they were going to repay, how long would the legal battle have lasted between AIG and the clients they insured? What would've happened to the US economy in the meantime?
Sure, AIG's financial products division may not have made the promises they made between 2005 and 2008 had Greenberg been around, but he wasn't, and they made them. I don't have a problem with the fact that AIG was forced to cover their bets when the shit hit the fan, even if Geithner and Paulson didn't play nice.
On a side note, every time the palatial estate of Greenberg's late mentor C.V. Starr, called "Morefar", got a mention, for some reason I thought of Castle Grayskull.
January 19, 2025
My main issue with the book is that it neither commits to being a biography of the legendary insurance CEO Maurice ‘Hank’ Greenberg nor fully explores the story of AIG as a company. Instead, it tries to strike a middle ground by focusing solely on Greenberg and a few key events that contributed to AIG’s growth. Unfortunately, this approach leaves us with an incomplete understanding of both Greenberg as a leader and a behind the scenes understanding of what specifically made AIG the largest insurance company in history.
That said, the book does a much better job detailing AIG’s downfall, particularly through the Spitzer investigations and the financial crisis of 2008. However, it falls short in explaining the factors and strategies that fueled AIG’s remarkable growth in the first place.
That said, the book does a much better job detailing AIG’s downfall, particularly through the Spitzer investigations and the financial crisis of 2008. However, it falls short in explaining the factors and strategies that fueled AIG’s remarkable growth in the first place.
May 3, 2020
I had been on and off with this book for almost two years but I never want to leave any book unfinished, so I powered through it. It is such a poorly written biography. I set out to learn more about the insurance industry and the company, I achieved neither. Instead you get all the propaganda style writing listing out how great Greenberg was in everything. The first part is so dry it’s almost unbearable, the kind of self glorifying biographical writing everyone should avoid.
The second part is marginally better, it does provide an informative narrative of the crusade Spitzer waged against Greenberg in the early 2000s , the wasteful civil war period l ( I hope I will never need to deal with litigious people ) and the government handling of AIG nationalization during the financial crisis. However, I’m surprised by how biased and accusing the author’s tone was to Spitzer, Goldman and the government ( without full evidence he implied Paulson was trying to help his Goldman alum ; PWC was under pressure to remove Greenberg; Spitzer going against AIG was all personal vendetta etc). It wasn’t an objective account at all, so in a way it’s not the best way to learn what actually happened.
Alas, right when I were about to finish this awful book I realized Cunningham is also an author of the book “ Warren Buffett shareholder “ which was another painful reading experience and one of the very few books I gave a one star rating. Fool me once, shame on you; fool me twice, shame on me.
The second part is marginally better, it does provide an informative narrative of the crusade Spitzer waged against Greenberg in the early 2000s , the wasteful civil war period l ( I hope I will never need to deal with litigious people ) and the government handling of AIG nationalization during the financial crisis. However, I’m surprised by how biased and accusing the author’s tone was to Spitzer, Goldman and the government ( without full evidence he implied Paulson was trying to help his Goldman alum ; PWC was under pressure to remove Greenberg; Spitzer going against AIG was all personal vendetta etc). It wasn’t an objective account at all, so in a way it’s not the best way to learn what actually happened.
Alas, right when I were about to finish this awful book I realized Cunningham is also an author of the book “ Warren Buffett shareholder “ which was another painful reading experience and one of the very few books I gave a one star rating. Fool me once, shame on you; fool me twice, shame on me.
August 15, 2020
Worthy of a rare 1 star review from me. I got a third of the way through this, but I'm counting it as read so I can write a review telling people to save their time and money.
Essentially, Greenberg paints himself as a "white knight" who rescues developing countries by explaining how money and insurance work. The audiobook also does impressions for people in other countries, and these impressions are humiliatingly offensive. I guffawed (truly) many times while hearing them.
Greenberg goes around saving the insurance industry like the genius he is, who hates even warranted government oversight and encourages a work culture that completely consumes his employees. If you don't eat, breathe, sleep, and sacrifice your life for AIG, you are not AIG material. Apparently.
This book is more one-sided than anyone's conscience has a right to be. It's pretty much the least objective accounting of anything to happen in the last thousand years. Oh, am I exaggerating? Sorry, I learned that from this book.
If The Day After Tomorrow ever happens in real life, this is the first book that goes in that library fire to keep me alive.
Essentially, Greenberg paints himself as a "white knight" who rescues developing countries by explaining how money and insurance work. The audiobook also does impressions for people in other countries, and these impressions are humiliatingly offensive. I guffawed (truly) many times while hearing them.
Greenberg goes around saving the insurance industry like the genius he is, who hates even warranted government oversight and encourages a work culture that completely consumes his employees. If you don't eat, breathe, sleep, and sacrifice your life for AIG, you are not AIG material. Apparently.
This book is more one-sided than anyone's conscience has a right to be. It's pretty much the least objective accounting of anything to happen in the last thousand years. Oh, am I exaggerating? Sorry, I learned that from this book.
If The Day After Tomorrow ever happens in real life, this is the first book that goes in that library fire to keep me alive.
December 20, 2018
The first half is self-aggrandizing marketing fluff and can be skipped over almost completely.
From the Spitzer investigation through the crisis, the perspective is unique, enlightening, and relevant. Unfortunately, this most important part feels rushed, and is more one-sided than necessary for a serious work of non-fiction.
From the Spitzer investigation through the crisis, the perspective is unique, enlightening, and relevant. Unfortunately, this most important part feels rushed, and is more one-sided than necessary for a serious work of non-fiction.
January 24, 2022
A completely one-sided story about AIG and Maurice Greenberg as told by Greenberg himself. And one can infer from this book that the biggest fan of Greenberg is.... <>..... Greenberg himself.
That apart, it is still a decent read for anyone interested in understanding how global insurance firms operate.
That apart, it is still a decent read for anyone interested in understanding how global insurance firms operate.
October 5, 2018
A good story of how AIG was built, legal battle of Greenberg, how he was removed, and then company started to take more risk and eventually got bailed by the US government. I would love to have the second part in more details though.
June 10, 2017
Full of information about insurance.
February 1, 2018
I admire Greenberg more after reading this, but the book goes a bit heavy on the platitudes. Good read as a history of the insurance industry.
August 27, 2018
جلسه واحدة تكفي لقراء قصة نجاح مدير اكبر شركة تأمين بالعالم، كفاح وافكار ابداعية وتحفيز لابعد حد
January 11, 2019
Interesting and easy to read. Having a background in insurance added to the experience, but was not essential to enjoy
Read
May 3, 2022“blanket” insurance.
March 18, 2014
Very interesting history of the company, and eye-opening review of Spitzer's and later the Feds inappropriate treatment of the company. Is the book biased in favor of Hank Greenberg? Yes, but that doesn't make it untrue. I work in the insurance industry, so was very interested to learn more details of just what happened, as I couldn't have been more shocked when the news of AIG's financial problems became public in 2008. I wished he would have talked about the bid-rigging that some carriers and brokers were found guilty of, but admittedly, that wasn't focused on AIG specifically, as the other issues he did talk about were.
December 6, 2013
AIG is the thousand pound gorilla in insurance. I always wanted to know more about the insurance company. I know that they do a lot more other than insurance, but I don't have a MBA to fully understand all of the terms. It was most interesting to listen to "The AIG Story" from Mr. Greenberg's point of view and how he formed the group and hired his employee with a handshake, and the drama of getting him outcasted in his own firm. I've read my fair amount on finance, but "The AIG Story" is sub par among them all.
May 22, 2013
Mr. Greenberg doth protest too much. If you don't want to get in trouble, don't steal.
September 3, 2013
Best bit: How the business grew
Worst bit: A little self serving. I should've tried an independent author.
Worst bit: A little self serving. I should've tried an independent author.
September 22, 2021
The book tells the AIG stories which were not known to outsiders.
Displaying 1 - 17 of 17 reviews