Bloomberg by Bloomberg, Revised and Updated

by Michael R. Bloomberg

Michael Bloomberg rose from middle-class Medford, Massachusetts to become a pioneer of the computer age, mayor of New York, one of the world's most generous philanthropists, and one of America's most respected—and fearless—voices on gun violence, climate change, public health, and other issues. And it all happened after he got fired at the age of 39.

This is his story, told in his own words and in his own candid style.

After working his way through college and graduating from Harvard Business School, Bloomberg landed on the bottom rung of a Wall Street firm and worked his way up to partner. But in 1981, he was forced out of the firm. With an idea for computerizing financial data, Bloomberg started his own company. And, since personal computers barely existed, he built his own. Specially designed for Wall Street traders and analysts, the Bloomberg Terminal revolutionized the world of finance. Under Bloomberg's leadership, his company grew rapidly, playing David to the Goliaths of finance and media—and making Bloomberg one of the world's wealthiest men.

Bloomberg by Bloomberg offers an intimate look at the creative mind and driven personality behind the Bloomberg brand. He describes in vivid detail his early Wall Street career, both the victories and frustrations, including a personal account of what it was like to be fired and given $10 million on the same day.

He combines personal stories with penetrating insights into business and technology, while also offering lessons from his unique approach to management. There is no one in business or politics quite like him—or who has had more success in both areas.

Genres: Business, Biography, Nonfiction, Finance, Entrepreneurship, Autobiography, Memoir

245 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 1, 1997

About the author

MICHAEL BLOOMBERG is the founder of Bloomberg LP, a Philanthropist, the UN Secretary-General’s Special Envoy for Cities and Climate Change, and three-term mayor of New York City. His charitable foundation, Bloomberg Philanthropies, employs a unique data-driven approach, often focused on cities, to its five main focus areas: public health, education, the environment, the arts, and government innovation. A passionate supporter of action on climate change, Bloomberg is involved in multiple climate efforts, including partnering with the Sierra Club’s Beyond Coal Campaign, which aims to close half of America’s coal-powered energy production, and supporting state efforts to transition to renewable energy sources. He has served as Chair of the Sustainability Accounting Standards Board, the Task Force on Climate-related Financial Disclosures.

Reviews

[Cmartins4 · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book gives you some insight into the life and the career of Mike Bloomberg. The first chapters are definitely the best the rest, about 2/3, is advertisement for the Bloomberg Company and also for Mike Bloomberg the person. (Mike loves himself a bit to much). Still it's an interesting read into the financial world and how somebody is brave and smart enough to start a new company, not really against all odds, but close enough.

[Immigration Art · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read the recently updated version with an older, post-mayoral Bloomberg on the cover. In fact, the book was updated "for the 21st. Century" to include Bloomberg's lessons learned from his public service as the Mayor of New York for 12 years right after 9/11.

I am impressed by Bloomberg's analytical and independent thought. He understands the strengths and weaknesses of Corporate America and he knows the limits of government. He wants political policy decisions made at the level of government closest to the people impacted by the policy. He is neither (from my reading) a "Democrat" nor a "Republican." He is a pragmatist that seeks low cost pragmatic solutions to problems facing the population he serves

He's got my vote for President in 2020.

Read this book if you want to learn of the rags to riches story of a decent guy, with both intelligence and street smarts. He is a shining example of a person who works hard, makes his family proud, is fair-minded, community-oriented, and "gives back" through philanthropic gifting and public service.

Bloomberg is regular guy with integrity. He HAS character and he IS a character. I like him.

[Greg · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is on my desk from 1990s. “No is no answer” is always a helpful reminder, eg to rediscover the right attitude for finding a free ticket to a sold out show at the entrance 5 minutes before they lock the doors at the Royal Albert Hall. coaching of life by someone who lives it. pity, understandable that the more private lessons of faith and family are brief. based on this book only Mike’s grandmother could demand his run for the US President. he will study, measure, count, work and probably not run.

[Ryan Frantz · Rating 2 out of 5]

Standard issue for new hires at Bloomberg, I picked at this book from time to time. The historical parts of the book were interesting but I found a lot of repetition in the book that made it longer than it needed to be.

[Perman Atayev · Rating 5 out of 5]

Really interesting to learn about the history of Bloomberg as a company and Michael Bloomberg's principles on living a good life and succeeding

[Lanre Dahunsi · Rating 5 out of 5]

Evolution

“Look ahead or fall behind. We’re still looking ahead.”

The technology that we pioneered in the early 1980s has long been ancient history. But we never made the error that so many others have: mistaking their product for the device that delivers it. Executives at Eastman Kodak, for instance, thought they were in the camera and film business, instead of the photography business. The digital photography revolution passed them by, and after more than a century as one of the most innovative companies in the world, they filed for bankruptcy in 2012. At Bloomberg, we got out of the business of building physical computers as soon as PCs began taking off. We knew our core product was data and analytics, not hardware.

The Thrill of Getting Fired:

“So there I was, thirty-nine years old and essentially hearing, “Here’s $10 million; you’re history.” One summer morning, John Gutfreund, managing partner of Wall Street’s hottest firm, and Henry Kaufman, then the world’s most influential economist, told me my life at Salomon Brothers was finished.”

“Was I sad on the drive home? You bet. But, as usual, I was much too macho to show it. And I did have $10 million in cash and convertible bonds as compensation for my hurt feelings. If I had to go, this was the time. I was getting my money out of the firm then instead of ten years later. With Phibro paying a merger premium, I was doubling my net worth. Since somebody else had made the decision, I’d even avoided agonizing over whether to stay at Salomon—a timely question, given my then-declining prospects in the company.”

“Afterward, I didn’t sit around wondering what was happening at the old firm. I didn’t go back and visit. I never look over my shoulder. Once finished: Gone. Life continues!”

“I was never embarrassed to say that I’d been fired and was now running a small start-up business. I’m tougher than many others (or, perhaps as a psychological defense mechanism, I convinced myself not to care what others thought). But I was worried that Sue might be ashamed of my new, less visible status and concerned I couldn’t support the family. A sable jacket seemed to say, “No sweat. We can still eat. We’re still player.”

The Joy of Learning

“Discussing the meaning of the story versus memorizing the plot made the difference—fascinating versus boring. Both classes broadened my perspective: The exposure to history and culture opened my eyes to a whole new world. What a shame all the preceding time was partially wasted. It was an early lesson for me in how we, as a society, must find a way to better engage our children in the joys of learning.”

Lessons of History

“ I developed a sense of history and its legacy, and remain amazed at how little people seem to learn from the past; how we fight the same battles over and over; how we can’t remember what misguided, shortsighted policies led to depression, war, oppression, and division. As citizens, we continually let elected officials pander for votes with old, easy, flawed solutions to complex problems. As voters, we repeatedly forget the lessons of others who didn’t hold their chosen officials accountable. God help us if George Santayana was right and we’re doomed to repeat it all again.”

SHOWING UP

I’ve never understood why everybody else doesn’t do the same thing—make himself indispensable on the job. That was exactly what I did during the summer between my first and second years in graduate school, when I worked for a small Harvard Square real estate company in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Students would come to town just to find an apartment they could move into in September; they were always in a rush, eager to get back to their vacations as soon as possible. We ran generic advertisements in the newspapers for three or four different sizes of rentals; each ad would fit twenty of our apartment listings. Every day, the newly arrived would-be renters got up early, grabbed the newspaper at their hotels, looked at the real estate section, made a phone call, scheduled an appointment with “the next available agent” to see housing that sounded appropriate, and went back to bed. Later in the day, they’d go out and actually look.

I went to work at six-thirty in the morning. By seven-thirty or eight o’clock, all potential renters visiting Cambridge had called our company and booked their apartment-viewing visits with whoever was there. I, of course, was the only one who bothered to come in early to answer the phone: The Adult “professionals” who worked for this company (I was “the summer kid”) started work at nine-thirty. Then, all day long, they sat in wonderment as person after person walked into the office asking for Mr. Bloomberg.

It’s said that 80 percent of life is just showing up. I believe that. You can never have complete mastery over your existence. You can’t choose the advantages you start out with, and you certainly can’t pick your genetic intelligence level. But you can control how hard you work.

It’s said that 80 percent of life is just showing up. I believe that. You can never have complete mastery over your existence. You can’t choose the advantages you start out with, and you certainly can’t pick your genetic intelligence level. But you can control how hard you work. I’m sure someone, someplace, is smart enough to succeed while “keeping it in perspective” and not working too hard, but I’ve never met him or her. The more you work, the better you do. It’s that simple. I always outworked the other person (and if I hadn’t, he or she would be writing this book).

DOING – INCREMENTAL PROGRESS

Life, I’ve found, works the following way: Daily, you’re presented with many small and surprising opportunities. Sometimes you seize one that takes you to the top. Most, though, if valuable at all, take you only a little way. To succeed, you must string together many small incremental advances—rather than count on hitting the lottery jackpot once. Trusting to great luck is a strategy not likely to work for most people. As a practical matter, constantly enhance your skills, put in as many hours as possible, and make tactical plans for the next few steps. Then, based on what actually occurs, look one more move ahead and adjust the plan. Take lots of chances, and make lots of individual, spur-of-the-moment decisions.

THERE ARE NO GUARANTEES

Don’t devise a Five-Year Plan or a Great Leap Forward. Central planning didn’t work for Stalin or Mao, and it won’t work for an entrepreneur either. Slavishly follow a specific step-by-step strategy, the process gurus tell you. It’ll always work, they say. Not in my world. Predicting the future’s impossible. You work hard because it increases the odds. But there’s no guarantee; much is dependent on what cards happen to get dealt. I have always believed in playing as many hands as possible, as intelligently as I can, and taking the best of what comes my way. Every significant advance I or my company has ever made has been evolutionary rather than revolutionary: small earned steps—not big lucky hits.

Planning has its place; the actual thought process sometimes leads to great new ideas. But you can only accomplish what’s possible when you get there.

LOVE WHAT YOU DO

Then, whatever your idea is, you’ve got to do more of it than anyone else—a task that’s easier if you structure things so that you like doing them. Since doing more almost always leads to greater accomplishments, in turn you’ll have more fun. And then you’ll want to do even more because of the rewards. And so on. I’ve always loved my work and put in a lot of time, which has helped make me successful.

I truly pity people who don’t like their jobs. They struggle at work, so unhappily, for ultimately so much less success, and thus develop even more reason to hate their occupations. There’s too much delightful stuff to do in this short lifetime not to love getting up on a weekday morning.

Happinness

Think about the percentage of your life spent working and commuting. If you’re not content doing it, you’re probably pretty miserable with the situation. Change it! Work it out with those next to you on the production line. Talk to your boss. Sit down with those you supervise. Alter what’s in your own head.

Do something to make it fun, interesting, challenging, exciting. You’ve got to be happy at your job. Sure, being able to feed the kids is the first focus. But when layoffs and promotions are announced, those with surly looks on their faces, those who always try to do less, those who never cooperate with others get included in the layoffs and miss the promotions. This big part of your life affects you, your family, society, and everything else you touch.

Long Term Thinking

Some young people starting their careers today are too impatient for current compensation, at the expense of continuing their education and giving their jobs a chance. Get back to work. Forget the money today. There’s plenty of time for that later. Novices should go to the best firm they can get into—and then listen and learn.

Frugality

Money wasn’t the issue. I’d long since paid off my loans and was living a respectable if not extravagant life. I took the subway to work, I went to free concerts in Central Park, and my most romantic dates were beer and pizza with a girlfriend late at night on the Staten Island Ferry (five cents round-trip, food and drink extra). I lived in the same one-room studio for ten years and didn’t bother to own a car. I never spent a lot, but I also don’t remember wanting anything I didn’t just go out and buy. Good times, great friends, fantastic job, lots of cash: I had it all.

Be Kind

Someone once said, “Be nice to people on the way up; you’ll pass the same ones on the way down.” I believe in treating associates well, but not for that cynical reason: Having been both up and down repeatedly, my experience says you pass different people as you go through the inevitable cycle.

Starting over at 39

I had spent my first twenty-four years getting ready for Wall Street. I had survived fifteen more years before Salomon Brothers threw me out. At age thirty-nine, the third phase of my life was about to start. With whatever values my parents had taught me, $10 million in my pocket, and confidence based on little more than bruised ego, I started over.

Just Do It

If you’re going to succeed, you need a vision, one that’s affordable, practical, and fills a customer need. Then, go for it. Don’t worry too much about the details. Don’t second-guess your creativity. Avoid overanalyzing the new project’s potential. Most importantly, don’t strategize about the long term too much.

The difference between stubbornness and having the courage of conviction sometimes is only in the results.

Minimum Viable Product (MVP)

“My rule is: See it work exactly the way you’ll use it (same volume, environment, time of day, and so on) or don’t buy it! Demand goods, not promises. And that’s exactly what we offer our customers. When we develop new products, we build and deliver a practical working model of what the client can actually use, and then through an iterative development process, we add features and functions that make the product outstanding. In management-speak, this is called MVP: minimal viable product. But for customers, it just means: “Buy what’s deliverable, not what could be.”

No Class Distinction
“We have no reserved parking spaces for senior executives. If you want to leave your car right by the door, just come in earlier. Creating class distinctions isn’t constructive. That’s why I don’t believe in executive dining rooms either. The issue isn’t fairness. If we constantly remind those people at the bottom that they are not at the top, do you really expect them to be “gung ho” about the company? Remember, remove the bottom 50 percent and half of everyone remaining joins that lower group instantly.”

“Without knocking the value of the accounting profession, it is true that “numbers lie—and liars use numbers.”

“numbers lie—and liars use numbers.”

“Without knocking the value of the accounting profession, it is true that “numbers lie—and liars use numbers.” Only with superhuman effort can a company keep accounting from being misused as it gets bigger. I can’t count the number of times I’ve watched people incorrectly make decisions that confuse incremental costs with fully allocated ones, or misuse present value calculations. These concepts can be useful tools, but slavish adherence to them can produce cockeyed results. Had the person who invented the wheel used “net present value,” we would still be walking!”

Philanthropy – noncommunicable diseases

The great tragedy is that the political will has not kept pace with scientific and technological advances. So much could be done if we cared just a touch more.

“In low- and middle-income countries, noncommunicable diseases kill two of every three people, but only 1 percent of global health funding is aimed at stopping them”

That’s why I’ve made public health a major focus of my philanthropy, and specifically, the kinds of noncommunicable diseases—like diabetes and heart disease—that don’t get a lot of attention but kill 40 million people every year. In fact, for the first time in human history, more people around the world are dying from non-communicable diseases than from “communicable ones, like malaria and polio. The way we think about mortality, however, has not kept pace. We tend to accept these deaths as unavoidable, but they’re not.

[Adam Znasik · Rating 3 out of 5]

Bloombergova story je jedna za najinšpiratívnejších vôbec a navyše moja obľúbená. Problém knihy je, že na to, aby to boli dobré memoáre, memoárov tam je strašne málo. Na to, aby to bola rukoväť mladého ambiciózneho manažýra, je to extrémne povrchné. A na to, aby to bola kvalitná motivačná literatúra, je väčšina čitateľov nekvalifikovaná, lebo pohľad multimiliardára na to, ako robiť startup, keď začínate s ekivivalentom 50 mil dolárov, prípadne ako byť dobrý filantrop, keď ročne zarobíte pol miliardy, je síce zaujímavý, lež prakticky nevyužiteľný.

[Lily Kaye · Rating 2 out of 5]

Gotta do your hw 💅

[Barack Liu · Rating 5 out of 5]

537-Bloomberg by Bloomberg-Michael Bloomberg-Autobiography-1997

Barack
2024/09/22

Bloomberg by Bloomberg, first published in 1997, tells the extraordinary story of Michael Bloomberg's creation of a media empire.

Michael Bloomberg was born in 1942 in Boston, Massachusetts, US. He studied at Johns Hopkins University (BS) and Harvard University (MBA). He is an American businessman and politician. He is the majority shareholder and co-founder of Bloomberg LP and served as the company's CEO from 1981 to 2001 and again from 2014 to 2023. He was re-elected as mayor of New York City for three terms from 2002 to 2013 and became a candidate for the Democratic nomination for the US presidency in 2020. In 2024, Bloomberg received the Presidential Medal of Freedom from President Joe Biden. Since June 2022, he has served as chairman of the Defense Innovation Board, an independent advisory committee that advises the US Department of Defense on artificial intelligence, software, data, and digital modernization. As of April 2024, Forbes ranked him as the 13th richest person in the world, with an estimated net worth of $106.2 billion.

Table of Contents
Chapter 1 The Last Supper: The Thrill of Getting Fired: Tarrytown 1981
Chapter 2 Capitalism, Here I Come: School, Work, and Hard Knocks
Chapter 3 I Love Mondays: Entrepreneurship: Vocation and Avocation
Chapter 4 We Can Do That: Elementary Journalism, Not Rocket Science
Chapter 5 “No” Is No Answer: Establishment Ignorance and Arrogance
Chapter 6 Money Talks: Textbook Multimedia
Chapter 7 Man vs. Machine: Technology: Politics and Promises
Chapter 8 Management 101: The Bloomberg Way
Chapter 9 Coming Up Next: America's a Wonderful Country

When Michael Bloomberg was fired at the age of 39, no matter how much compensation he received, the negative emotions brought by losing the job he had worked for 15 years must have far outweighed everything. Of course, we may say from the perspective of hindsight that it was because he was fired that he had the opportunity to create one of the most successful financial media companies. But even so, the fact that he was able to receive a compensation of $10 million at the time was enough to prove his strong ability and value. How many people today can get such high compensation when they are laid off? There is a saying in China that "blessings are accompanied by misfortunes, and misfortunes are accompanied by blessings." This saying itself is difficult to verify and evaluate using scientific methods because it cannot be falsified. The premise of scientific analysis of an assertion is that it can be falsified. If it cannot be falsified, we cannot conduct scientific analysis. Similar to the question of "whether God exists or not", at least in terms of the current level of human cognition and technology, this cannot be falsified. Recently, I began to pay attention to the autobiographies of these rich people on the Forbes list, or biographies written by others about them. The main motivation is to understand how they deal with various problems. Of course, I know very well that the environment they face is completely different from mine, and the cards they have in their hands are different from the cards I can play. Therefore, it is not necessarily important what they do specifically. What is important is how they think and what process they use to guide themselves to make the final decision. It is like writing a novel. My story is always different from other authors' stories. Even if there are similarities in the plot, every sentence, every paragraph, every chapter, and even every volume is unique. However, we still need to read other authors' works to learn their writing ideas and methods. If we only see the surface of things and cannot summarize the general guiding ideas from the phenomenon, we will always be blinded by appearances, and we will only solve a problem when we encounter it. In the end, we will only be exhausted and difficult to get real relief.

How many times in a person's life can he or she encounter the opportunity to become rich overnight? How many people have the opportunity to attend a meeting and suddenly turn paper funds into real cash? How many people can really enjoy this extreme luck? From another perspective, even if the opportunity comes, not every employee in Salomon Brothers can enjoy the same bonus, or in other words, can enjoy the same degree of bonus. The author has the opportunity to enjoy such an opportunity because of his or her high position. Just like when we are looking for a job, we have different choices. Before we choose a company, we often hesitate between choosing A or B. However, after a few years, we may see that a company has become famous because of a successful game, bringing huge benefits and returns to employees. We often regret missing similar opportunities. However, this situation will occur more or less in everyone's life. For a certain choice at the moment, we may give up another possibility, and many years later, this abandoned choice proves to be a huge opportunity. When we make decisions at the moment, we always feel that choosing A will bring more benefits than choosing B, but from the perspective of the whole life, things may not be so. So, how can we make decisions so that we won’t regret it? Or, how can we make choices that are optimal? If we can try repeatedly, we may find the best solution, but life is not like a program, and we can’t make choices over and over again. Perhaps, we can only go back to the starting point and pursue inner peace - make the choice we really want to make, so that we can face everything calmly.

When I read biographies of Michael Bloomberg and others, I found that they always provide rich details when recalling memories from their early years, especially in their teenage years. This makes me think that human memory is very interesting - we can often remember something that happened ten years ago, and these memories are often accompanied by strong emotions, but we may not remember what we did last week. This makes me think that the more important things in life are, the sooner we should do them. We need certain events as "memory points". This also makes me begin to doubt the saying "delayed gratification". We always say that we will do something later, but when we really get to "later", we may not be able to realize our original wishes psychologically and physically. If life is just a journey of constantly checking off the to-do list, then what is the meaning of life? Is it just to check off all the items? Of course, sometimes people use real-life problems to remind or warn themselves, such as: if you don't work hard, you can't get into a good university; without a degree from a good university, it's hard to find a good job; without a good job, you can't get enough money to support a decent life. These principles are not wrong. However, even if we eventually get a good university, a good job, a decent income, and a working environment, will we still return to the original starting point to question the true meaning of life?

Recently, I found in my reading that the author recalled an experience in his high school in the book, which had a very positive impact on him and even shaped his deep understanding of the learning process. The teacher in that school took a unique way of teaching knowledge, which made him and his classmates very interested in the content of the class, and everyone's performance became more active. He summed up an important learning process from his high school experience: Listen, Question, Test, Think. The first is Listen. In fact, not only children but also adults need to be interested in something when learning. Generally speaking, to be interested in a topic, you must first be interested in the person who explains the topic. When we are interested in someone, we will be willing to listen to what he says. This should be an experience that many people have had in life. For example, in school, the teacher we like often gets better grades in his class. When you change to a teacher you don’t like or are not interested in, your grades will often drop. Next is the Question. We often use some examples to illustrate the differences between undergraduates, masters, and doctoral students. For example, undergraduates learn to pick up "dead" rabbits; master's students learn to shoot a live rabbit running in the field of vision; doctoral students learn to shoot a live rabbit that cannot be seen. This is the importance of the ability to ask questions, especially asking good questions. It is difficult for us to ask high-quality questions at the beginning. Usually, we need to go through a process of increasing the number of questions and then improving the quality of questions. The third step is Test, that is, testing. For example, in the study of computer science, you often hear a sentence: "Talk is cheap, show me the code." This means that ideas are not important, what is important is how to put ideas into practice, even if it is to make a small prototype Demo. Finally, Think. In the process of research, we will experience many trials and errors. In this process, thinking is very critical. I still remember that the teacher once asked a question that triggered me to rethink the entire research design.

When Bloomberg was fired at the age of 39, he faced several choices: he could continue to look for a job, retire, or start his own business. As someone who had worked for others for many years, he decided to try to work for himself. Although he received a compensation of $10 million, which was enough for him to live a comfortable life, he was not satisfied with it, so he chose to start a business. He mentioned that the most exciting moment for him was Sunday night because he knew that after waking up, he had another five full days to do something he was interested in. This reminded me of my mentor. When he guided me in research, he clearly told me that he knew very well what he wanted, which was to constantly explore new knowledge that interested him. He emphasized that my research must be of my own interest, that is, when I wake up every morning, I should be excited about what I am about to do, rather than completing the task mechanically. It is not because I have to submit a report or hand it in the next day that I rush to spend two or three hours to complete a problem. Bloomberg's views are very consistent with my mentor's ideas on this point. Of course, my mentor cannot be compared with Bloomberg in terms of wealth or social status, but the joy they get from their work may be similar. I often feel that as we grow older, we become less and less aware of what we really want. When we were young, we knew clearly what we liked, but when we grew up, we often did "what we should do" out of rational considerations. Now, my outlook on life has changed. I think the most important things in life are nothing more than three things: first, to maintain physical and mental health; second, to find a career that you like and like yourself; and finally, to find someone you like and who likes you.

Bloomberg mentioned that investors can sometimes be the biggest enemy of entrepreneurs, which reminds me of an experience I had when I was a sophomore. At that time, due to the general environment, my entrepreneurial partner and I were lucky enough to get 1 million in venture capital. But looking back, although this money sounds like a good start, the investors greatly influenced the decisions that my entrepreneurial partner and I originally wanted to make. It turned out that the investors' advice was not suitable for us. It was not because they were unprofessional or that they were not more visionary than the two of us sophomores, but because they invested far less time and energy in this project than the two of us. In the end, we are the ones who know best what we want to do, rather than investors telling us what we should do. Bloomberg also mentioned a point that coincides with the "lean startup" concept advocated by current startups, that is, "do it first and then talk about it." The student team I participated in during my undergraduate studies also held a similar belief, that is, "learn by doing." We first try to do what we want to do and then continue to learn in practice, rather than trying to make a detailed plan at the beginning. Planning is important, but the author does not mean to deny the plan, but to emphasize the need for flexible adjustment according to actual conditions. One point mentioned by the author resonates with me deeply, that is, write down the plan. Everyone has a lot of ideas in their mind, but if these ideas only stay in their minds, they are often chaotic and disordered. Only when we write them down and present them in written form will they be clearer and more specific. Moreover, we need to share these ideas with others to see if they resonate with them. Only when others can understand and agree with our ideas can the plan be successful. Written plans often involve time, place, and the products and services we intend to provide, and whether these details are really willing to be used or even paid for by others is the key we need to verify. Bloomberg is more concerned about getting feedback from others to see if the products or services we provide meet their needs, rather than struggling with how to achieve it from the beginning. Just like writing a novel, as an author, I hope that my words can present a vivid picture in the reader's mind, and I can get feedback from readers on whether they like this picture. However, readers will not teach us how to use words and sentences. They only care about whether our content is worth their time to read and are even willing to pay for it. Therefore, instead of getting hung up on the details, it is better to take action first and then continuously adjust and improve based on the feedback.

[Henrik Haapala · Rating 5 out of 5]

Who is the author?

Michael R. Bloomberg is an American businessman, politician, philanthropist, and author. He is the majority owner and co-founder of Bloomberg L.P.. He was the mayor of New York City from 2002 to 2013, and was a candidate in the 2020 Democratic presidential primaries.

Why did I select this book?
I found it was recommended read by the author of “breaking out of homeostasis”.

“To succeed, you must string together many small incremental advances - rather than count on hitting the lottery jackpot once. Trusting to great luck is a strategy not likely to work for most people. As a practical matter, constantly enhance your skills, put in as many hours as possible, and make tactical plans for the next few steps. Then based on what actually occurs, look one more move ahead and adjust the plan. Take lots of chances, and make lots of individual, spur-of-the-moment decisions.”

“Street smarts and common sense, it turned out, were better predictors of career achievements after graduation than academic success. Given that I received average grades at the “The B School”, I don’t exactly mind.”

“Home, school, Boy Scouts, sports, politics, newspapers- everything in life taught us duty, loyalty, responsibility, sacrifice, patriotism. A handful marched , got riled up, and wrote about civil disobedience. But generally, Uncle Sam called, and we went.”

“Every significant advance I or my company has ever made has been evolutionary rather than revolutionary: small earned steps - not big lucky hits.”

[Bruce Crown · Rating 1 out of 5]

Dear god. I wish I could get the time it took me to read this book — a few hours — back.

0 stars. A self-congratulatory propaganda piece on how to rob from the poor and needy and buy yachts. And let's not forget the credible and legitimate sexual-assault cases against Michael Bloomberg.

"Look at me, I'm so interesting I am trying to buy the presidency of the United States. I also do what I want with women because they are my inferiors."

Don't forget that the older versions of this book painted a completely different portrait of this conman than the one who is now running for president.

But in his memoir, Bloomberg by Bloomberg, Bloomberg wrote that he “traveled with a big expense account, I had a girlfriend in every city”. The original version of the book published in 1997 also said that a reason his marriage fell apart was because “I like to go out and party”, according to news reports from the time. When the book was reissued ahead of the 2020 presidential election, that line was
altered.

This will be used as firelog when the climate catastrophe cuts the heat on all us peasants because these billionaire handouts crash the stock market and we are forced to pay for it.

[Mike Peleah · Rating 4 out of 5]

Michael Bloomberg telling his story of being Bloomberg--billionaire from the working class, brilliant workaholic, egomaniac and narcissistic character, caring leader of family-like team, zealous capitalist nurturing socialism in his company, stubborn and innovative, honest and clear-thinking leader. The book uncover the complex character of Michael Bloomberg, a man who influenced the whole way of doing information business and who managed to deliver IT project on time and within budget. I like very much his stories of Bloomberg raise and especially Management 101 section. Contrary I find Chapters on family and philanthropy quite weak. The former could be summarized as “Not your business!”. The latter concludes “I have no plans to run for public office” (written in 1997), which contradicts the decision taken 3 years later to run for NY Mayor.
Overall this is the great book by the great business leader, if you takes his egoism with a grain of salt.

[Max Lybbert · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is autobiographical, and Bloomberg uses many stories as springboards for discussions about general topics. For instance, he tells about how the company enters new markets without local help. This generally means that it takes longer than expected to get government approval for their trading software or press credentials for their news team. This turns into a discussion about how the go-it-alone attitude does mean that Bloomberg LP maintains its independence. Michael Bloomberg believes the independence is worth the extra cost and delay.

I was fascinated by this peek into Bloomberg's past and thought process. And, yes, I was amused that the last chapter includes statements that he had no interest in political life, and the book's forward describes his inauguration party as mayor of New York.

[Zahedul Amin · Rating 3 out of 5]

The autobiography of the famous media mogul, Michael Bloomberg, had a promising start, but eventually fizzled out in the latter half of the book. The first half mainly dealt with his life at Solomon brothers and the period when he was building his media empire. There were interesting insights on ways to address challenges while building his business. The second half covered his life philosophy and views on different issues, which I found to be quite uninteresting. However, it’s well worth a read, at least if you’re willing to glean through the book for interesting nuggets of information.

[Mike · Rating 3 out of 5]

Bloomberg has some valid points on the techniques required to build a very successful business. He also displays the ego which he is often known for. I don’t agree with a majority of his political views, but I do respect his abilities. The book tended to repeat in some chapters, but the material was interesting.

[Cedric Chin · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is actually two books in one: one of them good, the other completely ignorable. Basically, the story of how Bloomberg built Bloomberg is worth reading. The story of why you should vote Bloomberg for President is a waste of time. You can tell where he's grafted on his achievements in the revised edition — watch out for those, and then just skim ahead.

[Gregory Vince · Rating 4 out of 5]

A good look at Michael Bloomberg's pre-Mayor days. His ego certainly wasn't hurting when he wrote it but it is full of good advice and there are worse people to read a "This is how I did it" story of. Recommended.

[Jake · Rating 1 out of 5]

I am pretty disappointed. This was one of the choppiest books I've ever read. It had no flow to it and I was confused mostly as to the random jumps during the book. I am glad I rented it from the library.

[Ted Alling · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved it.. I feel like this should be required reading for business majors in college and every entrepreneur.

[David · Rating 4 out of 5]

Plenty of good insight but a bit repetitive.

[Jordan May · Rating 1 out of 5]

Pretty much gave up reading it... one of the worst autobiographies I've ever read

[Tom Hartung · Rating 4 out of 5]

Bloomberg by Bloomberg is an autobiography by Michael Bloomberg published in 2019. It covers his entire life, but quickly glosses over his childhood and focuses mostly on his career in business as an adult.

I am giving Bloomberg by Bloomberg 4 of 5 stars because it is an enlightening and positive story, but frankly a bit boring and even condescending in places. The book is full of advice for people who seek to be successful in business, but because I have more of a creative bent, my interests have led me down a different path. Sorry Michael, but not everyone can be happy working twelve-hour days six days a week.

The story behind Bloomberg News is the one thing I enjoyed learning the most from this book. Now that I know about it, I have started noticing when non-Bloomberg sites feature their stories. Having learned about the history, evolution, and goals of his service, I can appreciate and trust those stories more than I would otherwise.

Indeed, some of the things he writes about the media really hit home for me. For example, on page 110 he states that "As the media landscape has fragmented, so has society" and laments how it has become more difficult "to find and trust real news ... with facts backed by data and reporting free of partisan or ideological bias." Having read that, I now take notice of articles sourced from Bloomberg.com, and so far am inclined to believe he is telling the truth.

Michael goes on to assert that because this impartiality and objectivity is becoming more of the exception than the rule, "the more valuable it will become, and the better Bloomberg will do" [p. 110]. His analytical mind really shows when he goes on to describe the big picture — as he sees it — behind all this.

This breakdown in an accepted basis of fact has coincided with the rise in partisan media and the segregation, by political beliefs, of the American public. Pundits talk past one another, and people gravitate to news outlets that will confirm their preexisting beliefs — and the more bombastic the pundits, the more popular they are, and the more money their employers make. For nearly all of history, from Socrates to Cronkite, news was written, organized, and desseminated by the educated and wealthy. People didn't always like the news, but they mostly believed what they were hearing and reading. They trusted news organizations to deliver facts and truths. That world is gone.
— From Bloomberg by Bloomberg, by Michael Bloomberg, p. 110.

As an unaffiliated voter who is struggling to maintain an objective, non-partisan outlook in today's divisive political climate, I really appreciate Michael's insight into this problem, which is as real as it is disconcerting.

Although I found other parts of the book to be a bit tedious, I am sure there are many readers who are more business-minded and would thus be interested in learning details about the story behind Michael's success. Certainly anyone with an MBA — or an interest in attaining one — would find much more value than I did in the many tips he offers for aspiring leaders.

The main reason I read this book was so I could analyze and draw an image of Michael's personality. I invite anyone interested in seeing the resultant image to find me, "tomwhartung," on one of the main social networking sites, or check out my main website at seeourminds.com.

Thanks for checking out my review!

[Cam Sullivan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Pretty good, but not as good as I thought I would be; I was hoping he’d spend more than the handful of pages he did on his public sector experience. I appreciated how honest and opinionated his takes were, though. Medford, MA guy.

Notes:

He lived in the same apartment in New York for ten years when he got a job at Salomon Brothers.

First in, last out. Always be available to work and help.

“Be nice to people on the way up; you’ll pass the sand ones on th way down.”

He preferred doing as opposed to advising others. Real. Operator. The Man in the Arena.

Think about what you know the most about and consider how you can apply that knowledge to current circumstances.

Banks create too much doubt and promote too much planning for entrepreneurs. Don’t let plans control you, but you should be able to write out your plans and explain them. “If you can’t write it, you don’t know it.” Write up your plan and correct it and fill in the gaps until it makes sense, then rip it up; the real world will throw curve balls that your plan doesn’t predict, and you don’t want to be controlled by an inflexible plan.

If you never take risks, you never deserve any rewards. I need to get better at accepting risk.

He always went to big negotiations by himself.

Take the problem, break it down into manageable pieces, and assign the pieces to the person who is best suited to do it.

He embraced constantly challenging the status quo and being David vs. Goliath: startup vs. incumbent.

Human issues need standardization to make technology work.

Hire people smarter than you, and accept that “the new guy can do it better.”

Executive branch of governments (e.g., mayor, governor, president) > legislative branch of governments (e.g., senator, congressman). The skill sets between these two branches are completely different; just because someone is an effective legislator doesn’t mean we should elect them to an executive role. Being a politician in the executive branch is about bringing “a centrist consensus acceptable to most, with minimum imposition on those at the fringes.”

Public sector lags in innovation because elected officials are afraid of taking risks and not getting re-elected and they also have a fiduciary duty to spend taxpayer money wisely, which may preclude them from taking the chance on untested ideas. Philanthropic (private) dollars x government can help fund and drive innovation - public-private partnership.

[Nicholas J · Rating 4 out of 5]

I picked this up at a used bookstore; this is the 1997 edition so prior to Bloomberg's mayorship. I understand that there is an updated edition which was published subsequently.

This book is an account of one of the more consequential business leaders and public figures of the latter 20th century and early 21st century, specifically around the founding and development of Bloomberg LP up to 1997. Bloomberg was already a critical part of US and global financial infrastructure in the 1990s and in 2025 it still is.

What is most impressive to me is that many of the things highlighted in this book are things that are still very true about Bloomberg - namely that it's still a private company, still run much in the same way that Mike describes in the book, and probably most importantly - the terminal still competes on features/value and does not compete on price. That is pretty crazy - the company has been around since 1981 and nobody has been able to replicate *everything* that the terminal does, even though some competitors might offer some competing products/features.

Bloomberg's philosophy around philanthropy and public service also impresses me at a time when modern elites, particularly in technology, put much less emphasis on either of these. Mike continues in a long tradition of American elites which has really been lost particularly in the past 10-15 years as this new, more insular and solipsistic elite has grown its wealth and power. In contrast Mike has given a huge amount of his own net worth to charitable causes and for all of his flaws as NYC mayor, he submitted himself to democratic accountability in a way that is very rare for Americans of his station in the 21st century.

I give it a 4 (more like a 3.5) mainly because there is a lot of brashness and sarcasm that doesn't altogether come across too great on paper, and because there are a few things in the book which really have not aged well. But it was written at a time when the zeitgeist was around abundance and optimism and it clearly comes across in the writing - I find it fascinating. Accordingly, a lot of elements of the book is bound to the period of American history in which it was written but there is a lot of great timeless advice here as well.

[Samuel Atta-Amponsah · Rating 4 out of 5]

Michael Bloomberg telling his story of being Bloomberg--billionaire from the working class, brilliant workaholic, egomaniac and narcissistic character, caring leader of the family-like team, zealous capitalist nurturing socialism in his company, stubborn and innovative, honest and clear-thinking leader. The book uncovers the complex character of Michael Bloomberg, a man who influenced the whole way of doing information business and who managed to deliver IT project on time and within budget. I like very much his stories of Bloomberg raise and especially Management 101 section. Contrary I find Chapters on family and philanthropy quite weak. The former could be summarized as “Not your business!”. The letter concludes “I have no plans to run for public office” (written in 1997), which contradicts with the decision taken 3 years later to run for NY Mayor.
Overall this is the great book by the great business leader if you take his egoism with a grain of salt. Reading Bloomberg's perspective on his own success was revelatory on several levels. The transformation from a terminal-based business to a news service provider to a communications platform demonstrated tremendous vision and boldness in executing on the idea that there was a demand for improved financial information dissemination and speed. Providing and pushing the frontier for real-time news and price updates has been a great business model. The places they went and the progress they made in different arenas based on this one idea is just great.
Bloomberg has many strong views on management and shares his corporate philosophy of 'us' versus 'them,' of paying in equity from a common pool, of never rehiring someone who's left. From his perspective, it is clear Bloomberg is continuously innovative, an interesting contrast with some current outsider perspectives that in some ways the Bloomberg terminal interface exemplifies an antiquated technology persisting as a legacy system. Keeping in mind that he wrote this book ages ago, pre-governorship and at the time claiming to have no political ambitions, I wonder if companies all inevitable age as their founder's age, if companies that produce products that were revolutionary at the time inevitably stop innovating at such a high level.
His background in sales shines through and seems to have had a large contribution to his success. His belief that his company is the best and his ability to sell that belief to others mak.

[Abhishek · Rating 3 out of 5]

I read the updated version, published just before Bloomberg's 2020 presidential campaign. It was not hard to picture everything he had to say as advertisement of his skills in getting things done, and his liberality. I do not have a problem with that, since this was a very entertaining read. Bloomberg has had quite the life after all - poor jewish working class background, day trader at one of the high flying Wall Street firms, Salomon Brothers, then a founder-CEO of a very successful private company, and finally the mayor of New York. He has an enormous ego, and it was refreshing to see someone be aware and unapologetic about it. He most certainly has people skills. The folks he started the company with are still there with him, over 30 years later. He co-wrote this with the editor-in-chief of Bloomberg News, who he poached from Wall Street Journal. He also happens to be an old Bloomberg hand. So there's something here other than sheer good fortune. Bloomberg himself ascribes his success to not just luck, but hard work and his ability to simplify the problems he has had to face and taking them on one at a time. He worked 12 hours a day all his life, starting from Salomon. He keeps repeating that formula through the book.

... I still think the perfect day is one in which I’m hopelessly overscheduled. Exercise early in the morning and get to work by 7:00 a.m.; a series of rushed meetings; phone call after phone call; e-mails demanding a reply; a hurried business lunch between myriad meetings to solve firm, personnel, financial, and policy problems; perhaps give an interview to a news outlet about a Bloomberg Philanthropies initiative; constantly welcome visiting clients; participate in a Q&A at a client’s big event; make a speech about one of the issues that our foundation is working on; an early dinner event with customers or for a charitable organization we support, followed by a second dinner with friends (where I actually get a chance to stop talking and eat); fall into bed, exhausted but satisfied with the day’s accomplishments, maybe trying to make a dent in the magazines piled up on the nightstand.

[Devon Galloway · Rating 3 out of 5]

After the 2025 NYC mayoral election, I became interested in reading about former mayors, and I started with this book knowing it would likely be something of a hagiography.

The first half is genuinely engaging. It covers Bloomberg’s time at Salomon Brothers and the founding and rise of Bloomberg LP, and this is where the book is at its strongest. The anecdotes are vivid and grounded in the realities of starting a company from scratch: endless weekend work, personally managing every function, even crawling through desks to install terminals. What stood out most was how much Bloomberg seemed to wing it in those early years. That initially surprised me, but in retrospect—especially after watching his faltering 2020 presidential campaign—it made more sense.

Unfortunately, the book falls apart in the second half. It turns into what feels like an extended advertisement for Bloomberg, his company, and his philanthropic endeavors. The writing becomes a tedious catalog of donations and initiatives, with little narrative or critical distance. Some passages are strikingly tone-deaf, such as his evident pride in endowing academic chairs named after his parents. I also expected far more insight and storytelling from his years as mayor, which are treated surprisingly lightly given the book’s subject and my own interest in that period.

The revised and updated edition appears to have been published before his presidential run, which likely explains both the omissions and the relentlessly celebratory tone. Overall, the book starts strong but fails to land the plane: an engaging entrepreneurial story gives way to self-congratulation, leaving the most politically interesting years largely unexplored.

[Jason Braatz · Rating 4 out of 5]

Overall, Mayor Bloomberg writes in a breezy style that makes for a relaxing read (this isn't an intense policy discussion nor is it some iteration of his platform as a Presidential candidate). While I don't agree with his ideas on many things, he's not a bad author and this deserves a read.

The most interesting part of the book, in my mind, is perhaps the smallest section - which is the first few chapters devoted to how he started Bloomberg, and how it was innovation through information technology that drove his wealth. I didn't know much about him before reading this (outside of his work as a publisher and owner of a radio & television broadcast network).

The least interesting part are the last few sections, where like a 10 year old jumping up and down in class with his hand up for the right answer, he's way too eager to iterate through his philanthropic work. It's almost a shameful attempt to get a gold sticker, pat on the head - whatever - and while it's not distasteful, it ruins his point. Those who give do so for reasons within their heart and soul, and truly don't need a private symphony celebrating it. I believe it was done for political reasons; alas, I think it was meant to be a resume for public office more than anything, so in that context, he probably felt the need to do it.

All in all, it's a great read. No, I won't vote for the guy.. but that's not because I don't think he's not a good person. He comes across as quite genuine and I think those on the fence will see that through this book. I challenge his philosophies, however, and refute certain claims he makes (certain climate change assertions he makes are factually wrong).

[Christopher Lewis Kozoriz · Rating 1 out of 5]

Then, there's the desire to see one's name in print. I claim immunity to the ego gratification a self-promoting book provides. After all, with the success of our company, my name on the door worldwide, myself as the company's spokesperson, you'd think I'd be blase about publicity by now. But the truth is, recognition is heady stuff, and receiving even insincere adulation is a kick. (Michael Bloomberg, Bloomberg by Bloomberg, Page 252)

Wanted to vomit at times as I read this book, as the author talks so much about himself and how great he is and how great his company is and how unselfish he is, etc. etc. Egomaniac.

I don't think this guy is on the right path then or now. I gave him the benefit of the doubt by reading his book without judgment; however, this book is all about him. He does talk about charity, but he makes sure his family got all their stuff and only donates mostly to what can advance himself and his company. Barf.

Best chapter in this whole book is Chapter 10 in my opinion. In it, he actually explains some practical things that made him great in business. However, not great in his relationship with his wife, as he mentions he divorced and explained some reason of differing interests as time went on. I don't think he is fit to be in any moral leadership role and I hope he never considers running for office of the president. He may have been able to build a great company, but I don't think he has the morals to build a great country. Those are my thoughts.

[Jee · Rating 4 out of 5]

I found this book somewhat hard to define. It's not exactly an autobiography as the retelling of stories and the life of the writer isn't really coherent or rigorous, then some chapters feel like reading one long advertisement for Bloomberg services, there are countless rants and manifests throughout the book, for the most part very enjoyable and inspiring and about unexpected topics like education, civic duties, etc., and there are other chapters where technical aspects of things are explained in great (and maybe unnecessary) lengths. Overall, the book feels like going fishing with an uncle who's passionate about a few things in his life and who has a couple of stories to tell, then listening to him, having a conversation and learning about stuff even to the price of a few boring moments where you just nod along and pretend like the inner-wirings of aircraft engines and computer terminals are fascinating topics. It feels like a personal book and well worth a read because I think people like Bloomberg make nations great and that his thoughts and approach to life could inspire and benefit even the skeptical reader. Finally, I have to mention the chapter on Philanthropy which I think is worthy of being made part of a Civics course curriculum.