Blue Blood and Mutiny: The Fight for the Soul of Morgan Stanley

I can see no reason why these financiers receive multiple millions of dollars for their roles in our financial system. Find out why they do. And realize that despite regulations, consequences do not match the havoc they have the power to create. Like many types of careers, some care about fairness and dignity and others care only about their returns.

A great review of the history and culture of Morgan Stanley and how a merger with Dean Witter nearly destroyed the company. The history speaks for itself so the author focuses on the merger. As blue blooded as a firm can be, Morgan Stanley finds itself being run by the Chairman of Dean Witter, a retail brokerage operation. The manager, Purcell, doesn't even live in NY but rather commutes from Chicago. But, what can you do when he has stuffed the board with his friends?Unfortunately, firms such as Morgan Stanley do not own massive producing assets. Their assets are their culture and the employees who walk in and out of the door each day. The culture quickly disintegrates and top level employees start walking out the door to not return. But who will lead the coup? Former managers step back into the mix with first a private campaign but then a very public campaign generating bad press in soap opera like drama.Ultimately, this drama plays out and order is restored. But an interesting loss to the firm who has reappeared is Vikram Pandit, the current President of Citicorp. He is considered so talented that Citi paid a massive amount of money to buy his fund and roll him in to Citi. With the current credit crisis it's still early to tell if this has been a good hire but with his CFO leaving today in a power struggle it's not looking great.Overall, a very good, detailed financial book.

Patricia Beard has done an excellent job chronicling this story, making it a must read for anyone involved in serving on a board of a public or private company. This is what can happen when the CEO surrounds himself with a self serving board and in this instance is disengaged from his key asset . . . his people. That it occurred to a company of such stature is further testimony that any organization is susceptible. I would also add that it's an appealing history of one the country's storied investment banks.

Great real life story with a lot of good corporate culture and leadership lesson.

Beard's book is an entertaining account of the revolt within Morgan Stanley told from the perspective of the mutineers but would have been a far more interesting story if it were more objective in its approach. If the reader is expecting the "entire behind-the-scenes story" of the revolt at MS, this book will likely disappoint since half of the debate is missing. That said, it is still worthwhile reading for insight into the culture at Morgan Stanley in the years leading up to the credit crisis.Beard does an effective job of pointing out CEO Purcell's shortcomings and that he had clearly lost the confidence of various stakeholders of the firm. Unfortunately, the list of grievances against Purcell, told almost entirely from the point of view of his opponents, dominates this book and eclipses what could have been a more compelling work.A key theme that Beard could have explored was whether Purcell was being used as a scapegoat for those who were unable or unwilling to accept the fundamental change that was happening in the investment banking industry.Indeed, just months after the epilogue was written all of the major investment banks in the US were either defunct, merged under duress, or transformed into bank holding companies. We get almost no sense of this from even in the epilogue that was written after the collapse of Bear Stearns.

Interesting story. I would have edited out the pages of biography / accomplishments / memberships and hobbies of each character.... so skip that and it's a good read

A deep and wide recount of the Dean Witter merger with Morgan Stanley, the winners, the losers and the fight to bring the Firm back. A good read for anyone interested in the workings of Wall Street, the personalities of the powerful, the dangers of hubris, and dedication to tradition.

If you are interested in Investment Banking... It is a good book, so you can see who are the players...

Bought this for my husband who works at MS - he will be hooked!