Long before he became CEO of Goldman Sachs, David Solomon got a tough lesson from his father after complaining he never had enough money: the problem wasn’t cash. It was time.
Growing up in upstate New York, Solomon kept a packed schedule: three sports, student government, and shifts scooping 31 flavors at Baskin-Robbins.
But he still didn’t have enough cash to do what he wanted. When he complained to his father, a businessman, Solomon expected sympathy—or maybe a loan.
Instead, his dad gave him a lesson in time management.
“He told me to take out a calendar and write down everything I did each day,” Solomon recalled this past weekend to MBA graduates of The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania. “And I noticed, when I had to account for every minute, that I actually wasted a reasonable amount of time.”
