A Special Breed - Paperback

by David Yawn (Editor), Terry C. Graves (Author)

In this fascinating new book, Terry Graves takes a look at success from the inside. The lessons here are not outsider case studies, but Graves' own insider take on what makes that special breed of entrepreneur. How was FedEx able to change the way we do business? How did the founder of Harvard's first rock n' roll band turn a backwater investment firm into a publicly traded juggernaut with more than 2,500 offices worldwide? How did a man who predicted that his Harvard classmates headed to Wall Street would be driving taxis in five years come to redefine the way the financial industry shares information? We live in a society where great ideas fail everyday. Illustrated through his personal and professional relationships with the people behind some of his generation's most successful ideas, Graves argues that it is not the business plan, but the personality behind it, that counts. Looking back on an investment banking career touching some of the biggest names in the industry, Graves examines his network of friends, classmates and colleagues who make up A Special Breed.

Author Biography

Terry Graves was born in Memphis, Tennessee when it was still a cotton town, attended Vanderbilt University and Harvard Business School. After five years in working on Wall Street, he returned to Memphis at a time when the city was breaking with its past, socially and economically. For three decades, Graves worked in the investment banking industry, helping to redefine not only a city but the way the modern world treats finance. In his first book, Graves builds on the work of friend and classmate Bill George's True North. In A Special Breed, Graves draws on the life long example of childhood friends, classmates, and business partners to tease out the common threads of truly stellar individuals. His career spans the most successful yet volatile years in American finance and innovation.