If you don't have integrity, you have nothing. You can't buy it. You can have all the money in the world, but if you are not a moral and ethical person, you really have nothing.
As I said there is nothing wrong with failing. Pick yourself up and try it again. You never are going to know how good you really are until you go out and face failure.
A real entrepreneur is somebody who has no safety net underneath them.
If you build that foundation, both the moral and the ethical foundation, as well as the business foundation, and the experience foundation, then the building won't crumble.
You only have one thing to sell in life, and that's yourself.
Whales who come up and spout off get harpooned.
To understand KKR, I always like to say, don't congratulate us when we buy a company. Any fool can buy a company. Congratulate us when we sell it and when we've done something with it and created real value.
If you have something at risk, you think differently.
I've been in a hurry all my life. I've been in a hurry to succeed, and in a hurry to prove myself.
I love the ability to work with very good managers, and to provide the right incentives for them, and truly become a partner with that management, and make that management take a long view.
I want people who will stand up to me. People who are not afraid to say exactly what's on their minds, even though that's probably not what I want to hear. That's what I want.
It's one of the most important things at the end of the day, being able to say no to an investment.
If you don't have integrity, you have nothing. You can't buy it.
And make sure that capital structure we have in place is the right capital structure. I think that's the reason that we've been successful.
Any fool can buy a company; just pay enough
We've got a portfolio of companies that range all the way from hotels to television stations and cable TV companies, oil and gas, consumer products, and industrial products. If there's anything that I want to know more about, I have the opportunity. It's right in our portfolio. I can spend time at the factory or with the manangement and learn as much as I want. You can't get bored doing that.
But once you buy a company, you are married. You are married to that company.
The trouble, in my opinion, with corporate America today, is that everything is thought of in quarters.
One, I love the creativity. I love the ability to create a capital structure that is appropriate for a company, no matter what field it happens to be in.
It's not just buying the company. Sure, we picked the right companies, and we picked the right management and, most importantly, we've given them the right incentive to perform.
A real entrepreneurs who do not need protection nets underneath
I have, in my partner George Roberts, a person who is the most wonderful man in the world to me. He's like a brother to me. Creating with him, being side by side with him, in whatever we try to do, is a real pleasure to me.
I was an economics major in college, and every summer after school, I would drive my car from California, from Claremont men's college at the time, to New York. And I worked on Wall Street.
Our industry expertise (at KKR) enables the firm not only to make better investment choices but also to win the confidence of senior management and sellers, which has enabled us to purchase many companies on an exclusive basis.
I always like to refer managers in corporate America as the renters of the corporate assets, not the owners.
