David and Goliath: Underdogs, Misfits, and the Art of Battling Giants

(Darren Dugan) #1

repeating sentences until he was sure he
understood them. When he started at
work, he was ready. “I literally stood
behind him and said, ‘Buy those, sell
those, sell those,’” Cohn said. “I never
owned up to him what I did. Or maybe
he figured it out, but he didn’t care. I
made him tons of money.”
Cohn isn’t ashamed of his beginnings
on Wall Street. But it would be a
mistake, at the same time, to say that he
is proud of them. He is smart enough to
know that a story about bluffing your
way into your first job isn’t altogether
flattering. He told it, instead, in the spirit
of honesty. It was This is who I am.
Cohn was required in that taxi ride to
play a role: to pretend to be an

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