I have had the honor of getting to know Howard Lutnick, CEO of Cantor Fitzgerald over the last year. Howard is not as well known as many other Wall Street CEO's, but he should be. I heard him give a talk on "hardship" last year where he recounted his life story and how it prepared him to lead Cantor Fitzgerald after 658 of their 960 employees, including Howard's brother, died in the 9/11 attacks. Here is a brief rundown of the hardships Howard faced and how he has responded:
Senior Year of High School - Mom dies of Lymphoma
Freshman Year of College - Dad dies when a nurse accidentally gives him a chemotherapy treatment that is 100x the prescribed dose
September 11, 2001 - Loses ~70% of his employees, including his brother
September 15, 2001 - Has to make the difficult decision to stop paychecks to Cantor Fitzgerald employees as customers stop doing business with him and his firm is running out of money.
September 19, 2001 - Establishes Cantor Fitzgerald Relief Fund with $1 million of his own money. Promises to payback Cantor-Fitzgerald employees who took paycuts and also give 25% of future profits for five years to lost employees, assuming the company survives.
2006 - With the firm back on solid footing and thriving, Howard pays $180 million to relatives of employees affected by September 11, far exceeding what was promised. The Cantor Fitzgerald Relief Fund has now paid over $280 million to other causes and people facing hardships.
Every September 11 - Cantor Fitzgerald holds a Global Charity Day event and pledges 100 percent of the day's revenue to charity. Since 2005, Global Charity Day events have raised approximately $113 million.
The below video is worth a watch to learn more about Howard and how he continues to honor those lost. It’s an amazing lesson in leadership.
