Charles Schwab: How One Company Beat Wall Street and Reinvented the Brokerage Industry [Hardcover]

John Kador (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 20, 2002

Schwab's revolutionary approach to success in the face of adversity
Since its founding in 1973, Schwab has led the full-brokerage market by stressing customer service. Today, Schwab has established itself as a company with a unique identity: old-fashioned integrity meets technology-empowered financial services. Charles Schwab tells the compelling story of this organization's uncanny ability to reinvent itself around an unchanging set of core values. This book is organized into five sections, each representing a critical juncture for the company when it was forced to reinvent itself or be consumed. Along the way, Kador highlights Schwab's immutable laws, direct from the Chairman and CEO: 1) Create a cause, not a business; 2) the corporate vision is only as good as the values of its culture; 3) welcome upheaval. In the whirlwind economic environment we currently face, Charles Schwab provides readers with valuable lessons on how businesses can survive and thrive in any situation.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"a sharp, sometimes brutal and frequently entertaining book.... For investors, entrepreneurs and students of business, it is simply a good read." (The Financial Times, November 8, 2002)

From the Inside Flap

May 1, 1975-Despite predictions of calamity and chaos from the high-priced, well-entrenched brokerage industry, the SEC formally abolishes fixed brokerage commission rates. In San Francisco, thousands of miles from Wall Street both literally and figuratively, a one-office firm triumphantly offers no sales commission brokers providing conflict-free discount brokerage services to all investors.

The rest is history. Over the past quarter-century, Charles Schwab & Co. has grown to become one of the world's largest and most influential financial institutions, holding over $850 billion in client assets in nearly eight million active accounts. Charles Schwab himself has become synonymous with the brokerage industry.

But who is Charles Schwab? And how did his unique combination of deeply felt values, disgust over the mistreatment of investors by traditional brokerage firms, and never-say-die moxie make him one of the most beloved-and accomplished-figures in the history of American finance?

Charles Schwab: How One Company Beat Wall Street and Reinvented the Brokerage Industry tells the entire story. Organized around five critical junctures when Charles Schwab & Co. was forced to either reinvent itself or become lost in a sea of fierce competitors, this investigation reveals the behind-the-scenes successes, defeats, and determination that fueled the unprecedented growth of America's leading broker. Charles Schwab covers the company's major phases of reinvention, including:
* Schwab's beginnings as a pure discount brokerage for the average investor who neither needs nor wants advice
* Schwab's transformation into an asset gatherer, revolutionizing the industry with its instantly successful Mutual Fund OneSource program
* Schwab's integration of the Web into its business model: Schwab becomes a clicks and mortar company
* Schwab's determination to be a full-service brokerage house for the affluent investor: Schwab abandons the no-advice and no-sales principles on which it was founded

Charles Schwab: How One Company Beat Wall Street and Reinvented the Brokerage Industry combines a fascinating look inside the walls of one of today's great financial services firms with a razor-sharp portrait of the deeply principled maverick who drove that firm from vision to reality. Both highly entertaining and brutally honest, it paints a compelling picture of the company that brought stock investing to Middle America-and shook the staid brokerage industry to its core.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 288 pages
• Publisher: Wiley; 1 edition (September 20, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0471224073
• ISBN-13: 978-0471224075
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6.3 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (13 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #791,983 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

John's latest book is Effective Apology: Mending Fences, Building Bridges, and Restoring Trust. Learn more at www.effectiveapology.com


John is an author, consultant, and speaker who acts as if every word is a moral choice. His work centers on identifying and describing best practices in leadership and promoting the highest standards of personal accountability, humility, and transparency. This book, which describes the benefits that leaders accrue when they embrace apology rather than shy from it, is squarely in that tradition. His personal credo is that different is not always better, but better is always different.

He is the author of over 10 books, including Charles Schwab: How One Company Beat Wall Street and Reinvented the Brokerage Industry , 50 High-Impact Speeches & Remarks: Proven Words You Can Adapt for Any Business Occasion, and the NY Times bestseller Net Ready: Strategies for Success in the E-conomy (with Amir Hartman and John Sifonis). His career books include The Manager's Book of Questions: 751 Great Questions for Hiring the Best Person, How to Ace the Brainteaser Job Interview, and 201 Best Questions to Ask On Your Interview. As a corporate ghostwriter, John has distinguished himself as a writing partner to a number of Fortune 1000 executives who credit him for his willingness to embrace the hectic and unpredictable schedules of busy executives.

John began his writing career in Washington DC at a high-tech advertising and public relations agency. For the past 30 years he has been the principal of Kador Communications, providing editorial assistance to dozens of corporate and media clients. John's insights have been featured in more than one hundred magazines and newspapers, including The Chicago Tribune, Computerworld, Working Women, and Business to Business. John has columns in Chief Executive, Registered Rep, and Human Resources Executive.

John holds a master's degree in public relations from The American University and an undergraduate degree from Duke University. John was born in Budapest, Hungary. He came to the U.S. when he was six and settled with his family in New York City. John currently lives in Winfield, Pennsylvania, with his wife, Anna Beth Payne, a psychologist at a university counseling center. He has two children, Dan, a software engineer in San Francisco, and Rachel, an undergraduate at the University of Massachusetts-Amherst. When he isn't working, he likes to fence, a sport which he has practiced since high school.

To inquire about having John speak about apology at your event or if you have questions about any of his writing services, email him. John welcomes your questions and suggestions about effective apology at www.effectiveapology.com.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Ex-Schwab Employee - Like a Walk Down Memory Lane., September 14, 2004

By 

Scott Whyte (Troy, MI USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Charles Schwab: How One Company Beat Wall Street and Reinvented the Brokerage Industry (Hardcover)

As an ex-Schwab employee (1991-2000), I recommend the book highly. Having firsthand knowledge of the people and many of the events that were reported in the book I found the historical portions of the book to be accurate.

John Kador has done an excellent job of capturing the history, heroic vision and ethics of Schwab (both Chuck and the company) and how the company revolutionized the discount brokerage industry and the distribution of mutual funds. Also, I thought his comments and perspectives into the many challenges the company overcame, and current hurdles to overcome, were incredibly insightful.

John writes in a narrative style that reads more like a fiction novel than what one might expect for a "business book". As I said, I'm an ex-employee and still found it to be a page-turner. I couldn't wait to read what else John had accurately captured about Schwab's long history. I have recommended the book to all of the Schwab employees and ex-employees I keep in touch with.

The book was written prior to the most recent re-emergence of Chuck Schwab as sole CEO of the company, so much has changed since the book was finished, but I still believe it is a great read for anyone who is interested in the history of one of the few revolutionary Fortune 500 companies.

This one is worth buying. You won't regret it!

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Charles Schwab is a great company, August 14, 2009

By 

Mariusz Skonieczny "Author" (Schaumburg, IL) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Charles Schwab: How One Company Beat Wall Street and Reinvented the Brokerage Industry (Paperback)

The brokerage industry is filled with companies who are out for themselves, and the only thing that counts to them is money. I really admire Charles Schwab for wanting to be different and put clients ahead of his and his firm's interest. Contrary to other firms, employees at his firm are paid salaries instead of commission so there is no conflict of interest. The company's salespeople do not make sales calls. If clients need a service or product, they can call the company themselves.

I highly recommend this to readers. I found this book very delightful to read. If you are unhappy with your current broker or advisor, there are other avenues.

- Mariusz Skonieczny, author of Why Are We So Clueless about the Stock Market? Learn how to invest your money, how to pick stocks, and how to make money in the stock market

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Ex-Schwab employee enjoyed reading it!, February 20, 2003

By 

Mark H. Josefczyk - See all my reviews

This review is from: Charles Schwab: How One Company Beat Wall Street and Reinvented the Brokerage Industry (Hardcover)

As an ex-Schwab employee (1988 - 1996) I really enjoyed reading this book. I worked for or with several of the folks interviewed and was at HQ in San Fran. the day after the earthquake--pretty incredible day! I have recommended it to all of my ex-Schwab buddies.