According to Blackstone President and COO Jon Gray, success in finance doesn’t require embracing the ruthless, cutthroat reputation often associated with Wall Street.
Instead, it comes down to a “winning formula” that includes simply being nice to people.
“Treat everybody the way you want to be treated as you move up in your careers—it’s almost like a superpower,” Gray said in an address to his firm’s newest class of analysts.
“People want you to win if you treat them in a good way. It doesn’t mean you’re not going to be hyper ambitious, and it doesn’t mean you’re not going to demand a lot from others because you demand a lot from yourself, but you can do it in a nice way.”
Elite credentials may have earned new hires an offer, but ‘caring more’ will take them further
For the analysts sitting in the audience, earning that advice meant first clearing one of the most competitive hiring processes in corporate America. The firm’s 2026 summer analyst acceptance rate was less than 0.1%, a Blackstone spokesperson told UnHerd. And while they declined to disclose the exact number of applicants or hires for this cycle, roughly 57,000 applicants were sent in for just 138 entry-level analyst positions last year—an acceptance rate of about 0.2%, according to Business Insider. In 2021, the acceptance rate was 0.4%.
Elite credentials may helped earn them an offer, Gray said, but they aren’t what distinguish the firm’s best employees over time. Instead, he urged analysts to “work harder and care more.”
“You went to elite universities, you’re top of your class, you’ve cared a ton to get where you are,” Gray added. “But when I look at the people who’ve really achieved, it’s not the ones who just check the box. It’s the ones who really care about getting it right, who turn the extra page, do the extra bit of diligence, get there maybe a little bit earlier.”
Jon Gray isn’t the first executive to say being nice to your peers is an easy career hack
Founded in 1985 by Peter Peterson and Stephen Schwarzman, Blackstone has grown to have over $1.3 trillion in assets under management and become the world’s largest alternative asset manager. Over the years, Blackstone has helped grow household names including Hilton Hotels, Spanx, and Bumble before exiting those investments. Today, its portfolio includes brands such as Jersey Mike’s Subs.
Gray has been at the company for 34 years, beginning as a private equity M&A analyst in 1992—the summer after he graduated from the University of Pennsylvania. And in that time he’s likely seen plenty of unhealthy rivalries, boardroom shouting-matches, and bruised egos.
But he’s not the first to insist that being nice to your peers (no matter your environment) could be an easy career win.
Amazon CEO Andy Jassy has similarly argued that attitude can be one of the biggest differentiators early in a career.
“An embarrassing amount of how well you do, particularly in your twenties, has to do with attitude,” Jassy said in an interview with LinkedIn.
“I think people would be surprised how infrequently people have great attitudes,” he added. “I think it makes a big difference.”
Billionaire entrepreneur Mark Cuban has made a similar case, arguing that kindness can be a competitive advantage in business.
“One of the most underrated skills in business right now is being nice. Nice sells,” Cuban told Vanity Fair in 2018.
Virgin Group founder Richard Branson echoed that sentiment in a simple social media post earlier this year: “Kindness is the most underused tool in business.”