“When I was much younger, I realized that when I was handling something very large, and I was on my own doing that, that my breathing rate would increase, and that would affect my ability to think as well as I normally would. So when that starts happening, I slow down.”

American businessman

Stephen A. Schwarzman is an American businessman and investor, born in 1947. He is chairman and chief executive of Blackstone Inc. and is known for building the private equity firm into a major global force after co-founding it in 1985 with Peter G. Peterson. Schwarzman has also been active in politics and public policy. He chaired President Donald Trump's Strategic and Policy Forum, and he was a major Republican donor during the 2024 election cycle.