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Good Luck, Hard Work, And Good Intuition (w/ Leon G. Cooperman) | Grant Williams | Real Vision™

4,672 views · Published 14 December 2018 · 8:50 · Indexed 23 October 2026

Channel: Real Vision Presents · 2018 · News & Politics

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Grant travels to Boca Raton to the home of Leon G. Cooperman, chairman and CEO of Omega Advisors.

The two discuss the character traits which form the building blocks of Leon’s legendary career, his experiences at Goldman Sachs and Omega Advisors, along with his well-publicized run-in with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Leon explains his decision to return his investors’ money and concentrate on his own family office and outlines his views on the importance of philanthropy – both for him and future generations of the Cooperman family.

Filmed on November 7, 2018 in Boca Raton, Florida.
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Good Luck, Hard Work, And Good Intuition (w/ Leon G. Cooperman) | Grant Williams | Real Vision™
https://www.youtube.com/c/RealVisionTelevision

Transcript:
The world of finance contains many larger than life characters who transcend the industry, and whose records speak for themselves. And many of these men and women have an almost mythical quality surrounding. Today, I'm traveling to Boca Raton in Florida to speak with one such man. A man who's built a stellar career that has its roots in old fashioned values like discipline, thoroughness, and a work ethic, which has become the stuff of legend on Wall Street. 
Now after a high profile battle with the SEC, he's chosen to return his investors' capital, turned his back on Wall Street after 40 years, and concentrate on his family office and philanthropic endeavors, a decision I want to explore today to try and understand whether it's a natural winding down to his career or something more. So please join me for a conversation. With Lee Cooperman. 
Lee, thank you so much for having us in your home. It's a pleasure to be here. 
LEE COOPERMAN: My pleasure. 
GRANT WILLIAMS: The beauty of talking to you is I don't need to introduce you to your audience. They're all going to be Intimately aware of who you are, and your track record. But what I really want to do is walk through your career with you, and give people a chance to hear about your experiences. And from you talk, about how you adapted and survived and thrived in an industry that's changed enormously over the course of your career. 
LEE COOPERMAN: Well, I would attribute whatever success I've enjoyed frankly, to good luck, hard work, and good intuition. And so if I trace my career along the way, I could point out why I say what I say. 
So back in the '60s, if you finished major and minor in college in three years, you could count your first year of medical, dental school toward your fourth year of college and get a separate degree. So in December of 1963, I toiled very hard in the University of Pennsylvania laboratories. And I took physical chemistry during a summer to finish off my major. And then I immediately enrolled in the University of Pennsylvania dental school. 
And after eight days, which I see a smile on your face-- and after eight days, I made a determination that I wasn't sure I was heading in the right direction. That was like intuition. Very traumatic experience. My father, may he rest in peace, was walking around saying, you know, my son, the dentist. I paid tuition for a year, I paid room and board for a year. I had to suffer the embarrassment of going back to undergraduate school. But I made the determination that I wanted that one year to think through whether I was fully committed to dentistry or not at great cost. 
And I call that intuition. So I went back to Hunter College City University of New York. The only one that understood the trauma of the decision was the Dean, Glen T Nygren, who's deceased. I had to get permission for him to matriculate back into the City University of New York. He gave me permission. He complimented me on the decision. And I had a year of electives available, because my major/minor was all done. And so I took 10 courses in economics, got 10 As, and never looked back.

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