Maria Bartiromo - The 10 Laws of Enduring Success

Also by Maria Bartiromo

U SE THE N EWS
How to Separate the Noise from the Investment Nuggets
and Make Money in Any Economy

To my grandfather,

C ARMINE B ARTIROMO ,

who brought his dreams to America on the Rex in 1919
and made my future success possible

PROLOGUE
Born on September 11
Redefining success

INTRODUCTION
Seeking a Meaningful Path
The 10 laws of success

1 Self-Knowledge
Listen to your heart

2 Vision
Plant your dreams on solid ground

3 Initiative
Keep rattling the cage

4 Courage
Be bold, smart, and fair

5 Integrity
Do the right thing

6 Adaptability
Stay open to change

7 Humility
Hold on to your humanity

8 Endurance
Build your stamina

9 Purpose
Know what matters most

10 Resilience
Get up and move on

I was born on September 11, 1967, and always enjoyed the dramatic signature of my birth date: 911. I got a lot of mileage out of it over the years, calling friends and saying, This is an emergency. Come to a birthday party. But that all changed with the real September 11, the one the world will never forget, on the day I turned thirty-four.

I arrived early for work at the New York Stock Exchange, where I was doing hourly market reports for CNBC, to find a big bouquet of flowers on my desk and a happy birthday message from my editorial assistant. It was a glorious morning in New York City, although the bright skies were hidden from view in the Exchanges windowless world. I was sitting in my tiny office above the trading floor when the news flashed on the screen that a plane had hit the World Trade Center, two blocks away. My boss at CNBC headquarters in New Jersey called and said, Go outside and report to us whats happening, and in a flash I was up and running, down to the corner of Broadway and Wall Street. The Twin Towers were two blocks away, and a heavy cloud of smoke was billowing from one of them, causing people to stop and gape upward. I joined the crowd and started reporting what I was seeing, completely in the moment, my instincts sharp.

As I stood there watching and talking into my cell phone, the shadow of another plane appeared briefly over head, and then that plane slammed into the World Trade Centers second tower. Like everyone else, I could not believe what I was witnessing. A great cry went up from the crowd, and a man standing next to me said softly, The world has changed. I swung around to look at him. What do you mean? I asked, but I already knew the answer by the time he responded: This is not an accident. Its terrorism.

I remained outside, calling in to report what I was seeing, as the smoke billowed from the buildings. I was still standing on the corner of Broadway and Wall when the first tower collapsed and everything around me turned black. Choking on smoke and buffeted by a raging wind of debris, I shielded my eyes and ran for my life. I didnt want to go back into the Exchange because I feared it could be another target, so I ducked into the stairwell of a building across the street, down three steps into a foyer where a small group of people were huddled. One woman was crying hysterically, and I remember thinking that this was not the time for panic or tears, that we had to keep our heads. I went over to her and said loudly and firmly, Please calm down. Its important that you calm down. And she did, even as the floor we were standing on began to shake with the force of the second tower collapsing. For the first time in my thirty-four years, I understood that I was in a life-and-death crisis, unsure whether I would survive.

We stayed that way for what seemed like hours but was only about twenty minutes, until the thunderous noise stopped and left everything eerily silent. I walked up onto the street, covered in soot, and I noticed that my black patent-leather shoes were white with a thick dust. There was debris from the collapsed buildings littering the ground, and thousands of scraps of burned papers flying around me. I stumbled across the street to the Stock Exchange, where the doors were shut tight. Eric, the NYSE security guard, peered out at me from the window and hurriedly opened a door. He stared at me as if he were seeing a ghost. Maria, he cried, what are you doing out here? He grabbed my arm and pulled me inside.

The Exchange was crowded, but some people were joining a line of people forming on the eastern edge of Manhattan to walk uptown and away from the tragedy. I cleaned myself up as well as I could and went on the airand stayed there reporting for the rest of the day from inside the NYSE. No one knew what would happen or when the Stock Exchange would reopen. We were all incredibly sobered to be right there in the business capital of the world, now Ground Zero, feeling as if our foundations were crumbling around us. I didnt want to imagine the terrible carnage just two blocks away.

I left the Exchange around 9:00 P.M. , accompanied by my colleague Bob Pisani, who had been reporting alongside me throughout the day. The entire area was lit up with the recovery efforts. We walked nearly two miles up to 14th Street, where we were able to get a subway. The train was crowded, but nearly silent. The whole city was in a state of shock. As I arrived home and opened the door, I suddenly remembered that it was my birthday. When I walked in, my husband came over and we hugged wordlessly. He knew I was safe, because hed been watching me on television, but it was an emotional moment.

When the Stock Exchange reopened on September 17, we were all facing the new normal. Wall Street was ugly, with a putrid smell that clung to our clothes and made it hard to breathe. For days I never stepped outside without putting on the white mask that the police provided for workers in the area. Many people were talking about wanting to move out of New York City. Still, when the Stock Exchange reopened that morning, it was an incredibly proud moment. Governor George Pataki, Mayor Rudy Giuliani, NYSE CEO Dick Grasso, and a group of firefighters rang the opening bell as the packed floor cheered. The world was watching as we stood tall against disaster. We had survived.

In the weeks and months to come, I had the opportunity to interview many people about 9/11, and as I did so, I kept thinking, This is the heart and soul of our country. It was a terrible blow that shattered our national self-image, but ultimately, as we rose from the fire and ashes, we showed the world what we were really made of.

Many people from all walks of life died on September 11. But because my job involved reporting on business and finance, it was the young stockbrokers I couldnt get out of my mindthe promising lives that had been stolen in the attacks. All of those men and women, who had done everything right and were so successful, with their great careers and nice homes and beautiful families. They were rising stars at places like Cantor Fitzgerald, a firm that lost six hundred and fifty-eight employees in the attacks. Their success had brought them to jobs at the World Trade Center, where their lives were snuffed out. It struck me that you could do everything perfectly in life, and still something could happen that would take it all away in an instant.