Good for the Money: My Fight to Pay Back America

In this no-holds-barred, captivating memoir, legendary CEO Benmosche recounts leading the remarkable turnaround of “too big to fail” insurance giant AIG and shares leadership lessons from a stellar career. As AIG’s fifth CEO in four years, Benmosche took on a seemingly impossible task and not only paid off the company’s staggering $183 billion debt but also settled the account with a $22.7 billion profit. A self-made man whose father died suddenly when he was a child, Benmosche asserts that the brash, blunt style he developed as a “rambunctious” kid fueled his successes at brokerage firm Paine Webber, as CEO of MetLife, and at AIG. He also credits the early lessons in customer service he received from his mother, who ran a Catskill hotel following his father’s death. Though Benmosche’s candid accounts of his personal and family life lend the book an intimate and honest feel, his often irreverent look at the AIG turnaround is the most entertaining section, complete with skirmishes with the media, struggles to transform the corporate culture, and pitched battles with government appointees and Congress. This is a definite must-read for anyone who wants to learn about the financial crisis, turnarounds in business, or leadership. Agent: Leah Spiro, Riverside Creative Management. (Apr.)