On Top of the World
Cantor Fitzgerald, Howard Lutnick and 9/11: - A Story of Loss and Renewal
Author - Tom Brabash, published by HarperCollins, 2003 (ISBN 0-06-051029-3)
On the morning of September 11, 2001, Howard Lutnick deviated from his work schedule to drop off his son for his first day of kindergarten in New York, having planned to arrive at the offices of Cantor Fitzgerald some time after 9 am. As the CEO of Cantor Fitzgerald, Lutnick - at 40 - was one of a group of young, fast-rising, stars in the financial world. In less than two hours, the company, which occupied the 101st, 103rd, 104th and 105th floors of the North Tower of the World Trade Center had lost over 90% of its staff. This book tells the story of the effect on Cantor Fitzgerald on that day, and the struggle to continue business while losing 658 of just over 1000 staff who worked in Cantor’s New York Offices. Also lost that day with Cantor’s employees were food service workers, electricians and several teams of consultants - over 700 in total on those four floors.
On September 14th, the surviving Cantor executives met at Howard Lutnick’s house to discuss the situation: In the municipal bonds division, only the boss was accounted for - 1 out of 36. In corporate bonds, 4 out of 86. In equities, 16 out of 140. Mortgage-backed securities - 2 out of 36. Foreign exchange forwards - 1 out of 8. TradeSpark, 4 out of 44. Human resources, 1 out of 9. Repos - no one had survived.
This book is listed as with Brabash as the author, but much of the book is Howard Lutnick’s own notes of the time from September 11 through to six months later.
Not only is “On Top Of The World” a book about Cantor’s struggle to survive, but it puts a very human face to the tragedy of the towers. While other firms managed to evacuate many of their personnel that morning, not one person in Cantor’s offices at 8:46 am, when American Airlines Flight 11 struck the north side of Tower 1, was able to escape.
For a first-hand account of the WTC on September 11,2001, this book holds up well with comparisons against two books by members of the New York Fire Department: “Last Man Down” by Rich Picciotto, and “Report From Ground Zero” by Dennis Smith..
For those, like myself, who watched this event on television on the morning of September 11, 2001, this book renews the sense of horror and the shock. Having said that, this book also moves beyond the events of that day, and through the process of rebuilding and survival of the company.
Rating (out of 5): 3.5 stars.
