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So the night of September 11, I didn't really know who was alive and who wasn't alive. So we had a conference call. It was about 10 o'clock at night.… - Howard Lutnick
" "So the night of September 11, I didn't really know who was alive and who wasn't alive. So we had a conference call. It was about 10 o'clock at night. And my employees called in. And I said, look, we have two choices. We can shut the firm down and go to our friends' funerals. Remember, that would be 20 funerals a day every day for 35 straight days. And I've got to tell you, I'm not really interested in going to work. All I want to do is climb under the covers and hug my family. But if we are going to go to work, we're going to do it to take care of our friends' families. So what do you want to do? You guys want to shut it down? Or do you want to work harder than you've ever worked before in your life? And that was the moment where the company survived.
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About Howard Lutnick
Howard William Lutnick (born July 14, 1961) is an American businessman who was appointed to serve as the United States Secretary of Commerce by the Trump Administration in February, 2025. He was formerly the head of Cantor Fitzgerald, a corporation affected directly by the September 11, 2001 Terrorist Attacks in Manhattan, New York.
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Alternative Names:
Howard William Lutnick
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Howard W. Lutnick
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Additional quotes by Howard Lutnick
Well, decisions I made were they needed to have a boss for the business. If I didn't have a leader, I shut it. And I had a division of 86 people where four people survived. And you can't really build a business back with four people. Basically, we went from being a great company that was making a million dollars a day to a company that was losing a million dollars a day. But they all have mortgages to pay, and they need to put food on their table. So one of the things I did is I would call the leaders of other companies and say, here, this guy's John. He sells this many products. He's incredibly successful. You would've never been able to hire him. He was never going to come work for you.
Well, it used to be that I felt that I had two lives before 9/11 and after, and it would feel sometimes that it was still so raw it felt like yesterday. And this year as I reflect on 20 years, it just doesn't feel like yesterday anymore. I employ the children of people who were killed that day. 20 years is as much time since 9/11 as I was at Cantor Fitzgerald before 9/11. So I think it feels much more separated from my life before.
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I think America is in a place to teach the world and to show the world what leadership is like, what a great economy is like, what taking care of its Americans is like. And to be part of that administration, to be part of this historic Trump administration is one of the great honors of my life. So I'm just looking forward to being a part of this administration, to play my part in helping drive our economy's growth and driving the support and dedication to our American people.
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