Columbia Business School welcomed Jon Gray, President and Chief Operating Officer of Blackstone, for a fireside chat with Professor Brian Lancaster as part of the Finance Division’s Capital Markets series, co-sponsored by the Columbia Business School Distinguished Speaker Series.
In a wide-ranging conversation, Gray reflected on his own career path, from joining Blackstone in 1992 to helping lead the firm through decades of evolution, and shared insights into the company’s investment discipline, culture, and long-term thinking. He credited Blackstone’s sustained growth to foundational decisions, including the firm’s early move into private equity and a relentless focus on performance and talent.
“I do think being at a place where there is this real drive, this will to win, that’s the thing you want to be around.”
He also emphasized how the firm’s success has been built on hiring great people, maintaining high standards, and fostering a culture of continuous improvement. These early choices, Gray suggested, created the conditions for Blackstone’s growth into a firm with $1.2 trillion in assets under management.
Five key points emerged from Gray’s wide-ranging discussion, which covered topics such as the use of AI in investing, portfolio management techniques, and the growth of private credit. Read on for his take on each topic.
1. Data, Pattern Recognition, and Portfolio Signals
Gray described how Blackstone leverages its scale and access to information across 250 companies, 13,000 real estate assets, and extensive infrastructure holdings to recognize patterns and trends. The firm collects both real-time data and anecdotal insights from its portfolio, using a combination of dashboards, human analysis, and emerging AI tools to inform decisions.
“But if you really think about what is investing at its core,” he said, “it’s really pattern recognition.” He emphasized that with visibility across global markets and sectors, Blackstone can often identify developments early, like rising inflation, by observing trends within its portfolio companies.
Gray explained how these insights are used for both short-term decisions, like selling stock or issuing debt, and for identifying long-term secular trends. For instance, if the firm sees a rising middle class and improving infrastructure in a market like India, it may choose to significantly increase its investments there.
2. Digital Transformation and AI
Discussing technology’s growing role in investment strategy, Gray spoke about Blackstone’s conviction in the long-term implications of artificial intelligence and digital infrastructure. A major thrust of this strategy has been the firm’s substantial investment in data centers, which Gray described as central to the digital economy.
“We have a simple view that our lives are moving online… AI in particular is gonna revolutionize everything we do,” he said. He explained that the “physical manifestation of the data and the compute power is the data center,” underscoring Blackstone’s significant investments in that space.
“And therefore,” he continued, “if we own the biggest data center company in the US and we own the biggest data center company in Asia, and we have the biggest powered land bank in Europe, I think that’s a good place to be.”
3. Growth of Private Credit
Gray discussed the rising appeal of private credit and how its structure can offer investors higher returns with the same or lower levels of risk compared to traditional fixed income products.
“Investors have been realizing now that they can get higher returns with the same or lower levels of risk in private credit,” he said, largely because “it’s a direct-to-customer model.” In bypassing traditional layers of origination, securitization, and distribution, Blackstone can offer a more efficient path between capital and borrower—whether for university endowments, pension funds, or individual investors.
4. A Business That Is Expanding but Stays True to Its Core
Gray emphasized that while Blackstone’s scale and investor base have broadened, now spanning multiple asset classes, geographic markets, and investor types, the core mission remains the same: “Although the sources of where we’re getting capital are expanding, the basic business—manufacturing good investments—that is remarkably unchanged.”
5. Advice for the Next Generation
Gray shared practical advice shaped by decades of leadership experience: “Work harder and care more than everybody else.” He also encouraged students to embrace an entrepreneurial mindset, regardless of role or industry: “Think about how you can be an agent of change wherever you land.”
He spoke about the value of choosing a workplace that aligns with your values: “If you could go to a place where you’re intellectually challenged, the place is ideally growing and you’re learning a ton and you share the values and culture… that can be really meaningful.” He acknowledged that every career has its bumps, including difficult bosses, but stressed the importance of working somewhere that feels purposeful.
Gray urged students to see themselves as change-makers, regardless of title: “You don’t have to be Steve Jobs or Bill Gates in the garage to be entrepreneurial. Any function can give you that kind of opportunity.”
Read the full article by Kevin Erixson / Columbia Business Insights
