The private equity firm's annual leadership summit ended Thursday with an exercise designed to build internal cohesion ahead of audit season.
Blackstone managing directors wrapped up their three-day leadership offsite at an Adirondacks resort on Thursday by participating in a mandatory trust fall into a 40-foot silo of pulverized IRS filings.
The team-building exercise required the firm's top 200 executives to climb a specialized scaffolding tower, cross their arms over their chests, and drop backward into a 14-ton cushion of cross-cut financial disclosures. Facilitators instructed participants to shout a non-GAAP revenue metric on the way down to demonstrate their commitment to the firm's forward guidance.
When you close your eyes and let go, you have to truly believe that your colleagues will catch you, and that the Justice Department will never be able to reassemble these Q3 asset valuations.
Paramedics were kept on standby at the base of the pit after several junior partners sustained minor paper cuts from the heavy-stock Cayman Islands incorporation documents. Following the drop, executives were given three minutes to wade through the shredded material and retrieve their firm-issued fleeces before the pit was sealed.
The retreat is scheduled to conclude Friday morning with a fireside chat, during which partners will roast marshmallows over a controlled burn of the firm's primary digital backup servers.