Janet Hanson met John Whitehead on a chartered sailboat when she was a senior in college. It was a trip that would change the course of her life forever. As one of the most respected senior partners at Goldman Sachs, the investment banking powerhouse, Whitehead urged Hanson to go to business school and join him at the firm. With zero interest in doing either, Hanson graduated from college and returned to her job at the local golf club. Realizing that her golf game was improving but her life was going nowhere, Hanson got her MBA and joined Goldman Sachs as a twenty-four-year-old associate in Fixed Income Sales.

Fiercely competitive, Hanson would eventually earn the awe and admiration of the trading desks by becoming one of the biggest revenue producers in the division. When she married one of her colleagues, they became the ultimate power couple. After the marriage fizzled, work became Hanson’s obsession and before long, she became her ex-husband’s boss as the first female sales manager in the firm’s history. Still managing a full account load, Hanson put her foot on the gas and left it there. Whenever she felt depressed, she spent lavishly on cars, clothes, and expensive trips for her family.

Finally realizing that she’d hit the wall and the glass ceiling, Hanson impulsively quit her job. Over the next six years, Hanson remarried, had two kids, and came back to Goldman in a vain attempt to resurrect her floundering career.

In 1994, Hanson ripped a page right out of Goldman’s playbook and launched her own mutual fund company with a handful of ex-GS professionals. Broad Street tells the story of Hanson’s tumultuous career ride at Goldman Sachs and later, how she parlayed every lesson learned into her own wildly successful, multi-billion dollar asset management firm.

Book Review 1:

I just finished the book. Wow, it is so authentic and intimate. I could feel the intensity and emotions so vividly— from being part of an extraordinary firm at an extraordinary time —to coming to the realization that it was not a level playing field. As a woman you were climbing up the same mountain as the men but you carried a backpack and had weights on your ankles. You were and are a trailblazer. By you sharing your experience, it validates what so many women felt but could not define, admit or speak out loud. Thank you. -- Deborah Jackson: Entrepreneur, Founder, CEO, Tech Investor, Former Investment Banker, Change Agent

Book Review 2:

In Broad Street, Janet Hanson has brought to life the painful realities of working on Wall Street, and especially so for women, even at Goldman Sachs, which wants people to think it's better than everyone else. It's why I used to say about working on Wall Street, "It's good one day a year.” -- WILLIAM D. COHAN: Former investment banker and best-selling author of Money and Power: How Goldman Sachs Came to Rule the World; Founding Partner, Puck News

Book Review 3:

On one level, Broad Street, Janet Hanson’s story of her life and career, is an inspirational story of how to succeed against the odds. Even more importantly, it’s the story of how to build a meaningful and happy life by following your own gut. -- BETHANY MCLEAN: Award-winning author, journalist, and all around fabulous human being

Book Review 4:

From our Day 1 meeting at Columbia Business School, I knew Janet Hanson was a special mix of tough and tender. In her page-turner memoir Broad Street, Janet shares how her toughness allowed her to get to the top despite all the obstacles thrown in her path. What I love most about this book is how her tenderness allowed her to play the game by her rules. You will be inspired by this epic of “derring do” - daring to be and daring to do.” -- CAROLYN BUCK LUCE: Executive Coach, Inventor of The Decade Game; Author, EPIC! The Women’s Power Play Book, former diplomat and investment banker

Book Review 5:

Just finished your book – I felt like I was living every adrenaline rush, angst and aggravation - and understanding the contradictory love/hate relationship which comes with working inside an iconic, storied firm. -- J. KELLY HOEY: Author, Build Your Dream Network

Book Review 6:

Hop on a rollercoaster ride as you follow Janet Hanson's career at Goldman Sachs. Broad Street shares the good, the bad, and the ugly, and you'll come away learning that when one door closes, you just have to kick the next one in hard enough to create a permanent opening for others to walk through. -- ALISON LEVINE: Author, NYT bestseller On the Edge. Team captain, American Women’s Everest Expedition