Book Review — Beyond Prejudice by Tidjane Thiam

As anyone who followed the excerpts I shared while reading Beyond Prejudice would know, I enjoyed this book. It is readable, direct, and often disarming in its honesty. It moves across Ivory Coast, France, the United States, the United Kingdom, and Switzerland with the ease of someone who has lived at the centre of power in each place.

Tidjane Thiam was not born into obscurity. His Senegalese father married into the family of Félix Houphouët-Boigny, Ivory Coast’s founding president. But privilege did not shield him from the world’s cruelties. His childhood in Morocco offers one of the most striking early scenes. Men spat on the windows of their car. He writes that they were “mostly the men at the very bottom of the Moroccan social ladder… Black Africans were the only people they could look down on.” It is a brutal introduction to hierarchy, and one he did not fully understand at the time.

His academic record reads like a catalogue of excellence. He became the first Ivorian admitted into France’s elite École Polytechnique, graduating in advanced mathematics and physics. He followed that with being top of the class at École Nationale Supérieure des Mines de Paris, then an MBA from INSEAD (Dean’s list). On paper, this is the kind of trajectory that guarantees opportunity.

Reality proved otherwise. He struggled to find a job after graduation while watching his white peers move ahead with ease. It was McKinsey & Company that eventually gave him his break, and by his own admission, refined him. The discipline, the structure, the clarity of thinking, all of it becomes visible later in his public service.

When he returned to Ivory Coast, he stepped into government at a critical moment. Working under the second administration after Houphouët-Boigny, he handled major infrastructure and economic reforms. His role was simple to describe but difficult to execute. Ensure the public got value for money. He did it well enough to be named among the World Economic Forum’s Global Leaders for Tomorrow. It felt like the beginning of a long public career.

It ended abruptly.

In December 1999, while he was abroad, a military coup swept through the country. The account of his return is one of the most gripping parts of the book. Against advice, he chose to go back. A lawyer even suggested he take photographs of himself before leaving, to document his physical condition in case things went wrong.

What followed was dramatic and which read like a novel. The military government cleared him of wrongdoing. Then they asked him to join them. He diplomatically refused. What follows is a careful, almost surgical exit from the country.

His corporate life in Europe begins in earnest after that. At Aviva, he faced early disappointments. Then came Prudential plc, where he became the first black CEO of a major European financial institution. His start was rough and markets were sceptical. But he turned the company around, and the numbers forced respect.

Then came Credit Suisse.

Most readers will approach the book for this chapter, and it does not disappoint. The hostility he faced is laid bare. A senior investor was quoted as saying, “Who does this nigger think he is? There’s no way we’re going to let him do a transaction of $35 billion.” That sentence alone captures the environment he operated in.

The racism was personal. Letters sent to his home told him to “go back to Africa.” Death threats arrived. The press circled constantly, eager for a misstep. Regulators treated him differently from his peers. When the surveillance scandal broke, despite it being a common and legal practice in the industry, the board moved quickly. Within five days, he was pushed out.

What seems to trouble him most is not the accusation, but the absence of support. Institutions, when tested, reveal their true nature. His experience suggests they are often less principled than they appear.

There are lessons everywhere in this book. Some are explicit. Others you extract yourself. He admits he underestimated the importance of personal public relations. He wishes he had pushed back more forcefully during the crisis. There is also a consistent emphasis on excellence. Not as a slogan, but as a necessity for anyone operating as a minority in elite spaces.

His influence is felt beyond boardrooms. He recounts how Aliko Dangote called him personally to celebrate his appointment. There is also the story of a black cleaner who placed his portrait on her wall so her son could see what was possible.

On development, his views are clear. Having seen Asia’s rise and Europe’s stagnation, he argues for markets guided by disciplined governance. Not unchecked capitalism, but not suffocating state control either. He is now positioning himself for a return to Ivorian politics, with a focus on entrepreneurship and economic reform.

If you are reading this, find the book. It is short, under 200 pages, but it carries more weight than many longer works. This is easily one of the most compelling books I have read this year.