CAN'T DENY IT

A corporate analyst recounts highlights of his memorable career in this debut business memoir.

“Colleagues were warning me that an internal coup was underway,” Terreson writes in the book’s opening chapter, adding, “and I was the target.” When he was the head of energy research at Evercore ISI and Morgan Stanley, his data-driven forecasts for crude oil, refined products, and overall energy strategy often bucked consensus. Indeed, despite the fact that he had a remarkable record of accurate predictions on Wall Street, he asserts that he continually faced pressure inside Morgan Stanley to adapt them to current trends. In this memoir, Terreson focuses on his reports on the industry “that made me a household name on Wall Street,” including a groundbreaking argument in the late 1990s that oil companies’ business models had become obsolete. Industry insiders, in particular, will find this a fascinating read, as Terreson provides frank commentary on his methodology and his willingness to make tough, data-based calls that went against conventional wisdom. Alongside highly detailed accounts of his involvement in some of the biggest mergers of the 21st century, such as that between Chevron and Texaco, he effectively tells the story of his path from the Deep South to life in upper-crust Manhattan. As a petroleum engineering graduate from Mississippi State University, he recalls getting early “hands-on experience in the oil fields” of the Gulf Coast. After his move to New York, the author remained drawn to the South, and he cautions would-be analysts that Wall Street is not glamorous, but an “intense, lonely, hyper-competitive” job “not for those with thin skin or a faint heart.” The book’s biographical vignettes are often charming and even inspirational; indeed, Terreson’s rise to a powerful position in one of the nation’s leading industries fits many definitions of the American dream.

A detailed and insightful look at an intriguing career.