Ready or not, the Trump administration is coming Friday, and Americans better brace themselves for change, Blackstone chief Steve Schwarzman told CNBC on Wednesday.
"I think we're in a period of adjustment and learning, and that's normal, and so I'm not pessimistic," the chairman, CEO and co-founder of the investment firm told "Squawk Box." "I think if you don't like change, this will be an uncomfortable period,"
In December, President-elect Donald Trump announced that Schwarzman would chair his newly formed strategic and policy forum, a group of leaders from some of the largest, most prominent U.S. companies. Trump pledged to meet with them "frequently" to share thoughts on economic policy.
Schwarzman, who spoke to CNBC at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, defended some of the president-elect's proposed policy changes.
"The leaning forward, if you will, to experiment, to de-bottleneck, to change taxes. ... There [are] going to be a lot of things, most of which, on a theoretical basis, most people would say are good things," he said.
Schwarzman, whose global investment firm has $361 billion assets under management, likened the new administration's methods to "zero-based budgeting," a business tactic where all of an organization's expenses are reconsidered at the start of each fiscal period to decide where the funds would be best put to use — a clean slate.
"That'll drive them to look at almost everything," the Blackstone chief said. "It's going to touch a lot of unfamiliar places."
Correction: This story was revised to correct that Blackstone has $361 billion in assets under management.
