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By age 25 John D. Rockefeller controlled one of the largest oil refineries in the nation.<\/p>\n
By age 31 he had become the world\u2019s largest oil refiner.<\/p>\n
By age 38 he commanded 90% of the oil refined in the U.S.<\/p>\n
By the time of his retirement at age 58, he was the richest man in the country.<\/p>\n
By the time he died, he had become the richest man in the world.<\/p>\n
The methodology by which Rockefeller gained dominance of the oil industry and amassed his wealth has long been the subject of debate. He has been alternately lionized and pilloried, according to the temper of the times and the side of his character being examined.<\/p>\n
To critics, Rockefeller was a ruthless and greedy capitalist, who unfairly crushed his competition and created a malevolent monopoly. To champions, he was a business genius (he never had a year where he didn\u2019t make a profit, flourishing even in recessions) who embodied the ideal of the self-made man<\/a>, stabilized a volatile industry, created jobs, brought down the price of oil (it dropped 80% during the life of Standard Oil), and became history\u2019s greatest philanthropist.<\/p>\n Indeed, as Rockefeller\u2019s preeminent biographer Ron Chernow puts it<\/a>, \u201cSeldom has history produced such a contradictory figure.\u201d In studying his life, one finds evidence for both portraits of the man, and of a character far more nuanced than those fond of either apologetics or polemics acknowledge. As Chernow concludes, \u201chis good side was every bit as good as his bad side was bad.\u201d<\/p>\n Fortunately, one need not agree with his bad side to learn from his good<\/a>. Or perhaps it would be more accurate to say that a man would be well served in learning the set of what were essentially Rockefeller\u2019s morally neutral tactics, and deciding for himself to which use to put them. For many of the fundamental principles this industrial titan employed to build his empire can be applied towards attaining success in any endeavor.<\/p>\n Today we will delve into just what those principles are.<\/p>\n If there was one overarching principle to Rockefeller\u2019s success, it is contained within this maxim of his:<\/p>\n \u201cI would rather be my own tyrant than have some one else tyrannize me.\u201d<\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n Rockefeller\u2019s most striking quality was what Chernow calls his almost \u201ceerie self-control.\u201d He relentlessly honed his will, training himself to be master of his emotions, desires, and schedule, so that he could direct all his impulses towards his aims. He set big goals for himself, and then attacked them with a disciplined, workaday ethic.<\/p>\n Rockefeller understood that if you wish to be your own boss, you have to learn how to boss yourself.<\/p>\n Here\u2019s exactly how he did so:<\/p>\n \u201cDo not many of us who fail to achieve big things \u2026 fail because we lack concentration — the art of concentrating the mind on the thing to be done at the proper time and to the exclusion of everything else?\u201d –John D. Rockefeller<\/p><\/blockquote>\n There was little in Rockefeller\u2019s upbringing that would portend his meteoric rise.<\/p>\n He was born in a clapboard house in New York in 1839. His mother was a solid, religious woman, but his father, William Avery Rockefeller, was essentially a snake oil salesman, who was gone from home for weeks and sometimes months at a time, selling his \u201cbotanical\u201d cures and living as a secret bigamist with another family. The Rockefellers had enough money to get by on, but their finances were perennially uncertain, dependent on when \u201cDevil Bill\u201d would show up, and how much money he would bring upon his return.<\/p>\n Young John grew up helping work the family farm and tending to his younger siblings. But he had his eye set on greater things, and earnestly desired to rise in the world. How he would do so was not immediately clear. In school, he was considered dim-witted and slow at his studies, and made little impression on his classmates, who, after his ascent to fame, struggled to remember much about him. As one recalled, \u201cI have no recollection of John excelling at anything\u2026There was nothing about him to make anybody pay especial attention to him or speculate about his future.\u201d<\/p>\n Yet the same former classmate did make this addendum: \u201cI do remember he worked hard at everything; not talking much, and studying with great industry.\u201d Here we find what would be one of the secrets to Rockefeller\u2019s success; in his own words, while he wasn\u2019t \u201cbrilliant,\u201d he was \u201creliable.\u201d He went about his schoolwork with patient persistence. \u201cI was not an easy student,\u201d he said, \u201cand I had to apply myself diligently to prepare my lessons.\u201d<\/p>\n Rockefeller did find he had a knack for numbers, and he dropped out of high school to become better acquainted with their management. Enrolling in a 3-month business course at a commercial college, he learned the basics of bookkeeping, penmanship, and banking, and then graduated at age 16 ready to move up in the world.<\/p>\n Eager to escape the orbit of his disreputable father and become an autonomous and self-reliant young man, Rockefeller left his rural home in Ohio (where his family had moved) to start his own life in Cleveland and find his very first job.<\/p>\n Rockefeller attacked this goal with the same patient persistence he had applied to his schoolwork. Wanting to find a position with a large and reputable establishment in which he\u2019d have the greatest opportunities for learning and advancement, he made a list of the merchants, banks, and railroads with the highest credit ratings. Each day Rockefeller put on a dark suit, shaved, shined his shoes, and hit the pavement making inquires about town. \u201cAt each firm,\u201d Chernow writes, \u201che asked to speak to the top man — who was usually unavailable — then got straight to the point with an assistant: \u2018I understand bookkeeping, and I\u2019d like to get work.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n As Rockefeller remembered, the job market was tight, and the response was not encouraging: \u201cNo one wanted a boy, and very few showed any overwhelming anxiety to talk with me on the subject.\u201d Yet young John D. was not at all discouraged. A return to his home, and to dependence, was unthinkable. When he had gone through his whole list without an offer, he simply started at the top, and visited every establishment again, sometimes dropping into the same business three times. He treated his job search just like his job: \u201cI was working every day at my business — the business of looking for work. I put in my full time at this every day<\/strong>.\u201d<\/p>\n Thus from morning until later afternoon, six days a week, for six weeks — sweating through Cleveland\u2019s hot summer, walking its streets \u2018til his feet ached — Rockefeller continued to seek a position. Finally, on September 26, 1855, he heard the words he\u2019d been waiting for: \u201cWe\u2019ll give you a chance.\u201d The small produce firm of Hewitt & Tuttle was in urgent need of an assistant bookkeeper, and told Rockefeller to take off his coat and get to work right away.<\/p>\n Ever after, Rockefeller referred to this date as \u201cJob Day\u201d and celebrated its anniversary with more gusto than his own birthday. For this was the great turning point in his life. Through singular focus on a goal, and patient persistence in its attainment, he had obtained a toehold in the world of business, and would use it as a springboard in making his improbable climb from lowly bookkeeper to corporate titan.<\/p>\n \u201cHis usual attitude towards all men was one of deep reserve, concealed beneath commonplaces and humorous anecdotes. He had the art with friends and guests of chatting freely, of calling out others, but of revealing little or nothing of his own innermost thoughts.\u201d –Frederick T. Gates, Rockefeller\u2019s financial advisor<\/p><\/blockquote>\n As a boy, John D.\u2019s mother taught him: \u201cControl of self wins the battle, for it means control of others<\/strong>.\u201d<\/p>\n He took that maxim to heart, adopting a far different leadership style than the stereotypical corporate tycoon, cultivating a power that relied not on loud, blustering displays and belligerent table-pounding, but quiet authority and a sphinx-like demeanor.<\/p>\n As a young man he had struggled with his temper, but he had trained himself to control it, and moved through the rest of life with exceptional equanimity, remaining poised and unruffled no matter the circumstances. “Even as a teenager,” Chernow notes, “Rockefeller was extremely composed in a crisis…The more agitated others became, the calmer he grew<\/strong>.\u201d This unflappability was accompanied by a studied reserve; though he was far warmer and genial than often pictured in the public imagination, he typically revealed little of his thoughts, even to close associates, and secreted himself in a shroud of privacy.<\/p>\n Such a stance was not simply a matter of preference or personality, but a deliberate tactical strategy; mastering his moods, reactions, and expressions and living another of his favorite maxims — \u201cSuccess comes from keeping the ears open and the mouth closed<\/strong>\u201d — gave Rockefeller an incomparable edge.<\/p>\n In dealing with employees, no matter how far down the ladder, he never lost his cool, even when they presented him with grievances. As one refinery worker recalled:<\/p>\n \u201cHe always had a nod and a kind word for everybody. He never forgot anyone. We had some trying times in the business in those early years, but I\u2019ve never seen Mr. Rockefeller when he was not friendly and kind and unruffled. Nothing excited him.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n Chernow notes that many of his other subordinates corroborated this description of their boss, saying that he never \u201craised his voice, uttered a profane or slang word, or acted discourteously.\u201d Such behavior won Rockefeller \u201cexcellent reviews from employees who regarded him as fair and benevolent, free of petty temper and dictatorial airs.\u201d<\/p>\n Believing there was strength in silence<\/strong>, Rockefeller listened far more than he talked in his meetings with the men at the top as well, and this air of almost supernatural calm only heightened his influence in the boardroom. As Chernow explains, \u201cThe quieter he was, the more forceful his presence seemed<\/strong>, and he played on his mystique as the resident genius immune to petty concerns.\u201d Rockefeller in fact sometimes napped, or seemed to, on a couch in the directors\u2019 conference room, only opening his eyes from time to time to add a comment to the proceedings.<\/p>\n Even when his associates engaged in heated debate, the chairman of Standard Oil maintained his composure. As one director recalled, \u201cI have seen board meetings, when excited men shouted profanity and made menacing gestures, but Mr. Rockefeller, maintaining the utmost courtesy, continued to dominate the room.\u201d<\/p>\n When dealing with adversaries, Rockefeller\u2019s reserve worked to upset their balance<\/strong>. His long silences while negotiating deals often threw members of the other party off their game, tying them up in self-defeating knots.<\/p>\n Virtually immune to intimidation, he answered the questions of hostile interrogators in a slow, cool, dignified way that frustrated their purposes. Rockefeller loved to tell the story of the time an irate contractor burst into his office and laid into him with an angry tirade. Rockefeller sat with back turned, hunched over a writing desk until the tongue-lashing ran its course. Then he spun around in his swivel chair, faced the scold, and coolly asked, \u201cI didn\u2019t catch what you were saying. Would you mind repeating that?\u201d<\/p>\n Colleagues and rivals alike found him hard to read — for one thing he had practiced the ability to maintain a perfect poker face when receiving a letter or telegram to conceal the kind of news it contained — and equally hard to reach. He wouldn\u2019t see unsolicited visitors in his office, and those who wished to meet with him had to make their approach by letter. As Chernow observes, \u201c<\/strong>His remoteness frustrated opponents, who felt they were boxing with a ghost<\/strong>.\u201d<\/p>\n Rockefeller also vigilantly maintained his privacy when it came to the press, routinely turning down interview requests, especially early in his career. Not only did he simply dislike anyone prying into his business, but he believed that familiarity bred contempt<\/strong>, and that the less access you gave the media, the more you preserved the public\u2019s fascination. Plus, he felt that speaking with journalists was an easy way to unintentionally share a trade secret that was best kept close to the vest.<\/p>\n Even when the press criticized him, as famous muckrakers like Ida Tarbell did to great acclaim and attention, Rockefeller chose to keep silent. He rarely even read these critiques, not because he couldn\u2019t take feedback — he actively solicited it up and down the Standard Oil ladder — but because he disdained criticism from those he felt lacked sufficient skin in the game<\/a>. \u201cIt is one thing to stand on the comfortable ground of placid inaction and put forth words of cynical wisdom,\u201d he said, \u201cand another to plunge into the work itself and through strenuous experience earn the right to express strong conclusions.\u201d<\/p>\n Though critiques he felt were misguided or outright wrong did get under his skin, he controlled his urge to react, leading one of his partners to exclaim: \u201cJohn, you have a hide like a rhinoceros!\u201d This ironclad restraint came from his inner-directed nature<\/a> \u2013 he simply didn\u2019t crave the approval of others, especially those he didn\u2019t respect.<\/p>\n His membership in the \u201cnever complain, never explain\u201d<\/a> school of response is perhaps best explained by an anecdote recalled by a friend. The two men were walking around Rockefeller\u2019s estate, with his companion urging him to respond to his critics. By way of an answer, Rockefeller pointed to a caterpillar crossing their path: \u201cIf I step on that worm I will call attention to it,\u201d he said. \u201cIf I ignore it, it will disappear.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cOnly fools get swelled up over money.\u201d –John D. Rockefeller<\/p><\/blockquote>\n From the above description, it may seem like Rockefeller was a prideful man. But this was far from the case. Throughout his life he assiduously cultivated his humility. From the very start of his career, he keenly understood the way that power and wealth could lead to hubris, and intentionally trained himself not to be guided by ego<\/strong>.<\/p>\n As his net worth began to steadily increase as a young man, he repeated proverbs like \u201cPride goeth before a fall\u201d to himself throughout the day. And at night, he would engage in an introspective examination of the state of his soul and his ego. Lying in bed, he would meditate on the volatility of the oil industry and the potential transience of his success, giving himself admonishments like:<\/p>\n \u201cYou\u2019ve got a fair fortune. You have a good property — now. But suppose the oil fields gave out!\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n And:<\/p>\n \u201cBecause you have got a start, you think you are quite a merchant; look out, or you will lose your head — go steady. Are you going to let this money puff you up? Keep your eyes open. Don\u2019t lose your balance.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n Such self-scrutiny, Rockefeller believed, helped him keep his head on straight: \u201cThese intimate conversations with myself, I\u2019m sure, had a great influence on my life. I was afraid I could not stand my prosperity, and tried to teach myself not to get puffed up with any foolish notions<\/strong>.\u201d<\/p>\n Rockefeller\u2019s membership in a faith community also aided him in keeping a level head. As a teenager, he had been baptized into the Erie Street Baptist Church (later the Euclid Avenue Baptist Church), a small mission church attended by largely lower middle-class congregants. Rockefeller diligently attended its Friday night prayer services, as well as two Sabbath day services, and sought to serve the church however he could. He not only led prayers and taught Sunday school, but functioned as the church\u2019s volunteer clerk and even janitor. As a fellow congregant remembered, no work was beneath him and he took care of whatever was needed:<\/p>\n “In those years\u2026Rockefeller might have been found there any Sunday sweeping out the halls, building a fire, lighting the lamps, cleaning the walks, ushering the people to their seats, studying the bible, praying, singing, performing all the duties of an unselfish and thorough going church member\u2026He was nothing but a clerk, and had little money, and yet he gave something to every organization in the little, old church.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n Even as he grew into the richest man in the country, Rockefeller didn\u2019t defect to a more \u201chigh-status\u201d mainline denomination or switch to attending one of the more well-to-do churches frequented by his tony peers. Instead, he prized the chance to rub shoulders with folks \u201cin the most humble of circumstances\u201d all the more, and never wanted to lose his connection with common people.<\/p>\n Inside and outside the church, Rockefeller was perennially interested in and curious about other people — no matter their walk of life. Wherever he went he asked those he met about themselves, and he listened attentively to what they had to say.<\/p>\n At work, this interest in others extended both up and down the corporate ladder.<\/p>\n His visits to the oil fields earned him the nickname \u201cthe Sponge\u201d for the way in which he keenly observed and absorbed all the information he could about how things were running. He conversed not only with those overseeing the operation, but with the rough wildcatters who were actually doing the drilling.<\/p>\n When touring Standard Oil\u2019s refining facilities, he consistently asked supervisors how things could be improved, made a note of their suggestions in the pocket notebook he always carried with him<\/a>, and then unfailingly followed-up on their ideas.<\/p>\n Such exchanges were motivated by Rockefeller\u2019s bedrock belief that \u201cIt is very important to remember what other people tell you, not so much what you yourself already know<\/strong>.\u201d<\/p>\n At the meetings of Standard Oil\u2019s directors, Rockefeller sat not at the head of the conference table (a chair he in fact ceded to the director with whom he had the most conflict), but amongst his colleagues. He solicited everyone else\u2019s opinions before offering his own, and even when he did, he framed his ideas as suggestions or questions<\/strong>. Rather than trying to unilaterally enforce his will, he always talked in terms of \u201cwe\u201d rather than \u201cI,\u201d<\/strong> encouraged compromise, and required all decisions to be made by consensus. As Chernow observes, far from this management style chafing his ego, Rockefeller happily delegated responsibilities and \u201capplauded the committee system as relegating him to a fifth wheel.\u201d Indeed, he liked to manage every level of Standard Oil with a light touch that allowed for the maximum autonomy of all his colleagues and subordinates.<\/p>\n Even in his philanthropy, Rockefeller submerged his ego. Unlike many charitable patrons who wanted their name plastered on everything, Rockefeller typically preferred to be a silent, invisible partner in the projects he funded. He specifically asked that buildings not<\/em> be named after him (though benefactors sometimes insisted), and rarely visited the facilities he brought to life, not wishing to draw attention away from the good work being done, and towards himself.<\/p>\n “I know of nothing more despicable and pathetic than a man who devotes all the hours of the waking day to the making of money for money’s sake.” –John D. Rockefeller<\/p>\n \u201cThe man who starts out simply with the idea of getting rich won\u2019t succeed; you must have a larger ambition.\u201d –JDR<\/p><\/blockquote>\n From the time he was a young man, Rockefeller wanted to become wealthy, and he was certainly driven at times in his career by simple avarice. But importantly, his motivation in building his empire did not rest solely on the desire to be rich, but was rather undergirded by satisfactions and purposes outside the acquisitive.<\/p>\n First, he simply enjoyed his work — enjoyed the identity, autonomy, and challenge (no matter how seemingly mundane) it presented. In his first job as a bookkeeper, he toiled from dawn \u2018til late in the evening not only to impress his superiors but because the work \u201cwas delightful to me — all the method and system of the office.\u201d While others found ledger books dreary and dry, John D. found them inexhaustibly interesting. He loved poring over the figures — putting them in order, ferreting out errors, making sense of the data.<\/p>\n In all his positions throughout his career, he always found something new to learn, and to seek to improve. \u201cThe zest of the work,\u201d he said, \u201cis maintained by something better than the mere accumulation of money.\u201d<\/p>\n As Rockefeller moved up in the world, he worked not just for the sake of its inherent satisfactions, nor only to make more money, but rather had his eye on two larger purposes.<\/p>\n First, he wanted to pioneer a new way of doing business. The oil industry was full of investors seeking immediate results — speculators who hoped to hit a gusher and become instantly wealthy. These start-ups had a short-term perspective that created a path of destruction — both in the economy and the natural landscape they gutted in search of black gold.<\/p>\n Rockefeller had a different vision for what the oil industry could become, one built on a long-term perspective, and the desire to create something sustainable and lasting. In helping to develop the principles of vertical and horizontal integration, and the structure of the trust, he sought to bring organization and stability to the chaotic industry, and in so doing, created the mold of the modern corporation. His goal was nothing less than an economic revolution, one he believed would benefit the nation as a whole. As Rockefeller explained his aim:<\/p>\n “I had no ambition to make a fortune. Mere money making has never been my goal. I saw a marvelous future for our country, and I wanted to participate in the work of making our country great. I had an ambition to build<\/strong>.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n Of course, not everyone felt that this new way of doing business was a good thing, but Rockefeller himself earnestly believed it was a benevolent pursuit — he saw his life\u2019s greatest work as stabilizing industry, creating jobs, and bringing down the price of kerosene, and then gasoline, thus making it affordable and accessible to the masses.<\/p>\n What added to Rockefeller\u2019s sense of purpose in building his industrial empire, was that the more money he made, the more he could give away. As a boy, his mother had always encouraged him to put some of his pocket change in a collection plate at church, and the philanthropic impulse never left him, and only grew along with his wealth.<\/p>\n In his first year as a bookkeeper, while earning a salary that barely allowed him to get by, Rockefeller gave around 6%, and sometimes more, of his income to charity. By time he was 20, he was consistently giving over 10%. Young Rockefeller was ecumenical in his giving, donating not just to his church, and to individual congregants in need, but to a mission in the notorious Five Points district of NYC, a Catholic church, and, in a move that was fairly unusual for the time, to charities that aided African-Americans.<\/p>\n In later life, he funded great, ambitious undertakings, including universities, medical research institutes, black schools in the South, and health campaigns around the globe. By the time of his death, he had given away almost $540 million dollars.<\/p>\n Rockefeller saw wealth accumulation like any other vocation or calling, saying:<\/p>\n \u201cI believe the power to make money is a gift from God — just as are the instincts for art, music, literature, the doctor\u2019s talent, the nurse\u2019s, yours — to be developed and used to the best of our ability for the good of mankind. Having been endowed with the gift I possess, I believe it is my duty to make money and still more money, and to use the money I make for the good of my fellow man according to the dictates of my conscience.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n Paradoxically enough, wealth often comes as a kind of by-product of the pursuit of other goals, rather than from the pursuit of it itself<\/strong>, and having purposes over and above the mere attainment of money is arguably part of what facilitated Rockefeller\u2019s success. His greater goals fostered a deeper motivation, and a more long-term perspective; rather than myopically chasing immediate results, he was able to focus on building something lasting.<\/p>\n Chernow writes that \u201cRockefeller seemed destined to succeed as much from his fastidious work habits as from innate intelligence,\u201d and the man himself admitted to having \u201ca passion for detail.\u201d<\/p>\n If anything, this was an understatement.<\/p>\n In his personal appearance, Rockefeller always presented himself well-groomed and neatly dressed. His face was always shaved, and his shoes were perennially shined<\/a>.<\/p>\n When it came to appointments, he was religiously punctual<\/a>, believing that \u201cA man has no right to occupy another man\u2019s time unnecessarily<\/strong>.\u201d<\/p>\n He kept his own personal routine<\/a> to a T — allotting a certain time for business, family, faith, and hobbies, and sticking to that planned schedule down to the second.<\/p>\n In business deals, he always paid his debts and fulfilled his contracts on time.<\/p>\n In dictating letters to his secretaries, he would work his way through 5-6 drafts, refining the wording in each round until he felt it was just right and best conveyed his intent.<\/p>\n Signing these letters was a precise process in and of itself. As an aide remembered, \u201cI have seen him sign his name to hundreds of papers at a sitting. He did each signature carefully as if this particular one was to be the only one by which he was to be remembered for all time. Each signature became in his mind a work of art.\u201d<\/p>\n And of course, when it came to bookkeeping, Rockefeller\u2019s zeal knew no bounds. Early in his career, he \u201clearned to have great respect for figures and facts, no matter how small they were.\u201d If there was a tiny error on an invoice, Rockefeller noticed it. If he was due a few cents more than he was paid, he requested the oversight remedied.<\/p>\n As the chairman of Standard Oil, he was consistently on top of all the numbers being generated by his sprawling empire, as they allowed him to objectively track the health of its various sectors, and to know when the data didn\u2019t match what he was hearing from his subordinates. As Chernow writes, \u201cIt was the way that he extended rationality from the top of his organization down to the lowest rung: Every cost in the Standard Oil universe was computed to several decimal places.\u201d Or in other words, Rockefeller was a big believer in the maxim, \u201cWhat gets measured gets managed<\/strong>.\u201d<\/p>\n His left hand always knew what his right hand was doing, and he scoffed at rivals who lacked such knowledge: \u201cMany of the brightest kept their books in such a way that they did not actually know when they were making money on a certain operation and when they were losing.\u201d<\/p>\n Some found this obsession with the details overly methodical and exacting, but Rockefeller knew that tiny corrections could end up making a large, lasting impact<\/strong>. For example, while touring a plant he saw that 40 drops of solder<\/a> were being used to seal kerosene cans destined for export. He asked the foreman to try sealing them with 38 drops; some leaked with 38, but none with 39, and so the switch was made. Rockefeller recalled:<\/p>\n \u201cThat one drop of solder saved $2,500 the first year: but the export business kept on increasing after that and doubled, quadrupled — became immensely greater than it was then: and the saving has gone steadily along, one drop on each can, and has amounted since to many hundreds of thousands of dollars.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\nThe Rockefellian Key to Success: Be Your Own Tyrant<\/span><\/h3>\n
Practice Relentless Persistence<\/h3>\n
Cultivate Unassailable Poise and Reserve<\/h3>\n
Check Your Ego<\/h3>\n
To Get Wealthy, Have a Purpose Beyond Getting Wealthy<\/h3>\n
Pay Attention to the Details<\/h3>\n
Live Frugally (Even When You Don\u2019t Have To)<\/h3>\n