“There was nothing about him to make anybody pay especial attention to him or speculate about his future.”
This post will be about Rockefeller’s psychology and how it helped him become wealthy. It will also give you an idea of what he was like as a person. I’d like to begin with a description of Rockefeller when he was a child. I’ll be quoting a lot.
“Despite Rockefeller’s roseate memories, early photos of him tell a much more somber tale. His face was grime, expressionless, lacking boyish joy and animation…to other people, he often seemed abstracted, and they remembered him with a deadpan face trudging along country roads, lost in thought, as if unraveling deep problems…he was a quiet boy…he seemed always to be thinking.”
Like Richard Branson, Rockefeller had tiny ventures as a boy (buying candy in bulk, saving his money in a blue china bowl, and selling turkey chicks). Also like Branson, he was a patient and persistent, but slow learner. “Like J.P. Morgan and Jay Gould, [he] exhibited a terrific head for math.”
“If Rockefeller didn’t excel in class, it might have been in part because he lacked the bright boy’s exhibitionism, the yearning for gold stars; [he was] always inner directed and indifferent to the approval of others.”
I find it really interesting that there were very few signs from an early age that Rockefeller was going to become one of the greatest businessmen in America’s history. The one “sign” that Chernow offered was that Rockefeller was very careful and focused when he played games like chess. He also set goals and would not deviate until he accomplished them. Oddly, his slow and thoughtful style was combined with swift execution when he made a decision. Rockefeller was also a “clear and precise” communicator.
Rockefeller blended into the crowded during his teen years. One of the bigger things his classmates remembered about him was that he said on multiple occasions, “Some day, sometime, when I am a man, I want to be worth a-hundred-thousand-dollars. And I’m going to be, too–Some day.”
Rockefeller’s father had an interesting impact on his life. He was a bit of a wandering traveler, who loved cash. He peddled fake products and took advantage of ignorant locals. He also fornicated with multiple women on the road, despite being married. He would leave for months at a time, and when he came back, he would have wads of cash and flaunt his “richness” through expensive clothes, rings, watches, and by pulling out a bundle of cash whenever he paid.
The one thing his father did teach Rockefeller, aside from being a model of how NOT to live, was bargaining skills, contract law, ways to deal with employees, and the importance of paying debt on time. His father also lent him money for his first ventures (though demanded interest and at times would require the principle be paid within days).
Another influence in Rockefeller’s life was religion. Rockefeller led a strict religious life up until his death and saw earning money as a way to praise god. He believed that oil was a gift from god, similar to the way that some believe fire was a gift from god. Throughout his life, Rockefeller often felt like he was on a mission from god and that god had blessed him with certain gifts. He believed in an “us-them” world, similar to the way religious individuals view non-religious individuals. In all, he felt compelled to make money in order to serve god and that he was blessed by god to become rich.
Rockefeller’s first job was as a clerk, where he learned accounting and realized he had a love for detail and numbers. The skills he picked up at this job played a key role further down the line when he was starting companies. It allowed him to have the ability to understand the underlying forces of a company and where improvements need to be made. It’s also important to note the extreme persistence he exhibited when searching for a job. He wouldn’t take no for an answer and searched for work all day every day until he was offered a job.
During his first job, he came to have a love for work and fit right into the office environment. If there is one recurring theme in his early life, it is that he wanted to be treated as an adult because he believed he took on the same responsibilities as an adult (caring for family when father was gone). This is what drove him to secure a job and to treat older businessmen no differently than as if he were their colleague.
As I read about Rockefeller’s first venture (basically a grocery store or convenience shop) and then his oil refining business, I came to better understand his inner mentality. For example, he took frugality to the extreme and never made lavish displays of wealth, even when he had money.
“I wore a thin overcoat and thought how comfortable I should be when I could afford a long, thick Ulster. I carried a lunch in my pocket until I was a rich man. I trained myself in the school of self-control and self-denial. It was hard on me, but I would rather be my own tyrant than have someone else tyrannize me.”
He also showed incredible attention to the detail of the product development process and product output and strove to make it as high quality and efficient as possible. I got the impression that he spent every minute of the day (aside from church) thinking about business and how to expand.
As his business grew in the oil industry, his focus intensified.
“Sharing a room with brother William, he often nudged him awake in the dead of night.’I've been thinking out a plan to do so and so,’ he would ask. ‘Now, what do you think of this scheme?’
“For years on end I never had a solid night’s sleep, worrying about how it was to come out…I tossed about in bed night after night worrying over the outcome… all the fortune that have made has not served to compensate for the anxiety of that period” During this period, he gave himself nightly sermons where he motivated himself, maintained control over his emotions, and gathered his strength for another day of hard work.
Rockefeller was extremely disciplined about his book keeping and the way his business was run. He did everything possible to create higher profits (lowering transportation cost, encouraging efficient, economies of scale), and would remove partners or employees who either clashed with his vision or did not help him. He had a knack for attracting great people and quickly assessing people.
“You will remember that the business in its early years was a sort of gold-field rush…great fortunes were made by some of the first adventurers, and evrything was carried on in a sort of helter-skelter way…Rockefeller represented the second, more rational stage of capitalist development, when the colorful daredevils and pioneering spectulators give way…to the men who had grown up in the hard school of life, calculating and daring at the same time, above all temperate and reliable, shrewd and completely devoted to their business, with stricktly bourgeois opinions and principles.”
This gives you an idea of the mental strategies or convictions Rockefeller maintained and how they helped him be successful. It’s true that he was in the right place, in the right industry, and possessed the skill set needed to capture the industry, but to me it seems like he would have succeeded wherever he ended up. He always wanted to be a part of something “big” and that didn’t necessarily have to be the oil industry. I think he would have kept searching until he found it and then applied the focus, discipline, and ruthless drive to the business.
Tony Robbins says that the most important first step when setting a goal is to develop a strong “why.” You need to know why you’re doing it and have enough compelling reasons or else you will give up along the way. It’s interesting how Rockefeller loved work and was extremely disciplined, but what’s even more interesting are his reasons for wanting to be wealthy.
Overall:“Rockefeller succeeded because he believed in the long-term prospects of the business and never treated it as a mirage that would soon fade.”
