Be your own tyrant: 6 pillars of John Rockefeller's success

Perhaps the most surprising quality of this personality was incredible self-control. John understood: if you want to be your own leader, learn to lead yourself. You can relate to the first-ever dollar billionaire as you like, but his principles are worth taking into account. They are ethically neutral and will come in handy in any endeavor.

1. Unwavering Perseverance

Rockefeller was born into a simple poor family. Since childhood, he helped his parents on the farm, looked after his younger brothers and sisters, and moonlighted. Education at school was given to him hard. Later, his classmates said that at that time he did not stand out in anything, except for his diligence. But this is one of the secrets of his success: he carried out tasks with patient perseverance.

After high school, John went to college and soon discovered the ability to work with numbers. Not wanting to spend years studying, he left college and enrolled in a three-month accounting course. At the age of 16, he started looking for a job.

Rockefeller wanted to get a job in a large respected firm, where there are most opportunities to learn something and move forward. He compiled a list of the most reliable banks, trading and railway companies.

Every day he put on a suit, shaved, cleaned his shoes and went in search of work. At each firm, he asked the chief executive, but usually he was asked to speak with an assistant. Rockefeller immediately informed him that he knew about accounting and wanted to get a job.

After going through all the firms on the list with no result, he started over and revisited each one. In some he went three times.

He treated the search as a full-time job, doing it six days a week from morning to evening. After six weeks, he finally heard the coveted words: "We will give you a chance." The small company Hewitt & Tuttle urgently needed an assistant accountant, and Rockefeller was asked to start work immediately. He remembered this day for the rest of his life and considered the beginning of his success.

2. Self-control and restraint

Rockefeller's mother taught him from childhood that controlling oneself means controlling others. He remembered this, and his leadership style was very different from that typical of the then industrial magnates. His power was not based on angry pounding on the table, but on a dispassionate demeanor.

In his youth, he was quick-tempered, but then he learned to control his temper. From then until the end of his life, he was distinguished by amazing composure, maintaining equanimity in all situations. This composure was complemented by an emphasized restraint. Usually John barely disclosed his thoughts, even to close associates.

Rockefeller followed the principle: "Success comes when you keep your ears open and your mouth shut."

He was in control of his mood, reactions and facial expressions. He never lost his temper when communicating with employees, even when they complained about something. According to them, he always found a kind word for everyone and did not forget anyone. Such calmness and friendliness, even in difficult times for the company, won Rockefeller excellent reviews from employees. They considered him honest and generous, free from petty outbursts and dictatorship.

Rockefeller believed that silence was power, and in meetings with other leaders, he also listened more than spoke. This almost supernatural calm only strengthened his influence. It unbalanced rivals, and long pauses during the discussion of the deal were confusing.

Although criticism, which he considered unfair, irritated him, he held back the urge to react sharply. Such an iron restraint was also explained by the structure of his nature: he did not crave the approval of others, especially those he did not respect.

3. Modesty

It may seem that Rockefeller was proud, but this is not at all the case. Throughout his life, he diligently cultivated in himself modesty. He understood that power and wealth can make a person arrogant, and he consciously fought against this.

When his capital began to grow, every day he repeated to himself proverbs like this: "The proud swore, but rolled into dust." Lying in bed in the evening, he reminded himself of the instability of the oil industry and the fragility of success.

Things went well, and it already seems to you that you are a good businessman. Look, take your time, otherwise you will lose your head. Are you going to turn up your nose because of this money?

John Rockefeller

This is how the businessman warned himself. He believed that such conversations with himself helped him stay on track.

Rockefeller was also positively influenced by his participation in the life of the church community. He diligently attended services and helped in every way: he led prayers and taught in Sunday school, if necessary, he performed the duties of a secretary or a janitor. I did not consider any work below my dignity. After becoming one of the richest men in the country, John did not start attending a more fashionable church like others did. On the contrary, he began to appreciate even more the opportunity to contact with ordinary people.

Rockefeller in general has always been interested in people and their destinies. He liked to ask new acquaintances about life and listened to them attentively. As he traveled around his refineries, he asked local leaders about what could be improved, wrote down these proposals and made sure to take them into account.

At directors' meetings, John sat not at the head of the table, but among his colleagues. He asked everyone's opinion before expressing his own. And he did not impose it, but proposed and always strived for compromises.

His humility even manifested itself in charity. Unlike many other philanthropists, Rockefeller did not want buildings and organizations to be named after him. He preferred to finance projects without making a fuss about it.

4. Striving for more than just wealth

Rockefeller from childhood wanted to get rich and sometimes was really driven by greed. But it was not only that that motivated him. He enjoyed the work, including the freedom it gave him, and the difficult tasks. In his first position - an accountant - he worked from morning until late at night, not only to impress the management, but also because he liked it.

Others thought the receipts and receipts were boring and dry, and John - infinitely interesting. He loved to carefully study the numbers, put them in order, look for errors. In any position, he found something that could be learned, that could be improved.

But the future billionaire worked not only for pleasure - he had two big goals. First, he wanted to introduce a new way of doing business. There were many dealers in the oil industry at that time who wanted to make a profit immediately. They did not see the long term, they destroyed the economy and the land in which they were looking for oil.

Rockefeller had a completely different view of the future of the industry, based on the desire to create something reliable and long-term.

I know of nothing more despicable and pathetic than a person who spends all his time making money solely for the sake of money.

John Rockefeller

He considered the main business of his life to stabilize the industry, create jobs and reduce the price of kerosene, and then gasoline, in order to make them massively available.

The second thing that drove Rockefeller in building his empire was the idea that the more money he earns, the more he will be able to give. From childhood, his mother encouraged him to leave a little change for donations in the church. And this desire to help grew along with wealth.

In his first year as an accountant, receiving a salary that was barely enough for a living, John donated 6% of his income to charity. By the age of 20, he regularly gave more than 10%. Later, he funded major projects: universities, medical research institutes, schools for blacks in the south, health campaigns around the world.

5. Attention to detail

Rockefeller was always neatly dressed and looked neat. He was unswervingly punctual, believing that no one had the right to unnecessarily take someone else's time. He strictly adhered to the schedule, setting aside certain hours for work, family, religion and hobbies, and did not deviate from it for a second. In financial transactions, he always paid off debts on time and fulfilled obligations. When composing the letter, he made five or six drafts in order to express his thoughts as accurately as possible.

In matters of accounting, the businessman's zeal knew no bounds. Early in his career, he "learned to respect numbers and facts, no matter how small." If there was the slightest mistake in the accounts, Rockefeller noticed it. If he was underpaid a few cents, he demanded to correct the mistake.

Some thought this obsession with little things was overwhelming, but John knew that even a small adjustment could make a significant difference in the end.

At one of his plants, he noticed that it takes 40 drops of solder to seal one can of kerosene. I expressed the idea to get by with 38 drops. As a result, some banks began to leak. Then the masters tried 39 drops.

In this case, there were no leaks and the factories switched to a new sealing method. “One drop of solder in the first year saved two and a half thousand dollars,” Rockefeller later recalled. “But exports doubled, then quadrupled, and the savings grew along with it, drop by drop per can, and since then it has amounted to many hundreds of thousands of dollars.”

6. Thrift

Rockefeller himself believed that one of the main factors of his success was the decision to track all expenses and income. He started this habit in his youth, strictly recording all the amounts in a small red notebook. He kept this notebook until old age as a sacred relic. This tool taught him the value of every dollar and cent and thus influenced his entire life.

“I wore a thin coat and imagined how comfortable I would be when I could afford a long, thick olster,” Rockefeller said later. “I carried lunch in my pocket until I got rich. I practiced self-control and self-denial."

Even when his fortune grew to enormous proportions, he took care of his personal ledgers, correcting the smallest mistakes. And although now Rockefeller could afford almost any expenses, he continued to live quite frugally. He bought and built big houses, but they were always modest compared to what he could afford.

He kept the wrapping paper and string from the parcels, wore suits until they wore out, and turned out all the gas lamps in the house at night.

When playing golf, John always used old balls at especially insidious traps, because they were often lost there. Seeing that others were taking new balls, he exclaimed in surprise: "They must be very rich!" For the holidays, the Rockefellers gave each other practical gifts like pens and gloves.

To teach their three daughters and a son to appreciate what they have, John and his wife tried to hide the full extent of their fortune from them. The children never visited their father's factories and offices. Following his example, everyone kept their own ledger of income and expenses.

To earn pocket money, they killed flies, pulled out weeds, chopped wood, and abstained from candy. The younger ones wore clothes that were left over from the older ones. Children were not pampered with a lot of toys and other gifts. For example, when they started asking for bicycles, Rockefeller decided not to buy everyone's own, but bought one for everyone to teach how to share.

Such frugality was a life principle that a businessman wanted to maintain, even when there was no practical reason to save. This helped to curb pride and not change habits with increasing wealth. It reminded me that you can't take it for granted, that it can disappear, but you can live without it.

To some extent, Rockefeller's frugality had nothing to do with money at all. It was a way to train the muscle that made him successful and helped maintain him - self-control.