Rockefeller was the richest man on earth. He realized that with strong competition, making money is difficult. He discovered many other insights because he wasn’t involved in the day-to-day operations of his companies, giving him time to think. He spoke very little and listened to everything, often sitting in meetings without saying a word. From the beginning, he devoted 10% of his earnings to charity. He was ahead of his time, never drank, or engaged in any kind of addiction, except for going to church. He also helped anonymous people from his congregation.
Good management consists in showing average people how to do the work of superior people.
From David Senra synopsis of Rockefeller biography .
A few ideas from Rockefeller I found in his autobiography:
1. Hire talent as found, not as needed.
2. The tyranny of compounding costs can devastate the miracle of compounding returns.
3. Err on the side of speed. Be intolerant of slowness.
4. Writing a check separates conviction from conversation. (Buffett)
5. Don’t waste your effort on a thing which ends in a petty triumph unless you are satisfied with a life of petty success.
6. Less talk, more deeds.
7. Pick partners that have a capacity for enthusiasm and hard work.
8. Find the most talented people you can, develop a mutual sense of trust, work together for decades.
9. Emotions blur judgment. Let it simmer.
10. Create byproducts from waste materials.
11. Make the votes unanimous. You may need to disagree and commit.
12. Ceaselessly search for minor improvements. Most humans are incapable of doing so over a long period of time.
13. Do the best you can with the task at hand. Opportunity handled well leads to more opportunity.
14. A friendship founded on business is better than a business founded on friendship.
15. Optimize for long term relationships. Do not screw your partners over a few dollars. Be generous. Time will more than make up for it.
16. Act — from the very beginning — as if your business will last for 50 years. What can you do today that would make this more likely to be true?
17. Only first-class business, and that in a first-class way.
18. When you are old and rich you will realize that your greatest possessions are true friendships. There is no exception to this rule whatsoever.
19. A true friend should be held close at any cost.
20. When you recruit A players you don’t give them 5 things to focus on. No. You tell them: You've got one priority. Destroy that priority. Do it more than anybody else possibly could or would.
21. Entrepreneurship is worth pursuing for the association with interesting and quick minded people alone.
22. Prepare for financial emergencies long before you need the funds.
23. Keep a fortress of cash.
24. Learn to have great respect for your numbers. Watch your costs.
25. Rockefeller had a name for his competitors who didn’t watch their costs: “Unintelligent”
26. Train your kids in practical business matters from childhood.
27. Find more experienced entrepreneurs. Listen to them.
28. A casual way of conducting affairs should disgust you.
29. Success can take the edge away. Remind yourself of this nightly.
30. Don't lose your head over a little success or grow discouraged by a little failure.
31. A chip on your shoulder and a little arrogance can fuel you. Show them that you can paddle your own canoe. Exceed their expectations.
32. All business proceeds on belief: Trying to run a company without a set of beliefs is like trying to steer a ship without a rudder. (Isadore Sharp)
33. Do not lie to yourself. Be honest with yourself about your own affairs.
34. Real efficiency in work comes from knowing the facts of your business.
35. The masses chase easy profits. Do hard things and you’ll have less competition.
36. Vertically integrate.
37. The only way to learn how to conduct a difficult business is gradually.
38. Use scale to lower prices. Root out any inefficiencies. Pay for talent. Control expenses. Invest in technology.
39. Focus. Keep to the enormous task of perfecting your own organization.
40. Two people can run the same business and have vastly different results. The assets of a company are not its factories but the talent of its people. The combined brain power are the essentials to be reckoned with.
41. If you give a good idea to a mediocre team, they will screw it up. If you give a mediocre idea to a brilliant team, they will either fix it or throw it away and come up with something better. The takeaway here is worth repeating: Getting the team right is the necessary precursor to getting the ideas right. (Ed Catmull)
42. Money comes naturally as a result of service. (Henry Ford)
43. Don’t do anything someone else can do. (Edwin Land)
44. Despite the unceasing vicissitudes of the oil industry, prone to cataclysmic booms and busts, Rockefeller would never experience a single year of loss. (Titan)
45. Do everything and you will win. (LBJ)
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