Founders

What I learned from reading Titan: The Life of John D. Rockefeller by Ron Chernow. [0:01] Rockefeller was a unique hybrid in American business, both the instinctive first-generation entrepreneur who founded the company and the analytical second-generation manager who extends and develops it. [0:30] Having created an empire of unfathomable complexity, he was smart enough to see that he had to submerge his identity in the organization. [0:43] Don’t say that I out to do this or that. We ought to do it. Never forget that we are partners. Whatever is done for the general good is done for the good of us all. —John D. Rockefeller. [0:55] He preferred outspoken colleagues to weak-kneed sycophants. [1:14] That he created one of the first multinational corporations, selling kerosene around the world and setting a business pattern for the next century, was arguable his greatest feat. [2:48] The spot chosen for the new refinery tells much about Rockefeller’s approach to business. . . Able to ship by water or over land, R