John Rockefeller - this name is known to every adult inhabitant of the earth. With no start-up capital other than his own hard work and perseverance, Rockefeller managed to put together the richest business empire in the world. During life and after death, many rumors, gossip, and various judgments circulated around this person. Enough time has passed to take a sober look at the history of the person who created himself and transformed our world.
Saint-Ecupery once said that we all come from childhood. Following this rule, consider the unique one that John
Rockefeller represents
. The biography of this person began quite normally. Our hero was born in 1839 in Richford, New York. The hard worker
mother, a large family and father drank. Accustomed to work from childhood, John saw wealth as a blessing of God. Possessing a good heart, little John nevertheless managed to develop a sobriety of thinking and a certain isolation. A concentrated lifestyle distinguished him from his peers. It seemed like he was constantly solving some sort of super task. Every Sunday, the Rockefeller family, except for the father, attended church, and the boy found genuine pleasure in this. The pious mother passed on to her son all the ethics of Protestantism, which required perseverance, work, and virtue. Father, possessing an adventurous character, did not care much about his wife and children, although at the time of enlightenment he told his son about successful transactions and ways of doing business. And yet, at some point, he simply escaped, leaving the family to their own devices. Therefore, tenderly caring for his mother until the end of her days, John Davison Rockefeller did not even go to his father's funeral.
At 16, leaving the farm, the young man began looking for work in Cleveland. After 6 weeks, his efforts were crowned with success, he received the long-awaited position of assistant accountant. All energy and zeal went to work, with great difficulty he restrained himself from accounting calculations on Sundays when he attended church. Life in hard work and complete asceticism gave its first results. The promotion began, but John Rockefeller quickly realized that in this way he would not be able to earn the coveted $ 100,000. With little capital, he began his personal entrepreneurial business selling food.
On speculations during the Civil War he managed to amass his first serious capital. Still, real wealth came with oil when Standard Oil was founded in 1865. Winning the competitive struggle, he bought up the firms of his opponents until he became a monopolist in this area. Since then, the foundation of the great Rockefeller empire was laid.
It often happens that a successful businessman is not happy in family life. John Rockefeller refuted this rule by example. Having married for love, he found in the person of Laura Spelman not only a beautiful mother for her children, but also a comrade-in-arms, like-minded person, whose support he valued above all. Throughout his life, he went hand in hand with her, completely sharing the views and methods of education. Being the richest family in America, they did not spend money on elaborate outfits; old dresses were repaired with their own hands and strictly controlled expenses. Children from childhood have been accustomed to work, to the fact that the reward must be earned. Market relations were transferred to the family. For certain correct actions and duties money was issued, bad deeds were marked with fines. By his rigorous upbringing, John Rockefeller paid tribute to the need to grow a worthy shift for his business.
Possessing a diabolical tenacity in business, Rockefeller understood the responsibility God placed on the steward of such wealth. Therefore, charity has become an integral part of his life. Sometimes he spent money on gifts to strange children, far exceeding the content of his own offspring. And yet, both in life and after death, he was accompanied by criticism regarding his acquisitiveness. Indeed, in order to build universities and hospitals, one had to cash in at the expense of the whole nation.
The Puritan way of life and determination helped John Rockefeller fulfill almost all the tasks that he set for himself. The last of them was to live a hundred years. It was not possible to fulfill, it was not enough for more than two years.