Right from his teenage years, Rockefeller developed a level of self-discipline that marked the whole of his career. The son gave him the money, and he invested in a stock. He said he preferred to receive the money than the car. When his son told him he wanted to gift him a Lincoln car, John asked what the cost.

At this point, he was the richest man in the world and had passed on millions of dollars to his son. When he turned 60, his son wanted to gift him a Lincoln car. Do you know what he did? He told them he would put his personal money, and then if it failed, he would bare the loss, but if it succeeded, they could take the profits. One time, Rockefeller tried to convince his board members to partake in a business venture, but they all refused. Rockefeller was a highly disciplined business visionary who took great risks to establish a business behemoth. Ron Chernow does an excellent job of presenting Rockefeller in all his complexity. They want to celebrate or hate him they refuse to acknowledge he was a complex man. This has been the contention for many who get introduced to Rockefeller. Unfortunately, only a few people can do this. If you are courageous enough to hold all these thoughts in your head about the man, then you have understood him. The true Rockefeller is a combination of all these. He took risks for his business.Įach of these is merely a single story about the man. As an editor said, Rockefeller, extended the work hours with his oil. That is only half of the story.Ĭhristians like to remember John D Rockefeller as the good Christian Sunday School teacher who taught children every Sunday, donated to church causes, donated to missionary efforts, and funded schools.Īnd some like to remember him as a pioneer-a bold visionary who created a large company that provided light for people. In other writings, you would see him as the villain who destroyed competition using whatever means, destroyed labour unions, bribed his way to get the government out of the way, and cheated poor laborers of their wages. Socialists and progressives often portray him as the symbol of the barons who ran America in the 19th Century. Ron Chernow approaches this book with the view that John D Rockefeller has often been misrepresented and misunderstood.

This should be the standard for biographies. contained so much information that I felt it had too much at some point, but that's incorrect. The most comprehensive book about John D Rockefeller Sr. I started reading it sometime in 2015 I’ve been on and off since then.

This is the book that has taken me the longest time to read.

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