Leadership

The great majority of my associations were made so many years ago, that I have reached the age when hardly a month goes by (sometimes I think…

One of my partners, who had successfully built up a large and prosperous business, was resisting with all his force a plan that some of us favoured,…

It is always, I presume, a question in every business just how fast it is wise to go, and we went pretty rapidly in those days, building and…

The part played by one of my earliest partners, Mr. H.M. Flagler, was always an inspiration to me. He invariably wanted to go ahead and accomplish…

It was to be expected of such a man that he should fulfil his destiny by working out some great problems at a time when most men want to retire to…

This one man, by his own energy and capital, has opened up a vast stretch of country, so that the old inhabitants and the new settlers may have a…

I first knew Mr. Flagler as a young man who consigned produce to Clark & Rockefeller. He was a bright and active young fellow full of vim and push.…

Naturally, I came to see more of him. The business relations which began with the handling of produce he consigned to our old firm grew into a…

For years and years this early partner and I worked shoulder to shoulder; our desks were in the same room. We both lived on Euclid Avenue, a few rods…

"All right, J.D., I'll give you all I've got." This was all he said, but I went home that night relieved of anxiety. As it turned out, we received…

And this sort of experience was not, I am grateful to say, rare with me. I was always a great borrower in my early days; the business was active…

We were then shipping a large quantity of oil by lake and canal, to save in transportation, and it took additional capital to carry these shipments;…

But I fear I am telling too much about banks and money and business. I know of nothing more despicable and pathetic than a man who devotes all the…

During all the long period of work, which lasted from the time I was sixteen years old until I retired from active business when I was fifty-five,…

Of detail work I feel I have done my full share. As I began my business life as a bookkeeper, I learned to have great respect for figures and facts,…

This phrase, "diligent in business," reminds me of an old friend of mine in Cleveland who was devoted to his work. I talked to him, and no doubt…

This ore trade was of great and absorbing interest at Cleveland. My old employer was paid $4 a ton for carrying ore from the Marquette regions…

"Look it all over," I said, "and decide which plan is best." It was a proud moment when this real authority accepted my suggestions as bringing out…

My methods of attending to business matters differed from those of most well-conducted merchants of my time and allowed me more freedom. Even after…

Of all the profitable things which develop quickly under the hand, I have thought my young nurseries show the greatest yield. We keep a set of…

Naturally, people of modest means lead a closer family life than those who have plenty of servants to do everything for them. I count it a blessing…

We thoroughly enjoyed this little business affair, and I can still close my eyes, and distinctly see the gentle and dignified birds walking quietly…

In beginning the work I had some advantages. My father's training, as I have said, was practical, the course at the commercial college had taught…

For the next year, with $25 a month, I kept my position, learning the details and clerical work connected with such a business. It was a wholesale…

To begin with, my work was done in the office of the firm itself. I was almost always present when they talked of their affairs, laid out their plans…

As I was studying the same plumber's bills in great detail, checking every item, if only for a few cents, and finding it to be greatly to the…

Passing bills, collecting rents, adjusting claims, and work of this kind brought me in association with a great variety of people. I had to learn how…

We would receive, for example, a shipment of marble from Vermont to Cleveland. This involved handling by railroad, canal, and lake boats. The cost of…

I should estimate that the salaries of that time were far less than half of what is paid for equivalent positions to-day. The next year I was offered…

In those days, in Cleveland, everyone knew almost everyone else in town. Among the merchants was a young Englishman named M.B. Clark, perhaps ten…

At that time, 10 per cent. a year interest was a very common rate for such loans. At the banks the rate might not have been quite so high; but of…

It was a great thing to be my own employer. Mentally I swelled with pride--a partner in a firm with $4,000 capital! Mr. Clark attended to the…

I went to a bank president whom I knew, and who knew me. I remember perfectly how anxious I was to get that loan and to establish myself favourably…

For long years after the head of this bank was a friend indeed; he loaned me money when I needed it, and I needed it almost all the time, and all the…

Mr. Handy trusted me because he believed we would conduct our young business on conservative and proper lines, and I well remember about this time an…

The situation seemed very serious; my partner was impatient with me for refusing to yield, and in this dilemma I decided to go personally to see if I…

About this time I began to go out and solicit business--a branch of work I had never before attempted. I undertook to visit every person in our…

These experiences with my father remind me that in the early days there was often much discussion as to what should be paid for the use of money.…

This estimable lady was violently opposed to loaners obtaining high rates of interest, and we had frequent and earnest arguments on the subject.…

I have usually found that important alterations in public opinion in regard to business matters have been of slow growth along the line of proved…

One can hardly realize how difficult it was to get capital for active business enterprises at that time. In the country farther west much higher…

The holder of the mortgage had long demanded that he should be paid, but somehow even the interest was barely kept up, and the creditor finally…

It would be surprising if in an organization which included a great number of men there should not be an occasional employee here and there who acted…

It has been said that I forced the men who became my partners in the oil business to join with me. I would not have been so short-sighted. If it were…

In the summer of 1907 I visited again the room at the top of the Standard Oil Company's building, where the officers of the company and the heads…

For years the Standard Oil Company has developed step by step, and I am convinced that it has done well its work of supplying to the people the…

This plan of selling our products direct to the consumer and the exceptionally rapid growth of the business bred a certain antagonism which I suppose…

This is a very interesting and important point, and I have often wondered if the criticism which centred upon us did not come from the fact that we…

Every week in the year for many, many years, this concern has brought into this country more than a million dollars gold, all from the products…

None of us ever dreamed of the magnitude of what proved to be the later expansion. We did our day's work as we met it, looking forward to what we…

The enterprise being so new and novel, on account of the fearfulness of certain holders in reference to its success, we frequently had to take…

The 60,000 men who are at work constantly in the service of the company are kept busy year in and year out. The past year has been a time of great…

Another thing to be remembered about this so-called "octopus" is that there has been no "water" introduced into its capital (perhaps we felt that oil…

Beyond question there is a suspicion of corporations. There may be reason for such suspicion very often; for a corporation may be moral or immoral,…

The dangers are that the power conferred by combination may be abused, that combinations may be formed for speculation in stocks rather than for…

In the hearing of the Industrial Commission in 1899, I then said that if I were to suggest any legislation regarding industrial combinations it would…

I am far from believing that this will adversely affect the individual. The great economic era we are entering will give splendid opportunity to…

The great business interests will, I hope, so comport themselves that foreign capital will consider it a desirable thing to hold shares in American…

I may speak thus frankly, because I am an investor in many American enterprises, but a controller of none (with one exception, and that a company…

I confess I have no sympathy with the idea so often advanced that our basis of all judgments in this country is founded on money. If this were true,…