Sunday, September 16, 2007

Personality - Rockefeller



FAMILY BACKGROUND
One wonders what William Avery Rockefeller and Eliza Davison Rockefeller thought when their son was born on July 8, 1839. Whatever it was, their prophecy would have proved wrong. John was born on a farm at Richford in Tioga County, New York. His father, William Rockefeller was some sort of a ‘conman’. He claimed to have a cure for cancer and charged upto $25 for the treatment. When John was about 10 years old, William was indicted in a rape, forcing the family to move to Moravia and later to Owego, New York from Richford. John attended the Owego Academy. He was excellent in mental arithmetic, the first of his many talents that made him successful. He had the capacity to solve difficult arithmetic problems in his head. Otherwise, he was an average student. In 1853, the Rockefellers moved to Cleveland, Ohio, where they bought a house. John D (as he liked to sign his essays) attended Central High School in Cleveland. He was on the debating team and learned to drive home his point with conviction.

SHAPING YEARS

By the time he was 16 years old, he had left high school to take a six-month course at Folsom Mercantile College (also known as Folsom’s Commercial College). He did the course in three months, learning single and double entry, bookkeeping, penmanship, commercial history, mercantile customs, banking and exchange. His father, William, taught him to draw notes and other business papers. He also taught him how to be meticulous in business matters, a useful quality for a businessman. His search for a job ended when he got a job as an assistant bookkeeper with Hewitt and Tuttle, commission merchants and produce shippers.

FAST PROGRESS
John got his first pay after working for three months – $ 50, which came to about $ 3.57 a week. But this meager salary did not prevent him from being very serious and diligent at work. He was exacting and honest. He was very pleasant, but persistent when he went to collect amounts from overdue accounts. His salary was increased to $ 25 a month and a few months later he became the cashier and bookkeeper. Within a span of three years, John was handling complicated transportation deals. He also began to indulge in trading ventures on his own, but not without proper planning. Once he was sure of the course of action to be taken, he would follow it through very quickly and very boldly, ensuring success in the venture. He had the right balance of caution and boldness, which soon enabled him to earn the respect of the business community of Cleveland.

STARTING HIS OWN COMPANY
A few months before his 20th birthday, on March 18, 1859 to be specific, John went into business on his own. He had saved $1000 and he borrowed corresponding amount from his father. He formed partnership with a neighbor, Maurice Clark. Each man invested $2000 and formed Clark and Rockefeller, commission merchants in grain, hay, meat and miscellaneous goods. By the end of first year, Clark and Rockefeller had grossed $4,50,000. They notched a profit of $4,400 in the first year itself and in the second year, it rose to $17,000. In a competitive business, Rockefeller had proved his worth. When the grain prices shot up during the Civil War, their commissions also increased. Their business expanded and the sole credit went to Rockefeller. His style was aggressive, but nothing was left to chance. His strategy was very well planned and he worked hard to see that his plans were followed through.

In early 1860, Rockefeller realized that railroads would be the prime means of transport for agricultural produce. Since Cleveland was a lake port, it would lose on account of this disticnt advantage. Moreover, the grain output of the midwest and the northwest was rising, which would make them the dominant players in the business. According to him, Cleveland’s future lay in the collection and shipment of industrial materials.

ROCKEFELLER AND ANDREWS

Around this time, the first oil well was drilled at Titusville in Pennsylvania, giving rise to the major petroleum industry. Rockefeller saw his chance to diversify and in 1862 entered the business of oil refining with Samuel Andrews and Clark. Andrews had some experience in oil refining and thus Andrews, Clark and Company came into existence. It continued to deal in the commission business. In 1865, Rockefeller bought over his partnership for $72,500 and gained total control over the oil business. He sold out his other interests and formed Rockefeller and Andrews. His planning and hard work paid dividends and in 1870, he organized The Standard Oil Company with a capital of $10,00,000.

WIFE AND FAMILY
By this time Rockefeller was happily married and a father of two children. Laura Celestia Spelman (Cettie) his wife, came from a well-off and respectable family. They had met in high school, where ‘Cettie’ was one of the few girls taking commercial courses to learn business. They loved music, shared the same religious beliefs and were indifferent to fancy social life. They were married on September 8, 1864, after a nine-year courtship. Six months later they moved into a modest house without servants. They had five children – Elizabeth or ‘Bessie’ (1866 -1906), Alice (1869-1870), Alta (1871-1962), Edith (1872-1932) and John D Jr. (1874-1960).

As a father, he maintained a constant but distanced influence on his children. He never revealed his financial status to his children, wanting them to be hard working and thrifty, rather than spendthrift and indulgent. They were suppose to do chores to earn their pocket money – two cents for killing flies and for not eating candy ! The children were suppose to note down each gain and payment in their own ‘Ledger A’. But he was not always the strict and stern father. He would often play with the children and teach them to swim, row, skate and ride horses.

He was a good husband too. Cettie had been ill for the last several years of her life and from 1909 onwards she was confined to a wheelchair. But Rockefeller took excellent care of her. He would excuse himself from the dinner parties and visit Cettie at home, in the bedroom picking up a flower or a tidbit from the dinner conversation.

METAMORPHOSIS INTO A PHILANTHROPIST
When Rockefeller was 57 years old, he decided to focus his attention on philanthropy rather than on business. He let the others take over the day-to-day affairs and leadership of Standard Oil to concentrate on philanthropy. For Rockefeller, giving in charity was nothing new. He had always given a portion of his income to help those in need. In his later life, that did not change, only the amount changed. Even as a young boy, he made regular contribution to the Erie Street Baptist Church (later known as the Euclid Avenue Baptist Church). He was a trustee of the Church by the time he was 21 years old. The total amount of his contribution is estimated to be $550,000,000, 80 per cent of which is distributed between Rockefeller Foundation, The General Education Board, The Rockefeller Institute for Medical Research (now Rockefeller University) and the Laura Spelman Rockefeller Memorial (incorporated into Rockefeller Foundation in 1929).

LAST YEARS AND DEATH
Rockefeller was basically a person of habits. Even after retirement, his schedule was fixed. He followed that routine religiously. Money may have been his passion, but it was not the backbone of his self-image. He remained the same person – in habits, faith and personality – throughout his life. He died at the age of 97, after a full life, on May 23, 1937, at his home in Ormond Beach, Florida, but he was buried in Lakeview Cemetery in Cleveland.

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