I was recently studying a little the history of the great businessmen in history and I came across four great men who shaped the economic greatness that the United States has as a nation; four great entrepreneurs who not only amassed great fortunes in their lives, but also made great contributions to help their country and the people in general.
Four great entrepreneurs
The names of these four great characters are well known today by most people who, like me, study the ways to achieve wealth and prosperity in our lives and projects: John D. Rockefeller, Andrew Carnegie, J.P. Morgan and Henry Ford.
John D. Rockefeller
The first, John D. Rockefeller, was the tycoon who amassed his great fortune thanks to the monopoly he achieved over the oil and fuel industry, he was the founder, president and main shareholder of Standart Oil, a company from which many of the large fuel companies that we know today (ExxonMobil, Chevron, ConocoPhillips, etc). His personal fortune would today amount to the equivalent of 810.912 million US dollars, which means that if John D. Rockefeller were alive today, he would still be the richest man on the face of the planet.
Andrew Carnegie
The Second, Andrew Carnegie, was the Tycoon who amassed his great fortune thanks to the Steel. Together with his company, "The Carnegie Steel", he forged and supplied the steel with which the largest and most modern buildings and architectural structures in the United States of his time were built. Later his company was sold to tycoon J.P. Morgan (the third tycoon on the list), and was renamed the U.S. Steel. Although Carnegie was not American by birth but Scottish, he amassed his great wealth in the US.
J.P. Morgan
The third name on the list, J.P. Morgan, was a successful banker, son of a banker, he made his fortune through the financing of large works, companies and projects. He specialized in buying companies with financial trouble in order to make them profitable and productive again. His fortune and importance as a banker was such that at a certain point he came to lend money to the US government itself during a colossal economic crisis that he suffered.
Henry Ford
The fourth name on the list, Henry Ford, founded the Ford Motor Company brand. Henry Ford amassed his fortune and his name thanks to the manufacture of cars or motor vehicles that could be financed by the common man. Henry Ford fought and legally avoided the monopoly of the production of vehicles (which was in the hands of craftsmen at that specific moment in history), and created a company that could produce large batches of vehicles with great efficiency and at low costs, thanks to its invention of mass production.
Industry Giants
But if you want to see in more depth the history of these great tycoons of history (and some more, like Cornelius Vanderbilt, among others), I recommend you watch the History Channel series, The Men Who Built America.
On this series, in short, you can see the personal ups and downs that these entrepreneurs suffered over the years, the agreements and disagreements they had with each other and with their competitors in many instances, and the way they managed to amass their enormous fortunes.
Basically, they were strong men who managed to amass fortunes at a time when almost everything that was undertaken in the world was new and without a legal framework.
Many times they've been criticized, admired by some and rarely understood
Now, when we study the history of these great millionaires and entrepreneurs of history, one may or may not feel sympathy for them. Some criticize their fierceness, the way they blocked competitors, the economic and legal war they waged against anything or anyone who opposed them, etc. While a few admire them for the enormous fortunes they managed to amass, even if they do not understand (nor even a little) the way they did it.
But few are those who manage to understand these great characters who forged the current economic greatness of the United States beyond of some facts. Few really deeply understand how these men amassed their enormous fortunes, and regarding this point it is clear that by making a deep and dispassionate study of the character, history and personality of these characters we can see that they were subjects with great intelligence, strength and firmness.
They were men determined to achieve their goals and achieve greatness regardless of any obstacles that came their way. With mentality, cunning, tenacity and money, they managed to make much more money than anyone could do, to the point of continuing to be millionaires today if they were alive.
Conclusion
My personal conclusion from studying these industry giants is very simple:
Trying to imitate the specific actions that led these great millionaires to amass their enormous fortunes would be impossible today, since now exist more laws, the scenarios have changed and much has happened in the world since the times in which these great titans lived. But what we can imitate and try to promote in our personality from observing and understanding their personal stories, is how they maintained their determination and motivation in the face of any obstacle and how they used their intelligence and cunning to overcome any problem that came their way. The Wealth was very easy to reach for them because they had the right mindset, and this is one of the biggest lessons we can learn.
For those of us who have the capacity for deep analysis and an attentive eye, they (the great titans of the North American industry) taught us something truly important and valuable, intelligence is worth more than any amount of brute force to reach our goals.
Thanks for reading me!