So I have a collection of these obscure Rockefeller biographies.
Probably have like 10 of them.
Many of them were published decades ago.
But I just recently reread what I feel is the best, the single best biography of Rockefeller.
It's called John D.
The Founding Fathers of the Rockefellers, written by David Freeman Hawk,
and was published all the way back in 1980.
The reason I think this is the best biography of Rockefellers is
because it has the most concise description of how he actually built standard oil,
which is what you and I are actually interested in.
So I just recently reread it.
I stripped away all the biographical details and made a list of about a hundred different ideas that Rockefeller used to build what Charlie Munger said was the greatest company ever created.
And so this episode is going to be really simple.
I'm just going to run through these ideas with you.
The first idea to Rockefeller business resembled a form of war.
It was very natural for him to start a letter with the words,
I'm in the midst of a hard battle today.
He would transmit all of his messages in code,
and he would cover his entire operations with secrecy.
And when he was much older, he admitted this.