Lessons of the Robber Barons

Life as a Challenge and Roadblocks as Motivation


[Successful Characteristics of the Robber Barons---A SERIES]



The term "Robber Barons "is hardly a fair characterization of many of these greats like George Westinghouse, H. J. Heinz, Andrew Carnegie, Henry Ford, and Harvey Firestone. It was never about the money for them; mansions, cars, and trips were merely ancillary rewards of a deep seeded quest. It was achievement that drove them and the more difficult the track the better. Winning a fortune in the lottery as a road to riches would have been shameful. It would be an empty road to success. Money was only a mile marker of achievement for them. They loved their poor beginnings, and almost relished the opportunity to start again in their many bankruptcies. The bigger the challenge the better- old age, lost of face, personal bankruptcies, lost of family, war, etc. Henry Ford bankrupted two companies prior but started over enthusiastically to form Ford Motor Company. George Westinghouse lost his Westinghouse Electric in his fifties and loved the new challenge to start again. Frank Seiberling, founder of Goodyear, lost the company at age 63, and built a new one that became the world’s seventh largest rubber company. Those that didn’t lose their companies or fortunes, like Andrew Carnegie, lamented the fact that they wanted to go back and start over. They missed the challenges of rising and succeeding. The “40” millionaires of the early Carnegie Company (see my book “The Carnegie Boys,”} meet every year after and these reunions lamented the old days have having nothing but a burning desire to succeed.

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