#148 John D. Rockefeller (Autobiography)

**David Senra** (0:00)
I want to tell you about a one time only limited event that I don't think you're going to want to miss. I am doing a live show with Patrick O'Shaughnessy from the Invest Like the Best podcast in New York City on October 19th. Patrick has interviewed over 300 of the world's best investors and founders for his podcast. I've read over 300 biographies of history's greatest entrepreneurs for my podcast. We'll be talking about what we learned from seven years of podcasting, sharing our favorite ideas and stories and doing a live Q&A. There will also be special event-only swag. If you live in New York City, I think it's a no-brainer. But if not, I think it's a great excuse to fly in. I've already heard from a bunch of people that bought tickets. They're flying in from other cities. Some people are flying in from other countries. That's setting the bar really high. So I will have at least four shots of espresso or four energy drinks before or during the show so we can make it a night that you'll never forget. If you're interested in attending this unique live event, I will leave a link down below. I highly recommend you get your tickets today. And I hope I get to see you in New York on October 19th. I still remember.
In some measure, I've been associated with the most interesting people our country has produced, especially in business.
Men who have helped to build up the commerce of the United States and who have made known its products all over the world.
These incidents which come to my mind to speak of seemed vitally important to me when they happened. And they still stand out distinctly in my memory.
That is a 70-year-old John D. Rockefeller writing in his autobiography, which he titled Random Reminiscences of Men and Events.
And the structure of the book is unique. This will be random. And that was intentional. Here's John telling us about how he compiled the book. When these reminiscences were begun, there was of course no thought that they should ever go as far to appear between the covers of a book.
They were not prepared with the idea of even an informal autobiography. There was little idea of order or sequence and no thought whatsoever of completeness.
And it's actually the randomness of this book that I found so interesting. One of the benefits of reading autobiographies is they're further down the path of life than we are at the time they're writing and they can tell us what's coming. And also, you can also see what was important after the fact, after they've had many decades to go back and reflect on this. I've actually just went on a walk with a friend the other day and he was asking, he's transitioning, he's been in one industry for almost for over a decade, and he's thinking about doing something new. And he's like, do I have any, do you have any books to recommend that I read? And I was like, well, really just read any biography or autobiography, like whoever sticks out. But the one book recommendation I gave him, because the day before, I had reread all my notes and highlights on Sam Walton's made in his autobiography, Made in America. And I said, listen, Sam Walton's long dead.
But if you could bring him back to life and you could spend a weekend with him just picking his brain about everything that he learned over his five decade plus career, like, what would you pay for that experience? And for the answer, if that was even possible, people would pay many, many thousands of dollars for that experience, if not more. And so the point I was making is like, you can't bring him back to life, but you can read his thoughts. He wrote all the most important things that he learned in his career, wrote him down in a book. And for $6 or $10, you can pick up that book and spend a weekend learning directly from Sam Walton or anybody else. So the way I want you to think about this podcast today is really, it's a bunch of random thoughts that John D. Rockefeller had, but he's speaking directly to you and I. And I think there's just something fascinating about that idea. Charlie Munger talks about this, the reason he reads so many biographies, he says he makes friends of the eminent dead. So he becomes intimate friends by reading the thoughts and the words of some of the smartest and greatest minds in history. Okay, so let me jump into the book. The first thing I was actually even surprised that Rockefeller wrote an autobiography to begin with. If you remember, all the way back in Founders number 16, I covered probably the most important biography ever written about him. It's called Titan. It's got to be one of the best selling business biographies of all time. And a main theme of that book is that Rockefeller really prioritized silence and using the element of surprise and not telling people what he was up to. And he talks about that in the beginning of this book. So let me just read this section for you. It has not been my custom to press my affairs forward into public gaze.