Leadership and Entrepreneurship

“John D. Rockefeller”

Teacher:

Mayra Alejandra Vázquez Flores

Student:

Máximo Salazar Vega

6B BB

Hermosillo, Sonora
April 20, 2023
Throughout the years there have been several distinct entrepreneurs that have been
outstanding for their various characteristics such as leadership, creativeness, problem-
solving abilities, etcetera. One of the most famous persons that have fully shown all of
these characteristics is John. D. Rockefeller, who was a very poor person that managed
to achieve a great financial power and establish the biggest company of the time.

John Davison Rockefeller (American), also known as John D. Rockefeller was born in
New York on July 8, 1839. Both of his parents taught him the valuable lessons of
honesty, selling, hard-working, financial knowledge, and solidarity. In the year 1855,
after being denied a salary augmentation, John decided to create his own business
dedicated to the commercialization of agricultural products along with a friend of his
called Maurice Clark. It is important to mention that he did not have a college degree; he
just studied two years of high school before dropping out.

Their sales were fine for several years, but a great change occurred in 1861 when
petroleum was found in Titusville, Pennsylvania. Soon, Rockefeller asked for a loan to
create a company known as Rockefeller and Andrews in 1865. A couple of years later,
there was a boom in the industrial era of the United States, which incremented the use
of railways, which also incremented the use of kerosene. John D. Rockefeller bought all
of the shares of his company, incorporated new investors, and extended the business.

In 1870, with a capital of about a million dollars, Rockefeller founded the Standard Oil
Company. At this time he already had a predominant position in the petroleum industry
and made several deals with train companies to reduce his transportation costs
promising a high volume of products to transport that he was not able to fulfill. Knowing
this, Rockefeller extorted several other oil companies in the area to get more volume of
their products.
Later during his active years John D. Rockefeller made
other excellent strategies to deal with his competence and
also make his company more productive. However, some of
these practices were considered inhumane and monopolist.
Whereas there were a few aspects that are not totally
ethical about his actions, he is one of the greatest
entrepreneurs of all time.

Some of the qualities that I most admire of him are his ability
to overcome a problem, his optimistic approach to adversities, his creativity and
innovation, his perseverance and ability of not giving up, his capability of leading and
managing hundreds of people efficiently, and his humane approach to several social
areas. Some of the achievements he accomplished apart from the business area were
that he aided in the launch of a biomedical research for vaccines for meningitis and
yellow fever, he revolutionized the medical training in the US, he changed the
educational system, he financially aided the feminist movement, and built China´s first
proper medical school. I believe he possesses the entrepreneurial spirit because he
showed well leadership with his followers, initiative when starting his companies,
innovation, creativity, and optimism when he made a creative solution for his problems,
and most importantly helped society in various different ways.

In conclusion, it can be stated that there will always exist great leaders that show many
of their qualities that make them outstand from the rest of the people. I believe John D.
Rockefeller is one of the most important businessmen and leaders that have ever
existed due to the strategies that he came up with. However, I do recognize that some
of his actions were not totally ethical and would have liked that a different approach was
taken on the various adversities that he encountered.
 Works Ciited

J. M. SadurníEspecialista en actualidad histórica Actualizado a 07 de julio de 2021 ·

09:19 · Lectura: J. M. SadurníEspecialista en actualidad histórica, Sadurní, J. M.,
histórica, E. en actualidad, Rockefeller, J. D., & Vida, R. H. y. (2021, July 8). John
Davison Rockefeller, El Rey del Petróleo. historia.nationalgeographic.com.es. Retrieved
April 20, 2023, from https://historia.nationalgeographic.com.es/a/john-davison-
rockefeller-rey-petroleo_16955

John Rockefeller Sr.. Philanthropy Roundtable. (n.d.). Retrieved April 20, 2023, from
https://www.philanthropyroundtable.org/hall-of-fame/john-rockefeller-sr/#:~:text=Within
%20his%20lifetime%2C%20Rockefeller%20helped,China's%20first%20proper
%20medical%20school.

Study.com. (n.d.). Retrieved April 20, 2023, from

https://homework.study.com/explanation/did-john-d-rockefeller-go-to-
college.html#:~:text=No%2C%20John%20Rockefeller%20did%20not,a%20bookkeeper
%20for%20Hewitt%20%26%20Tuttle.