Quotes About Strategy

He was a man who always acted on Flagler's business motto of favoring "sharp, vigorous and decisive measures.

Coolheaded in the face of such hysteria, Rockefeller saw that he could convert this chaos to advantage.

In exchange for this extraordinary concession, Rockefeller and Flagler didn't simply try to squeeze the railroads—they were much too shrewd and subtle for that—but offered compelling incentives.

Yet these were random efforts, not a coordinated counterattack.

As far as Chess, Carley Co.'s territory is concerned, every effort is being made to dislodge Rice.

He also saw competition as a destructive, inefficient force and instinctively favored large-scale combination as the cure.

John labored tirelessly to win control of Pioneer Oil Works and, instead of snuffing it out, favored its discreet absorption by Standard Oil.

Pierpont feared a replication of the railroad chaos, with overbuilding and price wars.

He made a cryptic statement to Hewitt that entered into Rockefeller folklore: "I have ways of making money you know nothing about.

True to this policy, Rockefeller tried to extricate himself from the intricate web of administrative details and dedicate more of his time to broad policy decisions.

This set him up to extract maximum advantage from both the railroads and pipelines so long as these two means of transport coexisted in the oil business.

To ensure that he won, he submitted to games only where he could dictate the rules.

Despite his slow, ponderous style, once he had thoroughly mulled over his plan of action, he had the power of quick decision.

By giving small stakes in United to William H. Vanderbilt of the New York Central and Amasa Stone of the Lake Shore, Rockefeller tightened his grip over friendly railroads.

Rogers's strategy paid off as far as the Buffalo imbroglio was concerned.)

When playing checkers or chess, he showed exceptional caution, studying each move at length, working out every possible countermove in his head. "I'll move just as soon as I get it figured out," he told opponents who tried to rush him. "You don't think I'm playing to get beaten, do you?"12 To ensure that he won, he submitted to games only where he could dictate the rules.

If Madison in the 1780s was a philosopher king, Madison in the 1790s was a formidable practicing politician, and so skillful at cutting deals that he was dubbed the big knife.

From Vanderbilt, Morgan had learned the trick of basing value not on current assets but on projected earnings.

Rockefeller knew that he now needed a larger and more efficient method for disposing of his fortune.

Rockefeller's supreme insight was that he could solve the oil industry's problems by solving the railroads' problems at the same time, creating a double cartel in oil and rails.

by Sherman, Johnston evacuated Jackson and fled east with his demoralized army, leaving

All along, he insisted, he knew it would fail and had gone along simply as a tactical maneuver.

From the First Philippic of Demosthenes, he plucked a passage that summed up his conception of a leader as someone who would not pander to popular whims. "As a general marches at the head of his troops," so should wise politicians "march at the head of affairs, insomuch that they ought not to wait the event to know what measures to take, but the measures which they have taken ought to produce the event.

This left French politicians in the dark during critical moments in the bargaining.