Many famous American tycoons and politicians in the early 20th Century excelled at “game playing” (see my Astrology guide for June, 2009). In fact, many of these Captains of Industry were hard-up financially before they founded their companies in the late 19th and early 20th Centuries. One thing they had in common was sheer determination to succeed against all odds. Lack of both money and experience were not stumbling blocks to these American leaders. They knew how to “play the game” by acting confident, even if they were fearful. They shared great abilities plan and anticipate, and to bluff at the negotiating table and in other situations that required leadership or gaming. Here are a few examples of famous leaders who played “the game” and won fortunes and a permanent place in history.
John D. Rockefeller, the controversial founder of Standard Oil, was among a number of extremely successful American business leaders who often bluffed when making deals. In the early days, one method he used was to act as if he was wealthy (he was not born into money). He learned to wave his check book at the negotiating table and announce “Shall I write a check or would you prefer payment in Standard Oil Shares?” Usually the answer was “shares” and Rockefeller put his check book away. Before he brought out his check book, he always knew he could scrape together enough money, borrowing somehow, if payment was demanded, but this rarely happened. Rockefeller learned to bluff early in his life. starting out as a produce merchant, long before his oil producing days. Bluffing was a skill he never forgot; it helped build his legacy as the richest man in the world.
Herbert Hoover, the 31st President of the U.S. also knew how to play “his cards right” (at least when it came to business and the U.S. Commerce Dept). Early in life, shortly after college, this former mining engineer, bluffed his way into a hotly-contested beginning job as a typist, although he didn’t know how to type. Once he landed the job, he declared he needed four days before he could start work. He used the four days to learn how to use a typewriter and the rest is history. Unfortunately, Hoover’s bluffing skills could not overcome the bad hand he was dealt, when shortly after he became President, the stock market crashed, and the Depression followed. The attempts he made to lessen the Depression did not work. The lesson here is not to be overconfident in bluffing skills and to summon help from dependable team players when it looks like you’re losing all your chips. (Today, Hoover’s reputation has been somewhat rehabilitated; he is considered the best of all Commerce Secretaries, although the taint of his handling of the Depression still lingers).
It might come as no surprise Walter M. Chrysler was an expert game player, who know when and how to bluff. In his youth, he worked as a railroad machine shop-hand for $.30 per hour in Salt Lake City. In an emergency, at his job-site, he was asked to quickly put a locomotive back into service. This task was way beyond his experience, but he didn’t let his boss know. He concealed his fear about doing the job, by seeking help from other employees. He wasted no time in getting to work with the team he formed. Chrysler met the deadline to get the locomotive up and running. This was ” a turning point” in his career, he later said. Within months, he began climbing the ladder of success in leadership positions in businesses that involved transportation - ultimately finding his way to creating Chrysler Corporation. His ability to hide his fears and to act confident, served him time and again.
Thomas Edison moved boldly forward in his career as an inventor when he was working as an electrician at the Gold Stock and Telegraph Company. One of his jobs was to work on improving tickers/telegraphs. While still in his early 20s, he devised several methods to improve the tickers than in use. One day, he was approached by Directors of the Company to sell one of his inventions. Although he was short of cash, rather than naming a price (he thought $5,000 would be fair), he boldly stated to the proposed buyers, Make me an offer.“ “How would $40,000 strike you?” they asked. Edison was astonished, but he learned an valuable lesson by this accidental strategy; by pretending to be ignorant about the right valuation, the sellers agreed to a better price than he could ever have imagined. It was this $40,00 that enabled him to become an inventor owning his company. “Make me an offer” became Edison’s mantra and patterned response to all inquiries regarding his patented inventions.
There are many more examples of the bold and the brave American industrialists (Westinghouse, Firestone, etc), many of whom excelled at strategy and planning when they were starting out. Some of them were plainly intuitive about realizing when and how to bluff. Most learned from trial and error. Of course, there is a fine line difference between lying and bluffing. Bluffing should never involve untruths, but, instead, some first-class “acting as if”… These leaders knew how to bluff ( only when there was sufficient back-up) and how to show indifference and hide their true feelings of fear. In order to use a bluffing to their best advantage, they first anticipated how others would react to their offers or demands. They always showed confidence (even when they lacked it), because they realized confidence was contagious (and still is - as true today as 100 years ago). These men and others considered the risks along the paths they had chosen. Once they were on the road, they acted as if success was inevitable. And in most cases, it was.
Note: This article is a companion piece to my Astrology guide for June, Game On! Much of the history about these Tycoons “playing to win” is found in the book, Strategy in Handling People (1930) and in various resources on the internet. (Wikipedia, although often helpful, should be taken with a grain of salt; the site often varies from accounts found in other resources, like the book named above.)
05.26.09
