@FoundersPodcast: Rockefeller on Napoleon: “I ...
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Sep 29, 2025
1
Rockefeller on Napoleon:
“I have thought that if he had applied himself to commerce and industry he would have been the greatest businessman the world has ever known.
My, what a genius for organization!
He had what I have always regarded as a prime necessity for large success in any enterprise—a thorough understanding of men and ability to inspire in them confidence in him and what is of equal importance, confidence in themselves.
See the men he picked as Marshals and the heights to which they rose under his inspiration and leadership.
It is by such traits as these that men get the work of the world done.
It is all a battlefield.
Bonaparte, without the able Marshals he had about him, would not have been the master of his age.
He went into a battle with the knowledge that his Marshals could be depended on—that in a given situation they could be relied upon to do the necessary thing.
Their devotion to him, coupled with their enthusiasm—that's another great attribute—and the qualities which his influence upon them brought out, won the fight.
He was virile because he came direct from the ranks of the people.
There was none of the stagnant blood of nobility or royalty in his veins.
There's where he had the advantage over the monarchs of Europe to begin with.
He could think quicker and along more individual and original lines than any of them.
And being from the people, he was in close touch with the people.
The men whom he had to combat didn't understand either him or the people and it is always hard to successfully control what you don't understand.
Napoleon didn't play the game.
Coming direct from the people he had their sympathy; he appealed to their imaginations;
Europe had not yet been educated to the fact that it could get along without any kings at all, leaders of their own kind were few, and that made it easier for Napoleon to rise to the heights which he attained.”
“I have thought that if he had applied himself to commerce and industry he would have been the greatest businessman the world has ever known.
My, what a genius for organization!
He had what I have always regarded as a prime necessity for large success in any enterprise—a thorough understanding of men and ability to inspire in them confidence in him and what is of equal importance, confidence in themselves.
See the men he picked as Marshals and the heights to which they rose under his inspiration and leadership.
It is by such traits as these that men get the work of the world done.
It is all a battlefield.
Bonaparte, without the able Marshals he had about him, would not have been the master of his age.
He went into a battle with the knowledge that his Marshals could be depended on—that in a given situation they could be relied upon to do the necessary thing.
Their devotion to him, coupled with their enthusiasm—that's another great attribute—and the qualities which his influence upon them brought out, won the fight.
He was virile because he came direct from the ranks of the people.
There was none of the stagnant blood of nobility or royalty in his veins.
There's where he had the advantage over the monarchs of Europe to begin with.
He could think quicker and along more individual and original lines than any of them.
And being from the people, he was in close touch with the people.
The men whom he had to combat didn't understand either him or the people and it is always hard to successfully control what you don't understand.
Napoleon didn't play the game.
Coming direct from the people he had their sympathy; he appealed to their imaginations;
Europe had not yet been educated to the fact that it could get along without any kings at all, leaders of their own kind were few, and that made it easier for Napoleon to rise to the heights which he attained.”
2
If you want to learn about Rockefeller’s ruthless competitive drive this episode is for you
Spotify: open.spotify.com/episode/5Mdq3q…
Apple: podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/fou…
Spotify: open.spotify.com/episode/5Mdq3q…
Apple: podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/fou…