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Discovery, although a magnificent story of the physical side of enduring the cold and isolation over a long period of time in an unexplored part of the world, is more so a work about men, who, when confronted by this unknown, can and did work together to achieve a common goal: general exploration.
… this was a most refreshing read.
It is a non-fiction story of the greatest kind that restored my faith in man.
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Daniel C. Roper, United States Secretary of Commerce“The righteousness of either side of a question depends upon the sources of information and an open-minded willingness to examine different views. . . ."
This autobiography is a recommended read written by a former U.S. Secretary of Commerce, Daniel C. Roper. Select image above or the link below to read the article: (1) Reviews from the time of publication of the book, (2) selected excerpts from the book, and (3) a few thoughts about the book by Peter E. Greulich.
My education on Christopher Columbus was severely wanting. It, like most people’s insights, was reduced to a mariner discovering the New World in 1942 "by sailing the ocean blue.”
And so it is, our self-education remains our personal responsibility. Don’t let others mislead you—even me. My advice is that if you want to understand Christopher Columbus—the good and questionable, start with this book.
In any prioritized list of books, this work of "Cast-Iron Charlie's" should be added as last. If Sorensen knew Henry Ford “as well as any man alive or dead” he left out the compassionate side of his chief executive and, maybe, in so doing reveals a weakness in himself. Sorensen either did not know or appreciate, or did not write any of the human-interest stories of Mr. Ford that come across in the other biographies.
I don't think he knew Henry Ford as well as he thought he did. It is refreshing to read in a major work from 1951 by the editors of Fortune magazine an affirmation of a basic fundamental foundation of capitalism that I arrived at in my research for "THINK Again: IBM CAN Maximize Shareholder Value." "One of the major responsibilities of a chief executive officer is the maintenance of a balanced, self-sustaining stakeholder ecosystem." Peter E. Greulich, Author and Public Speaker The following is an excerpt from "USA: The Permanent Revolution.
"The great happy paradox of the profit motive in the American System is that management, precisely because it is in business to make money years on end, cannot concentrate exclusively on making money here and now.
“To keep making money years on end, it must, in the words of Frank Abrams, Chairman of Standard Oil of New Jersey, ‘conduct the affairs of the enterprise in such a way as to maintain an equitable and working balance among the claims of the various directly interested groups—stockholders, employees, customers, and the public at large.’ ” “This basic law holds good: nothing great without serenity.
“There are people who are trying to substitute thrills for serenity. Having no serenity at home within themselves, they run away into sensations, spend as much time as possible away from themselves amid their thrills, and then at last have to come back again to no serenity. “That is the very essence of unhappiness.” "The High Uses of Serenity," Dr. Harry Emerson Fosdick The Power to See It Through To read a few more quotes from this book and this author's review of Harry Emerson Fosdick's, The Power to See It Through, select the image above or the link below.
After reading three of Booker T. Washington's books, Character Building, My Larger Education, and Up from Slavery, it seemed appropriate to establish a home page for his works and my reviews.
Booker T. Washington, Up from Slavery Booker T. Washington was one of these great men, and I am learning from his wisdom. I would add that we should also learn from the mistakes of the great--and lesser, men and women.
“I had been in Luxembourg nine months when I returned to Washington for a consultation with the State Department, a customary procedure with ambassadors and ministers. … After my Washington consultations, I went up to New York for a few days and was given a luncheon there that I consider one of the greatest honors of my life [emphasis added].” “Matthew Woll, the A. F. of L. Vice-President … got together with his friend and mine, Thomas Watson, President of International Business Machines, to co-host the affair."
Perle (Pearl) Mesta
The "Famous Leaders" Series of books spanned a timeframe from 1920 to 1955. There was one "Famous Leaders of Character" and a series of six "Famous Leaders of Industry." The target audience was the adolescent reader. It is important to understand the audience to set the proper expectations. I did not realize this when I read the last in the series--The Sixth Series, first.
“Famous Leaders of Industry (with a new author: Trentwell M. White) discusses the lives of twenty-five men who have had the courage and independence … to work night and day to bring the results of their thinking to fruition.” Trentwell M. White
This is an Interview in 1917 with Will I. Ohmer, President, Recording and Computing Machines Company. Headings, subheadings and images were added by this author. The article was shortened and minor edits performed where appropriate for readability without affecting the overall tone and purpose of the piece while, hopefully, improving clarity.
Several times the term “girl(s)” has been replaced with “woman/women” so as to keep the reader engaged and not distracted with an out-of-date term that was widely used at the time, and not in a derogatory manner. Select image above or link below to read the article in its entirety. Peter E. Greulich Links are provided below to three books by B. C. Forbes: (1) "Scrapbook of Thoughts on the Business of Life," (2) "Little Bits about Big Men," and (3) "America's 50 Foremost Business Leaders."
"America's Fifty Foremost Business Leaders" covers a span of time from 1917 to 1947: From the founding of FORBES Magazine to its thirtieth anniversary. These men were voted the best-of-the-best by their peers in 1947.
After reading and reviewing "The Life of Andrew Carnegie," a magnificent biography of the industrialist and philanthropist by Burton J. Hendrick and the "Autobiography of Andrew Carnegie" edited by John C. Van Dyke, it seemed appropriate to set up a home page for these reviews and other works by "Andy."
Even as his words have become more electronically accessible with the modern-day internet, his thoughts are the internet's equivalent of little-referenced manuscripts gathering dust on a bookshelf. Unfortunately, his talent, business skills, and humanity are less in vogue with today's chief executive officers. We need to blow the dust off these old biographies, books and publications. If you care to learn more, select the image above or one of the links provided below. Cheers, - Peter E. “My connection with Hampton and Tuskegee Institutes, which promote the elevation of the colored race we formerly kept in slavery, has been a source of satisfaction and pleasure, and to know Booker Washington is a rare privilege. We should all take our hats off to the man who not only raised himself from slavery but helped raise millions of his race to a higher stage of civilization. ...
“He rose from slavery to the leadership of his people—a modern Moses and Joshua combined, leading his people both onward and upward. B. J. Hendrick's "The Life of Andrew Carnegie" We will be creating an Andrew Carnegie home page and updating our book reviews over the next week. We will add reviews of B. J. Hendrick's biography, "The Life of Andrew Carnegie" and "Andy's" autobiography.
Until then choose the image above or link below to read our thoughts on Booker T. Washington's book, "Character Building." I was once again impressed by Ida M. Tarbell’s’ balanced approach to history and her description of the actors who interacted—and sometimes fought—with each other. She covers the individuals with Emerson’s Lengthening Shadow who led capital, business and labor during this time.
Chose the image of the icon below to read this full review and reviews of her other works.
In 1950, B. C. Forbes published the first of what would ultimately become over two decades a three-volume set of quotes, epilogues and statements on “The Business of Life.” Initially, I started to list some of my favorite quotes from Volume I, but a question came to mind: What was the overall impression—the big picture—of all the quotes in this first volume? What was on the mind of these early industrialists, philosophers, and business founders (and B. C. Forbes) when these short business-life idioms were written, collected and published?
Subject from the "Subject Index" and Number of Mentions
A footnote: Consider that each subject may be more expansive than what is listed here. For instance, the category “Action” does not include “Act, Actions, Deeds, or Doing.” Neither does the category “God” include subjects such as “Faith, Religion or the Golden Rule.” Also, little effort has been made to count the exact number of mentions in the index. These were cut/paste into a Word document and the number of words then extracted. The actual count may be off by one or two—forgive me as this was a trade-off on my part between accuracy and effort. Maybe, if I were a university professor who could put a graduate understudy to work on it, eh?
"Nothing should be done that would tend to reduce diversity of talents in our [human] race.
Select the image above or the link below to read a review of "An American Four-in-Hand in Britain."
B. C. Forbes in "Men Who Are Making the West" rattles off the names of the following. It is a literal list of Whos Who of "Eastern" American Industrialists:
" . . . the telephone had its Vail, the cash register had its Patterson, the chain store its Woolworth, railroading its Hill and Harriman, the electric industry its Coffin, coke its Frick, banking its Morgan, the sewing machine business its Singer." I wonder how many of today's MBAs would recognize any of the ranchers, industrialists and bankers in this book by B. C. Forbes: "Men Who Are Making the West." I surely don't ask the question with any sense of superiority or intention of slighting a business education . . . because I only recognized one: Captain Robert Dollar. Although B. C. Forbes is a little over-laudatory in his approach, he also presents solid facts that these men understood their responsibilities to their four stakeholders: customers, employees, shareholders and their shared societies.
"Gentlemen, we do not manage our corporation for the stock market. . . .
IBM has spent $201 billion since 1995 on share buybacks (repurchases). I wonder if Arvind Krishna and James M. Whitehurst wish they had some of those dollars spent by their three predecessors on paper to now invest in people, processes and products Peter E. Greulich
I learned from this experience to be careful referencing “authoritative sources.” I believe that all men are human, and that Baruch either never read, failed to read, or for some other (so far) undiscovered reason failed to consider the additional published works that discussed Judge Gary.
Cheers,
- Pete Character Building by Booker T. Washington was published in 1902. This is one review from the southern city of Richmond, Virginia.
“Indeed, there is sound advice in it for the reading of white men as well as black.” The Richmond Virginia Times, August 31, 1902 "Let us understand the real thing; that it is not the building that makes the business, it is not the merchandise that makes the business, it is the people.
"It is all people, people, people." John Wanamaker, The Business Biography of John Wanamaker It seems all too predictable that our chief executives always have to "relearn" that business is always about people, people, people, isn't it? Peter E. Greulich
"My association with him was such that I formed convictions as to his philosophy of life, his character and his abilities which have deepened during these four decades. My approval of him is based solely on my own experiences with him and my knowledge of the forces with which he had to deal. ...
"His philosophy of American living was based upon free enterprise, both in social and in economic systems. He held that economic system must be regulated to prevent monopoly and unfair practices. He believed that federal intervention in the economic or social life of our people was justified only when the task was greater than the states or individual could perform for themselves. ... "Coming from an academic ivory tower with only a brief political career, he at times stumbled badly in the thicket of politics, ... but ... with his courage and eloquence, he carried a message of hope for the independence of nations, the freedom of men and lasting peace. Never since his time has any man risen to the political and spiritual heights that came to him. His proclaimed principles of self-government and independence aided the spread of freedom to twenty-two races at the time of the Armistice." Herbert Hoover, The Ordeal of Woodrow Wilson, 1958 Sometimes we forget that terms - such as liberal that we cast about flippantly today - carried a different meaning to those who used the words just a half century ago. I believe from all I have read, including Woodrow Wilson's The New Freedom [link to review], I would have enjoyed knowing this man. Peter E. Greulich
“Freedom to Wilson was the supreme blessing of man. Democratic government was superior to all others because it gave to men the greatest measure of individual liberty. Individual liberty—the words are inseparable [emphasis added]. The individual, Wilson said, is the ‘first fact of liberty.’ There can be ‘no corporate liberty,’ he pointed out. ‘Liberty belongs to the individual or it does not exist.’
“These are the keys to human progress. Wilson knew that only individuals, not government, can provide the sense of moral responsibility which is the basis of a just and enduring society.” Bernard M. Baruch, The Public Years, 1960
Amen! Bernie Peter E. Greulich
"Eggshells are good, and every egg should have one. It keeps an egg in its proper place, up to the time when it ceases to be the proper place.
"The eggshell in such a crisis, is a glorious tradition, and it can be proved conclusively that the egg could never have become a successful egg without it. "Nevertheless, if the tradition isn't broken when it should be broken, the result is a total loss." Edward A. Filene, Successful Living in this Machine Age, 1931
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Peter E. GreulichPete has been studying IBM and early American corporate history since his retirement in 2011. These are his thoughts and musings, and of those whose biographies he has read with links to articles and book reviews on this website. Categories
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