09/07/19 Weekend Grif.Net - Examining Success
Robert Griffin
From nearly one hundred years ago, could you name the
1. President of the largest steel company?
2. President of the largest gas-electric utility company?
3. Principal broker for J.P. Morgan & Co., and soon to be president of the New York Stock Exchange?
4. Greatest grain-market speculator?
5. The “Wall Street Wonder” and “Cotton King”?
6. Head of one of the world’s biggest monopolies?
7. Mega-wealthy manager of the utilities conglomerate that later became General Electric?
These men were considered some of the world’s most “successful people” who found the secret of fame and finances. I knew a couple names, but NOT “what became of any them”. Here are one-sentence answers about this seven men:
1. The President of the largest steel company, Bethlehem Steel, Charles M. Schwab, died in 1939 a complete pauper ($1.7 million in debt), after squandering some $25-40 million (in today’s dollars: $275-$440 million) even before the 1929 stock-market crash.
2. The President of the era’s largest gas-electric utility company (AGECO), Howard Hopson, lost most of his personal fortune of $74 million (attained largely through fraud and pyramid schemes) and went insane, dying at age 67.
3. The principal broker for J.P. Morgan & Co., and then four-term president of the N.Y.S.E., Richard Whitney, embezzled huge sums to fund his extravagant lifestyle, and was sent to Sing-Sing prison for it.
4. The greatest wheat speculator, William Cutten, worth millions of dollars in the 1920s, was suspected ringleader of boosting the stock market to an all-time high that led to the Great Crash/Depression; he died of a heart attack in 1936 after being indicted for income tax evasion.
5. The “Wall Street Wonder” Jesse Livermore, was also blamed for having been a precipitator of the Great Crash of 1929, committed suicide.
6. Ivar Kreuger essentially ran a huge pyramid scheme via a complex structure of hundreds of subsidiary shell companies, disallowing audits of his firm’s financial statements and committed suicide in 1932.
7. Samuel Insull died of a heart attack with 20 cents in his pocket in a subway under Paris, six years after his financial empire came crashing down he was forced to stand trial in the U.S. for embezzlement, mail fraud, and violation of the bankruptcy acts.
What everyone judged as “really successful” proved to be mostly smoke and mirrors. Which leads me to ask, “Are YOU a success?” Not sure there is a one-size-fits-all answer to define success in life (since life is multi-faceted), but as I slide from the “fall” of my own life toward inevitable “winter”, it’s time for a little introspection. As Plato (quoting his mentor Socrates) wrote, “The unexamined life is not worth living.”
Am I a “success” personally as a man? As a husband? As a father/grandfather? As a child of God? Am I successful in my work? In my finances? In my health? In my friendships? In my footprint on this planet?
Charles Spurgeon wrote that “a thorough examination will do the healthy no harm and be a blessing to the sick”. As we face another day, ponder again how you will live your life as a “success” in the eyes of your God, yourself and others. And remember, taking a lot of selfies doesn’t mean you live an examined life.
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Dr Bob Griffin
"Jesus Knows Me, This I Love!"