Andrew Carnegie (1835-1919), founder of the United States Steel Company. The predecessor of U.S. Steel was Carnegie Steel. Carnegie gained advantages by building a large-scale steel conglomerate from scratch into a large steel conglomerate that produced steel. It maintained its status as the world's largest steel plant for decades and almost monopolized the U.S. steel market.
Carnegie, along with Rockefeller and Morgan, was one of the three giants in the American economic circle at that time. From a penniless immigrant to the "Steel King" who is the richest man in the world, and after becoming famous, he donated almost all his wealth to society. The amount of money he donated during his lifetime was so huge that it was comparable to the Swedish scientist and industrialist Nobel who established the Nobel Prize after his death. He has thus become a hero in the minds of Americans and a model of personal struggle.
In the United States, the name of "Steel King" Carnegie is a legend and it is also puzzling. He once influenced the financial situation of the entire United States. But what surprised the world was that at the peak of his career, he gave up everything, pursued another free and unrestrained life, and made huge contributions to charity. He donated money to build the famous Carnegie Concert Hall in New York, established Carnegie University in Pittsburgh, and "Carnegie Libraries" all over the world. This is Carnegie. For him, wealth is not the first priority. Enjoying life and making contributions to society are the true meaning of his life.
A diligent young man who seizes opportunities
On November 25, 1835, Andrew Carnegie was born in Dunfermline, the ancient capital of Scotland. His father, Will Carnegie, made a living by hand-weaving linen plaid, and his mother, Maggie, sewed shoes as a side job. Although my parents were poor, they were upright and always full of positive and enterprising spirit. This is a family that has inherited a glorious tradition of pride, self-reliance, and self-respect.
Little Carnegie’s grandfather was a cheerful, witty and humorous man with an indomitable spirit. As the eldest grandson, Carnegie Jr. was named after his grandfather, Andrew Carnegie. He has been proud to have such a grandfather since he was a child, and he is also proud to have his name throughout his life. His maternal grandfather was a natural orator, an intelligent politician, and an active local political leader. Perhaps due to the genes inherited from his ancestors, Carnegie was optimistic and enterprising and eloquent since he was a child, which had a great impact on his life.
At the age of 13, with a longing for the United States, Carnegie and his family came to the Port of New York on the east coast of the United States, and then to Pittsburgh. The life of immigrants was very poor. Little Carnegie worked as a child laborer during the day and went to night school at night, which was very hard. At the age of 14, he came to Pittsburgh to work as a messenger for the David Telegraph Company. Although he was not familiar with the roads at that time, he made a promise to the company that he could memorize the city's routes in a week. The company's manager was moved by Carnegie's perseverance and kept him. Carnegie also fulfilled his promise and became a journeyman of the company.
At that time, Pittsburgh was not only a transportation hub in the United States, but also a material distribution center and industrial center. As an advanced communication tool, the telegraph played an extremely important role in this city where industrialists gathered. Carnegie, who walked through the streets delivering telegrams every day, was like entering a "business school." He is familiar with the name and characteristics of each company, and understands the economic relationships and business dealings between companies. Over time, he became familiar with this invisible "business encyclopedia", which benefited him a lot in his future career. Therefore, when Carnegie looked back on this period, he called it "the first step on the ladder of life."
In 1853, Scott, director of the Western District of the Pennsylvania Railroad, took a fancy to Carnegie, who had superb telegraph skills, and hired him as a personal telegraph operator and secretary, with a monthly salary of $35. Carnegie was already 18 years old at the time, and he entered this broader world with a strong ambition.
During more than 10 years at the Pennsylvania Railroad Company, Carnegie relied on his diligence and agility to be promoted to director of the company's Western District at the age of 24, with an annual salary of US$1,500, and gradually mastered the management of a modern large enterprise. Skill. This skill was indispensable when he later organized a huge steel enterprise.
At the same time, Carnegie also seized the opportunity, tried his best, participated in investments, and frequently succeeded, slowly accumulating a small amount of wealth, which laid a certain economic foundation for him to start a steel enterprise in the future.
In April 1865, the Civil War ended, and the war created a lot of opportunities. The 29-year-old Carnegie had achieved some success at this time, but he was not satisfied. He wanted to seize this critical stage of his life journey and start his own business. So he submitted his resignation to the Pennsylvania Railroad.
The unspeakable road of struggle
Before resigning, Carnegie led people to repair bridges and repair roads, and he often thought about whether iron bridges could be used instead of wooden bridges. Although there were many steel factories in Pittsburgh at that time, they were still in their infancy. In 1862, he and several friends founded a company to build iron bridges. On July 4, 1863, both sides of the Civil War began to use warships to fight, giving Carnegie a warning: The age of sailing ships has passed, and the age of steel is coming. So, after resigning, he traveled to Europe, went to London to inspect the steel research institute there, and decisively bought a steel patent invented by the Dots brothers, and also bought a patent for the coke washing and reduction method. He believed that, These two patents will bring endless wealth.
Carnegie returned to the United States and began to work hard to do something big. He gathered scattered funds and merged the two companies in which he had previously held shares to form the United Iron and Steel Company. At that time, the steel production and operation in the United States was extremely decentralized. From mining and ironmaking to final products such as rails and iron plates, many manufacturers were required in the process. In addition, middlemen add layers of pressure in every production and marketing link, resulting in a very high cost of the final product. Carnegie was well aware of these shortcomings of traditional steel companies, and he was determined to establish a brand-new modern steel company that integrated supply, production, and sales throughout the production process.
Carnegie's ideal is slowly being realized, and his work is becoming increasingly busy. While he is running around day and night for the company's affairs, he suddenly receives a message from his old boss and benefactor, Scott. Emergency telegram. When he hurried to Scott's office, he found that the famous investor Morgan was also there. It turned out that Scott's loan from Morgan expired and needed US$250,000, and he was waiting for Carnegie's help. Facing the arrogant Morgan and the anxious Scott, Carnegie felt very uncomfortable. If it hadn't been for Scott's promotion, he would have been just a poor boy, not to mention that he had given so much at the beginning of his career. He received help, but if he gave him the $250,000, his steel company would be ruined!
Ultimately Carnegie refused to help. This was just the beginning. With the economic panic of 1873, more and more people suffered from the bad luck of bankruptcy. The original partners, the Cluman brothers, and the younger brother's father-in-law, these veteran figures had to put themselves aside. The shares were sold to Carnegie. Finally, in 1890, Carnegie changed the company's name to Carnegie Steel Company, and the capital increased to US$25 million. He held more than half of the company's shares.
Although some people called him "Despicable Carnegie" at the time, it cannot be denied that Carnegie's contribution to the steel industry and his unique vision cannot be denied. When he took the first step into the steel industry, he began to boldly introduce the most advanced production technology and talents, drastically improve production management, constantly improve steel production technology, reduce costs, and make himself successful every time.
By the end of the 19th century and the beginning of the 20th century, Carnegie Steel Company had become the largest steel company in the world. It has more than 20,000 employees and the most advanced equipment in the world. Its annual output exceeds the steel output of the United Kingdom, and its annual revenue reaches 40 million US dollars. Carnegie is the company's largest shareholder, but he does not hold positions such as chairman or general manager. His success depends to a large extent on the appointment of a group of talents who understand technology and management. To this day, people often quote his famous saying: "If all my factory equipment and materials are burned down, but as long as I keep my entire team, I will still be a steel king in a few years."
After he became famous, a journalist visited him and asked him how he worked to achieve what he is today. Carnegie replied: "There are two basic factors why I can succeed: First, I was born in a poor family since I was a child. When I was a child, I was often full from one meal and didn't know where the next meal was. I often heard my parents sighing at night as they struggled to cope with the poverty they faced.
Therefore, I have strived to make progress and work hard since I was a child, and I am determined to defeat poverty from my hands when I grow up. Second, everything must be done seriously, no matter how big or small. When I was 12 years old, I worked as a textile worker. I worked hard to spin yarn well. Later, I worked as a postman. I tried my best to remember the name and appearance of every household in my postal district. Eventually, I became familiar with almost every household. Try to do every little thing carefully, and then no one will dare to trust you with big things. "
Another life after the baptism of Eastern culture
As early as one day at the end of December 1866, Carnegie wrote such a memo: "Life must have a goal, and Making money is the worst goal. There is no idolatry worse than the worship of wealth. "But later on, he has been immersed in the business world. This thing has long been forgotten.
But just 20 years later, many unfortunate things happened, which made Carnegie's life also difficult. There began to be huge changes. In October 1886, his brother Tom, who had grown up with Carnegie and worked hard together, passed away. Then, his mother could not bear such a blow, and then passed away. Carnegie, who had been very filial since childhood, passed away. Carnegie simply could not accept such a blow. He had a high fever for six consecutive weeks, and all his living relatives left him one by one. It was the first time that he felt so lonely. So, in 1887, Carnegie, who was over fifty and still unmarried, He walked into the church with his fiancée who had been engaged for many years. But the tragedy did not end there. In 1889, Carnegie's right-hand man, Director Jones, died in a blast furnace explosion, which was another heavy blow to Carnegie. Ji believed in Eastern traditions and studied the works of Confucius and Buddhist scriptures, but he never took action. This time, he began to truly face the cruel facts and became somewhat sober.
For several days, He was thinking about the road he had traveled: from a little messenger, a descendant of poor immigrants, to a millionaire and a multi-millionaire today, what is the use of having so much wealth in my hands? All my childhood dreams were gone. I got it, but why couldn't I feel happy? Now my relatives are leaving one by one, and the friends I once left will never come back. What is my purpose of making money? Finally, he came to this conclusion: "Rich man." If he cannot use his talent for amassing wealth and donate his wealth to benefit society during his lifetime, then his death will be dishonorable. "
In 1990, he announced in the book "The Gospel of Wealth": "I will no longer work hard to earn more wealth. "So, he resolutely retired from his booming steel business and sold Carnegie Steel Company to financial tycoon Morgan for US$500 million. Then, he began to implement his great plan to dedicate his wealth to society. .
In the nearly 20 years until Carnegie's death on August 11, 1919, Carnegie's life changed dramatically. In 1901, the first year after his retirement, he first He spent $5 million to establish a relief and pension fund for steelworkers to express his gratitude to the employees who helped him achieve his career success. Then, in order to help young people who were aspiring and from poor families, he donated money to establish a foundation in New York City. 68 libraries. This library construction project lasted for 16 years. He donated a total of 12 million US dollars to build 3,500 libraries.
The following year, Carnegie was in his second year. He founded "Carnegie University" in his hometown of Pittsburgh. Later, he donated money to build various schools and educational institutions in the United States and Britain.
In the following years, Carnegie established several funds. He donated US$5 million to establish the "Those who sacrifice themselves to save others" and he donated US$39 million to establish the "University Professors Retirement Fund". To protect the educator's later life. He also established the "President's Pension Fund" and the "Writer's Fund" to provide support to U.S. presidents or writers in their later years. In addition, he provided the "Carnegie Celebrity Fund" to 11 countries. In 1911, the elderly Carnegie couple had been directly involved in donation work for 10 years. , feeling deeply exhausted physically and mentally, Carnegie decided to use the remaining 150 million US dollars to establish the "Carnegie Corporation" and let company personnel act as their agent for donation work.
For young people who want to start a business, Carnegie once said this: "Don't think that children from rich families have a good destiny. Most of the dandy children have become slaves of wealth. You cannot resist any temptation and fall into a degenerate situation. You must know that children who are used to enjoying themselves are no match for those children who come from poor backgrounds, and even children who are so poor that they do not even have the opportunity to study. Later, he achieved great success." Therefore, "the richest inheritance a young person can inherit is to be born in a poor family."
Andrew Carnegie’s business ideas
Little Carnegie was quite savvy and paid great attention to interpersonal relationships. When he was 17 years old, he was lucky enough to meet the then Pennsylvania Railroad Company. Scott, the director of the Western District and Carnegie's business partner for many years, was hired as a telegraph operator.
Scott was 13 years older than Carnegie. When he was in his twenties, he became the director of the Western District of Pennsylvania Railway Company. It was considered a youthful success. However, the greatest achievement of Scott's life was that he discovered that Carnegie was a talented person. and support them. This alone is enough for Scott to leave a mark in the history of industrial and commercial enterprises. Most of Carnegie's early business activities were carried out in cooperation with Scott, and this relationship between the two was maintained for 20 years.
The young Carnegie had shown some outstanding qualities, which convinced Scott that this person would have great achievements in his career in the future. First of all, Carnegie was diligent in work and study. After working hard for up to 12 hours a day, Carnegie also found time to learn various techniques to make up for his lack of formal education. The accounting double-entry bookkeeping method that later made Carnegie even more powerful in management was learned by Carnegie using his time after get off work to go to night school a few miles away. Secondly, Carnegie can quickly grasp the details of various technologies, integrate them, and draw inferences about other cases. Third, Carnegie had the courage to make breakthroughs and make decisive decisions. When Carnegie later told the secret of his success, he emphasized: "In order to protect the interests of your boss, you must have the courage to constantly disobey your boss's orders." When Carnegie first joined the Pennsylvania Railroad Company, there was a time when the entire railway line was paralyzed and Scott, the then supervisor, could not be found. The situation was very critical. As a telegraph operator, Carnegie decisively used Scott's name to send telegrams to instruct the trains on how to run, thereby averting a disaster.
Under Scott's care, within a few years Carnegie became the director of the Western District, and his income rose to US$1,500 per month. By this time, Scott had been promoted to the president of Penn Railway Company. Carnegie began to get involved in stock investment under Scott's guidance, and soon became well versed in the operation of the capital market. Carnegie had a unique vision and was good at leveraging his strengths, so he often made gains in the stock market. Carnegie once predicted that as the distance of railway travel would be greatly extended, taking a sleeper car would sooner or later become the main mode of railway travel, so he spent all his money to buy one-eighth of the equity of a sleeper car company. The sleeping car company named Pullman was already very famous at that time. Carnegie guessed that the owner Pullman was unwilling to give up, so he went against the norm at the time and suggested that the company should still be called Pullman after the merger. So he quickly became Mr. Pullman. accept. Carnegie won his first battle by giving up naming rights in exchange for a successful low-price acquisition. He then explained the benefits of loading sleeper cars to the railway company and encouraged them to order large quantities of sleeper cars. As the sleeping car company's stock price rose, Carnegie naturally made a big profit.
With the first pot of gold he found in the stock market and some early industrial investments, Carnegie quit his job at the Pennsylvania Railroad, bought an ironworks, and concentrated on what he thought had good development prospects. of iron smelting industry. Starting from iron-making, it moved into mining, transportation, and related industries such as iron plate and nail processing, and finally entered the steel-making industry. In less than 30 years, Carnegie built the steel kingdom step by step. These achievements cannot be summed up by the word "luck".
In terms of academic qualifications, Carnegie only had an elementary school level at best and had never received professional training in business management, but he seemed to be very talented in management. Ka's new management methods and concepts were practiced one by one, and he was able to use them with ease. In fact, a large number of management methods pioneered by Carl's are still regarded by the industry as the only way to succeed in business. For example, the industry-related strategy he expounded was later imitated by many companies, greatly improving the overall level and average size of the American business community.
Carnegie attached great importance to cost accounting, which benefited from his early accounting lessons at night school. In the factory he ran, Carnegie established a complete cost accounting system. Through input/output analysis and control of each production step and careful measurement of employee work efficiency in each position, the average cost of the product is far lower than that of its competitors.
Carnegie’s strategic vision and strategic decision-making ability are top-notch. In 1872, on his way to England, Carnegie witnessed a new method of making steel and foresaw that steelmaking would be the future development direction of industry, so he devoted all his money to establish the Carnegie Steel Company. By the beginning of the 20th century, the company had become the largest steel company in the world, employing more than 20,000 people and producing more steel than the entire UK production at the time.
Carnegie also attaches great importance to technological innovation. He once spent a huge sum of money to purchase a steel-making furnace that was the latest at the time. In order to understand its working principle, he hired a German scientist. After repeated experiments, a steelmaking method was invented that blows high-pressure hot air from the bottom of the steel furnace. Using this method to make steel, although the service life of the steel furnace is greatly shortened, the average production cost of the steel furnace is greatly reduced due to the greatly improved production efficiency.
In terms of employment, Carnegie’s actions are even more superior. He is well aware of the key significance of talents to the success of a company, so whenever he finds young people with outstanding abilities, he will try his best to promote them; for particularly outstanding ones, he will even recruit them as partners and give 1% as a gift according to his rules. dry stock. Carnegie once said rather arrogantly that even if one day all my factories are burned down by fire, as long as these people who work with me are still there, I will become a millionaire again within a year. On Carnegie's tombstone, there is a meaningful sentence written, "The people buried here know how to use people who are better than themselves." Many people believe that this sentence is the finishing touch of Carnegie's successful experience.
In terms of establishing a public image, Carnegie was also good at leveraging his unrivaled business experience. He described himself as a friend of the working class, publicly professing support for the eight-hour work day and union organizing. The standard working day at that time was 12 hours per day. But his own workers continued to work at the blast furnace 12 hours a day, seven days a week. The salary received was only 14 cents an hour.
The secret of success
After going through ups and downs, he will not be a "big minister", but vows to be a "little king".
Put business interests first, not personal emotions.
Return wealth to society and win the admiration of the world.