Three Lessons We Can Learn from J. Paul Getty’s Success
Tuesday June 14, 2016
Emerging from deep shadows, a solemn individual wearing a frayed shirt props up a worn textbook with grimy fingers. The subject of this painting by Jusepe de Ribera is Euclid, the prominent mathematician from antiquity. Here, the artist portrays the dignity of a life devoted to intellectual, rather than material pursuits, despite the hardships that may ensue on such a path.
Euclid by Jusepe de Ribera, digital image courtesy of the J. Paul Getty Open Content Program
Euclid is housed at the J. Paul Getty Museum, a priceless collection of some of the most incredible works of art in the world.
This painting stands in stark contrast to the collection’s patriarch, J. Paul Getty, founder of Getty Oil and one of the wealthiest industrialists in history. There are eerie parallels today to the environment in which Mr. Getty built his vast empire in the early 20th century – oil companies were going out of business left and right, new technologies were disrupting entrenched business models, and the breakup of Standard Oil’s grip on energy markets opened up new pathways for entrepreneurs. Here are three lessons from J. Paul Getty’s life that we can meditate on and apply today.
J. PAUL GETTY LESSON #1 – DO WHAT THE EXPERTS SAY NOT TO DO
In 1914, Getty received a business loan from his father, a lawyer who went into oil in Oklahoma in the early 1900s. With the money, Getty started his own b...