The Visionary Builder of the Great Northern Railway

What I learned from rereading James J. Hill: Empire Builder by Michael P. Malone. 

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Notes and highlights from the episode: 

—He had unlimited energy, was stubborn, had a temper, was supremely arrogant and he did more to transform the northern frontier of the United States than any other single individual.

—One of the things he learned from history and biography: The power of one dynamic individual: Like so many other nineteenth-century youths, young Jim Hill fell under the spell of Napoleon. He came to believe in the strength of will, the power of one dynamic individual to change the world, the conquering hero. (He says that the railroad entrepreneurs conquered the distance between remote communities in the American west)

—He accustomed himself to handle a large workload.

—If you want to know whether you are destined to be a success or a failure in life, you can easily find out. The test is simple and it is infallible: Are you able to save money? If not, drop out. You will lose. You may think not, but you will lose as sure as you live. The seed of success is not in you. –James J. Hill

—He held people’s attention as he engaged them in characteristic rapid-fire, highly animated conversation, gesturing expansively and driving home his point with jabbing motions of his hands—the embodiment of high energy.

—He worked incredibly hard, sometimes laboring late into the night, falling asleep at the desk, then getting up for a swim in the river and a cup of black coffee, then going back to work.

—“Rebates existed in other industries. I just applied them to oil.” Rockefeller said. [Don’t copy the what, copy the how]  —John D: The Founding Father of the Rockefellers by David Freeman Hawke. (Founders #254)

—"The very best employee at any job at any level of responsibility is the person who generally believes that this is their last job working for someone. The next thing they'll start will be their own. — Max Levchin in The Founders: The Story of PayPal and the Entrepreneurs Who Shaped Silicon Valley by Jimmy Soni. (Founders #233)

—Hill drank little, worked hard, and confined his socializing to respectable settings. As always, he read incessantly. He permitted himself few distractions in his relentless drive to achieve wealth and status.

—Inefficiency disturbs him greatly.

—James J. Hill loved eliminating steps.

—Genius has the fewest moving parts.

—Hill limited the number of details. Then he makes every detail perfect.

—Hill called vertical integration, rational integration.

—Hill always gets out quickly in front of the emerging trend.

—Hill had an entirely pragmatic business personality. When competition suited him in a market, he competed fiercely. But when competition became wasteful to him, he did not hesitate to end it, even if this meant joining with old enemies and creating a monopoly.

—Hill was making profits owning steamboats. Then a competitor from Canada starts running the same route and the rates and profits dwindle. Hill discovers a neglected maritime law that prohibited foreign ships from operating in American waters. Hill then persuades the US Treasury Department to enforce the law against his competitor. The competitor has to transfer ownership to an American. After that Hill then merges with that competitor and forges another monopoly.

—This railroad is my monument. — James J Hill

—As man emerged into history, he became a road maker; the better the road, the more advanced his development. — James J. Hill.

—By 1885 Railroads brought in twice the revenue than the federal government.
Railroads were the nations largest employer.
The railroaders were the largest private land holders in the country.
They owned more than 10% of land in the United States.

—Hill identified an opportunity hiding in plain sight: Unlike most who viewed the Saint Paul and Pacific as a near-worthless derelict, Hill viewed it as a miracle waiting to happen, a potentially wondrous enterprise simply lacking competent leadership. He studied the road constantly, reading every scrap of information he could find about it and boring anyone who would listen with endless detail as to what it could one day be.

—He possessed a priceless advantage compared with most other nineteenth-century rail titans. Rather than coming from the outside world of finance, as most of them did, he arose from the inside world of freighting and transportation, and he knew this world in all its complexities. He was about to demonstrate how certain well-established, regional capitalists on the frontier could challenge and even best larger eastern interests.

—Being obsessed is an edge. Hill was obsessed getting control of the bankrupt Saint Paul & Pacific rail line:  Hill, who knew the road better than anyone else, constantly argued to his friends, the potential prize defied description. He seemed completely fixated on the project. Many years later, his friend recalled that Jim had spoken of it to him “probably several hundred times” during the mid-1870s.

—James J. Hill finds what he is best at in the world at, at 40 years old, in a field where he had no direct experience.

—“It pays to be where the money is spent” — James J Hill

—James J. Hill was very easy to interface with. He had an easy to understand organizing principle for his company. Hills credo: What we want is the best possible line, shortest distance, lowest grades, and least curvature that we can build.

—He had appreciation for those who had dirt underneath their fingernails.

—Many observers would later compare Hill with Villard. The comparison was inevitable. “While Hill was building carefully and checking his costs minutely Villard built in ignorance of costs.” Like other transcontinental plungers, Villard did in fact build rapidly and poorly, much of his main line would later have to be torn up and rebuilt. He had rushed to get the massive land grants. Amid mounting deficits and acrimony, Villard was then forced to resign the presidency of the NP in 1884.

—Find what you are good at and pound away at it forever.

—He simply could not delegate authority and live with the outcome.

—Hill on how to build a railroad: Work, hard work, intelligent work, and then more work. — James J Hill.

—They managed the finances of the railroad in a highly conservative and prudent manner.  Hill advocated and practiced a policy of plowing large percentages of profits directly back into the property, knowing that the best defense against invading railroads was a better-built system that could operate at lower rates.

—Give me Swedes, snuff and whiskey, and I'll build a railroad through hell. — James J. Hill

—From the Hour of Fate: James J. Hill had built the Great Northern with deliberate thrift and brutal efficiency. His railroad would become among the most profitable in the Northwest. He didn't need JP Morgan the way other railroad executives did. (Financial strength was kryptonite to JP Morgan)

—He cared most about freight, never frills.

—The life of James J. Hill certainly demonstrates the impact one willful individual can have on the course of history.

—I’ve made my mark on the surface of the earth and they can’t wipe it out. — James J Hill.

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“I have listened to every episode released and look forward to every episode that comes out. The only criticism I would have is that after each podcast I usually want to buy the book because I am interested so my poor wallet suffers. ” — Gareth

Be like Gareth. Buy a book: All the books featured on Founders Podcast