7 Dark Roses - Free Audio ebooks

My associates and I unhesitatingly accepted what we

considered to be a gentlemanly agreement. Our letter was

duly composed, reproduced and

sent off together with the

one prepared by the opposition.

When that had been done, I

assumed that the die was cast and that nothing further

would be—or could be—done to influence the outcome.

Then, only a few days before the scheduled stockholders’

meeting, one of my aides burst into my office. His face was

livid with anger and he clutched a piece of paper in his

hand.

“Read this!” he exclaimed, thrusting the paper at me. I

took it and found that it was a letter—a

second

letter—

which the opposition had sent out to the stockholders only a

day or two earlier. And what a letter it was!

The gist of the no-holds-barred missive was a virulent

personal attack on me and a highly objectionable—and

entirely baseless—implication that my motives for seeking

control of the company were, at

best, dubious. I called my

associates and held a hasty council of war. What could be

done at that late stage of the game? Not much, some of my

associates declared dispiritedly. There wasn’t enough time.

“I’m afraid this licks us, Paul,” one man said, shaking

his head in resignation. “Nothing in this letter is true—but

it’s going to have a tremendous impact on the stockholders.

Not having any way of checking up on the charges that

have been made, they’ll play it safe and give their proxies

to the other side.”

“You really think we’re licked?” I asked, glancing around

at the men in the room with me. Some heads nodded

assent. The faces of some other men showed that they

weren’t entirely convinced that all was lost. A few of my

associates indicated that they refused to accept defeat that

easily.

“Nuts!” one of them snorted. “We still have a chance!”

“I think so, too,” I said.

“Now, let’s get to work.”

Working feverishly against a deadline that was far too

close for comfort, we composed our own second letter. In-

stead of calumny, we stated facts and figures that

demolished every argument and charge advanced by the

opposition.

Then, working straight through the day and night and

the day that followed, we—secretaries, clerks, typists,

executives, my associates and I—reproduced the letters,

addressed envelopes to thousands of stockholders, folded

and inserted the letters and sealed and stamped the

envelopes. At last, we finished the staggering job—and

exhausted men and women carried bundles of the letters to

the nearest post office for mailing.

Would the letters reach the stockholders in time? We

could only hope, and wait to see what happened at the

stockholders’ meeting a few days later. But we didn’t have

to wait that long. The respon

se to our second letter was

astounding. Replies began to pour in from stockholders two

days before the meeting.

“We might make it yet,” one of my aides remarked. And

we did make it. Cold facts, stated clearly and plainly,

proved to be more convincing to the stockholders than were

the heated, personal attacks and irresponsible charges that

had been made by the opposition. To the shocked

amazement <of the incumbent directors—and the delight of

my associates and myself—the voting at the stockholders’

meeting resulted in a clear-cut victory for our side!

Just a few years ago, it appeared that I was facing

another serious—and potentially catastrophic—impasse.

Exploration and drilling operations conducted by a

company in which I held a very large interest indicated

that the Middle Eastern areas in which it held drilling

concessions would soon be producing crude oil in fantastic

quantities. Unfortunately, various factors and restrictions

would prevent importing more than a fraction of the

production into the United States.

On the face of things, the outlook was anything but

bright. Before long, immense quantities of crude oil would

be pouring up out of the ground—but unless something was

done, and quickly, most of it

would be virtually worthless.

Crude oil is, after all, only a raw material. It must be

refined into other products which must then be distributed

and marketed.

As time went on and more an

d more wells came in, there

were those who openly predicted that I would soon find my-

self in a position from which I could not extricate myself.

After spending staggering sums on obtaining the concession

and on exploration and drilling,

the company would be left

with oceans of crude oil which it could not market. There

were even those who gleefully rumored that it wouldn’t be

long before Paul Getty would be in serious financial

trouble.

I’ll admit the corner was getting a bit uncomfortable—

but it was far from being so tight that there was no way out

of it. To the chagrin of those who were predicting that the

Getty interests would soon drown in their oceans of excess

crude oil, we found—in fact,

we virtually created—new out-

lets for our production. If we couldn’t ship all our crude to

the United States for refining and sale, we would ship it

elsewhere, even if we had to

buy or build our own refineries

in other countries. And that is precisely what we did,

buying one almost brand-new refinery in Italy, building

another one in Denmark and finding other refinery

capacity elsewhere. Now, of course, the Getty interests are

avidly searching for

crude oil in the Middle East and

elsewhere in the world.

Experiences such as these—and there have been many

of them—have taught me that the time for the

businessman to think and fight hardest is when the tide

seems to be running against him and his prospects appear

bleak. He can frequently turn even the worst of bad

business situations to the advantage of his company, his

stockholders and himself.

The successful businessman—the true business leader—

is the individual who develops the ability to retain his com-

posure in times of stress and in the face of setbacks. The

young businessman should strive to acquire and develop

this and the related traits I have previously mentioned—

and he should try very early in his career, for it will not be

long before he encounters his first reverses and adversities.

The manner in which he meets the first few tight situations

in which he finds himself will often set the pattern for the

rest of his career.

Plainly, it is not possible for anyone to give a

businessman specific, step-by-step advice on what he

should—or should not—do when he suffers business

reverses. There are far too many variables; each situation

differs greatly from the next. On the other hand, there are

certain fundamental principles which will greatly aid any

businessman in meeting adverse situations and

transforming setbacks into successes:

No matter what happens, do not panic. The panic-

stricken individual cannot think

or act effectively. A certain

amount of trouble is inevitable in any business career—

when it comes, it should be met with calm determination.

When things go wrong, it is always a wise idea to

pull back temporarily—to withdraw just long enough and

far enough to view and evaluate the situation objectively.

In the opening stages of any developing adverse situ-

ation, it may be necessary and advisable to give some

ground, to sacrifice those things which are least important

and most expendable. But it should be a fighting

withdrawal, a retrograde action that goes back only so far

and no further. It must never be a disorderly retreat.

Next, all factors in the situation must be examined

with meticulous care. Every possible course of action must

be weighed. All available resources—cerebral as well as

financial, creative as well as practical—must be marshaled.

Countermoves must be planned with the greatest

care and in the greatest of detail—yet with allowances for

alternative courses in the event unforeseen obstacles are

encountered. Counteraction must be planned on a scale

consistent with the resources available—and the goals set

must be conceivably attainable. It is well to bear in mind,

however, that the impetus of a properly executed

counterattack very often carries the counterattacking force

far beyond the point from which it was driven in the first

place.

6. Once everything is ready, action should be taken con-

fidently, purposefully, aggressively—and above all, enthusi-

astically. There can be no hesitation—and it is here that

the determination, personality and energy of the leader

count the most.

The businessman—young or ol

d—who guides himself ac-

cording to these principles when he has suffered reverses

will not remain at bay very long.