Imagine if one person controlled almost all of one type of product, that is exactly what Rockefeller did to the oil industry. A monopoly like this is nearly impossible to do today, which is why none of the titans today are anywhere close to how rich the four main titans Cornelius Vanderbilt, John Rockefeller, Andrew Carnegie, and JP Morgan were. These men changed the world as we know it progressing us more in the span of 30 years than we had done in the last hundred. These men had certain traits which made them who they were and in turn America the place it is today. The four main titans had three specific traits that made them who they are like being ambitious, taking risks, and being flexible these traits are important because they are essential in business and most everything else. One of the defining traits of the titans was their ambition. Carnegie's mentor died driving him …show more content…
Vanderbilt saw that shipping by boat was becoming less popular and were going to be replaced by railroads, so he sold all of his boats in order to build trains and railroads. This flexibility is what allows these men to survive through innovations that would otherwise put them out of business. Rockefellers kerosene was becoming obsolete after the invention of electricity and the lightbulb, but he turned the before useless gasoline into an essential for people around the world. Rockefeller realized that this gasoline would be even bigger than kerosene, and bring him back to the top of the food chain. After the railroads crashed Carnegie realized his steel could be used to build buildings that would be stronger than the buildings being built at the time. By being flexible he both improved his own business and improved the quality of housing. By looking at the flexibility of these men it is possible to see how they became so powerful, and also to see how one can apply theses traits to