Cock up you heels

One of my all time favourite books is Ron Chernow’s Titan, which chronicles the life of the great John D. Rockefeller.

Here’s one fun passage, an instruction that Rockefeller used to give to new Standard Oil recruits.

“Has anyone given you the law of these offices? No? It is this: nobody does anything if he can get anybody else to do it. . . . As soon as you can, get some one whom you can rely on, train him in the work, sit down, cock up your heels, and think out some way for the Standard Oil to make some money.”

As Standard Oil grew, Rockefeller himself mostly delegated away all administrative tasks to focus squarely on the firm’s broader strategy. He worked on the business rather than in the business. It paid off.