#222 Outliers: Cornelius Vanderbilt — The First Tycoon

0:00:04 “Gentlemen, you have undertaken to cheat me.
0:00:07 I won’t sue for the laws too slow.
0:00:08 I’ll ruin you.”
0:00:11 Yours truly, Cornelius Vanderbilt.
0:00:14 And that quote is the embodiment of the man
0:00:17 we’re gonna talk about today, Cornelius Vanderbilt.
0:00:33 – Welcome to The Knowledge Project.
0:00:35 I’m your host, Shane Parrish.
0:00:41 If you wanna take your learning to the next level,
0:00:43 consider joining our membership program
0:00:45 at fs.blog/membership.
0:00:48 As a member, you’ll get early access to episodes,
0:00:51 no ads, including this, exclusive content,
0:00:54 hand-edited transcripts, and so much more.
0:00:56 Check out the link in the show notes for more.
0:01:05 – He began as a teenage ferry captain,
0:01:08 battling storms in New York Harbor for pennies.
0:01:11 From these humble beginnings, he clawed his way
0:01:15 to become America’s most feared and admired magnet.
0:01:18 Cornelius Vanderbilt didn’t just dominate one industry,
0:01:22 he conquered three: ferries, steamships, and railroads.
0:01:27 Rivals called him ruthless, passengers called him unstoppable.
0:01:29 But Vanderbilt didn’t just build businesses,
0:01:32 he rewrote the rules, laying the foundation
0:01:34 for the modern corporation.
0:01:36 This is his story.
0:01:38 If you think today’s tycoons are tough,
0:01:40 wait till you meet the Commodore.
0:01:43 Most of the research for this episode
0:01:46 came from reading “The First Tycoon” by TJ Stiles,
0:01:50 and “Tycoon’s War” by Stefan Dando Collins.
0:01:51 Remember to stick around at the end of the show
0:01:54 for my reflections and afterthoughts,
0:01:57 as well as the lessons you can learn from Vanderbilt.
0:02:01 If you want to read my highlights from “Tycoon’s War” or “The First Tycoon”,
0:02:05 you can sign up below fs.blog/membership.
0:02:09 Just look in the description for this podcast, you can find a link.
0:02:11 It’s time to listen and learn.
0:02:15 This podcast is for entertainment and informational purposes only.
0:02:23 It’s January 4th, 1877.
0:02:25 A winter wind cuts through New York City,
0:02:28 where a crowd gathers outside the Church of Strangers.
0:02:33 Inside, elites await the reading of Cornelius Vanderbilt’s will,
0:02:37 rumored to be worth $100 million.
0:02:40 One twentieth of all U.S. currency.
0:02:44 His legendary willpower and ruthless business tactics
0:02:47 had forced rivals to pay him to go away.
0:02:51 Now, the entire city wants to see how the man who once dominated ferries,
0:02:55 steamboats, and railroads chose to dispense his vast fortune.
0:03:00 His early life was filled with fistfights, high-speed steamboat duels,
0:03:04 engine explosions, and numerous near-death experiences.
0:03:09 His latter days with daredevil harness races and high-stakes financial confrontations
0:03:11 that even extended to the international scene.
0:03:17 By the time of his death, virtually every American had paid tribute to his treasury.
0:03:21 They had passed through his Grand Central Depot on 42nd Street,
0:03:25 crossed the bridges over the sunken tracks along 4th Avenue,
0:03:29 or traveled one of the countless ferries, steamboats, or railroads
0:03:31 he had controlled during his 60-year career.
0:03:35 Vanderbilt was the precursor to a class of men
0:03:38 who would wield power within the state so great
0:03:40 that it would rival the state itself.
0:03:45 Rockefeller, Carnegie, Mellon, Gould, Morgan,
0:03:49 all were just beginning their careers when Vanderbilt stood at his zenith.
0:03:52 They studied him and they followed his example,
0:03:55 though few would match his impact.
0:03:58 His admirers called him the finest example of the common man
0:04:00 rising through hard work and ability.
0:04:02 His critics, on the other hand, called him ruthless,
0:04:07 an unelected king who never pretended to rule for his people.
0:04:11 But Vanderbilt’s significance was more complex, more contradictory,
0:04:14 than either of his admirers or critics fully grasped.
0:04:20 His life spanned from the days of George Washington to those of John D. Rockefeller,
0:04:26 from a rural, agricultural, essentially colonial society in which the term businessman was unknown
0:04:31 to a corporate, industrial economy that would define America’s future.
0:04:39 Vanderbilt didn’t just experience that changing time period and watch as the American economy rose around him.
0:04:43 He was possibly the largest force at the time responsible for the building of it.
0:04:49 He was the trailblazer in the corporate world and reimagined what a corporation could do.
0:04:54 Now, to truly understand the Commodore and that world, we must go back to the beginning,
0:05:04 to Stanton Island, May 27th, 1794, when Phoebe Vanderbilt gave birth to her fourth child naming him Cornelius after his father,
0:05:07 Although they called the boy Cornelius.
0:05:20 The Vanderbilt’s descended from Jean Arsene Vanderbilt, who had come to the New World to farm generations earlier.
0:05:25 On Stanton Island, most of the original Dutch settlers led an inward-looking rural life.
0:05:30 Americans of British descent often viewed them with distaste.
0:05:39 As one traveler observed in the 1790s, nothing can exceed the state of indolence and ignorance in which these Dutchmen are described to live.
0:05:44 Many of them are supposed to live and die without having been five miles from their own houses.
0:05:51 But there was one distinctive feature of the rural Dutch that would profoundly shape young Cornelius Vanderbilt:
0:05:53 they farmed for profit.
0:05:58 While many English-speaking farmers in the region devoted much of their efforts to subsidence,
0:06:04 Dutch farming was market-oriented and derived its distinct characteristics from Dutch tradition.
0:06:09 The rural Dutch shared the commercial consciousness of their urban brethren.
0:06:14 They clattered their wagons into Albany, New Brunswick, and New York to sell their produce
0:06:16 with a savvy that became their custom.
0:06:21 When a cobbler refused to return a man’s shoes until he made full payment,
0:06:25 the frustrated customer wrote in his diary, “He is too Dutch by half.”
0:06:29 Young Cornelius was born into this tradition of commerce.
0:06:34 His parents created a household where, far earlier than in remote communities,
0:06:37 the marketplace strode right through the door every day.
0:06:43 While farmers living up the Hudson may make just one delivery of crops to riverside merchants,
0:06:49 in an entire year at harvest time, the Vanderbilt house pulsed constantly with buying and selling,
0:06:52 borrowing and lending, earnings and debt.
0:07:00 Cornelius’ father had built or bought a prerogar, a specialized two-masted vessel deployed by the
0:07:06 dutch for trading and began ferrying neighbors and their produce along the bay in Manhattan.
0:07:10 Phoebe, Cornelius’ mother, was equally entrepreneurial.
0:07:16 She was not only the family oracle one 19th century writer declared, she was the oracle of the neighborhood
0:07:20 whose advice was sought in all sorts of dilemmas and whose judgment had weight.
0:07:27 Court records show she lent money at commercial rates of interest and once even foreclosed on a
0:07:34 widow’s mortgage. The widow being her own daughter. Unlike most farmers, they actually lived within
0:07:40 sight of New York City, where from their Stanton Island home, they could literally see the mass of
0:07:43 ships in the harbor bringing goods and ideas from around the world.
0:07:50 The United States that Cornelius was born into was a very young nation.
0:07:56 Keep in mind that when Vanderbilt was born, George Washington was still early in his second term of the
0:08:03 presidency. Only five cities held more than 10,000 residents at this time and the percentage of the
0:08:09 the nation’s four million citizens who lived in towns of at least 2,500 people languished in the
0:08:15 single digits and would linger there for decades to come. Most Americans live scattered along the
0:08:19 Atlantic coast with only the bravest pioneers venturing west to the Appalachians.
0:08:26 By his early teens, Vanderbilt was totally drawn to the water, leaving the fields behind.
0:08:33 Accounts on this vary, but by the age of 16, he was running his own ferry that was either owned by
0:08:38 his parents or one that he purchased with a loan from them, promising to help pay the family’s $1,000
0:08:45 mortgage. His plan to do so? Operate the boat as a ferry between Stanton Island and the growing
0:08:52 Manhattan. The teenager launched himself into this venture with intensity, charging a shilling each
0:08:58 way, 12 and a half cents that accumulated with glacial slowness in a vessel that seated just 20
0:09:04 passengers. Vanderbilt discovered in those daily handfuls of silver, a hunger for money that would
0:09:11 shape his life from then on. What distinguished his small ferry service from the competition was
0:09:17 predictability. While other boatmen waited until their crafts filled to their capacity, the teenage
0:09:24 entrepreneur introduced something uncommon to the New York Harbor, a schedule. His ferry departed at fixed
0:09:29 times regardless of the passenger count, a self-imposed discipline that transformed water
0:09:36 transit from casual to reliable service, earning him loyalty and repeat business. This was an extension
0:09:41 of how he lived his life, with one contemporary at the time saying his life was regulated by self-imposed
0:09:50 rules, with a fixedness of purpose as invariable as the sun in its circuit. That reliability for service
0:09:56 extended to the winter months as well. When ice choked the harbor, he was often the only ferryman willing to
0:10:02 make the crossing. He studied the tides, winds and currents relentlessly and mastered the natural forces
0:10:10 that other boatmen merely accommodated. In simple terms, he worked harder. During the blinding storms,
0:10:15 when sleet and snow crashed across the bay, Pearl Street merchants would seek out the gangly team,
0:10:21 trusting him alone to deliver urgent messages to vessels anchored in the harbor, earning Vanderbilt
0:10:28 additional income. Not only was he reliable, in these months he was often the only option for
0:10:32 passengers. And although there was no recorded earnings from this time, presumably he could charge
0:10:39 a premium for his services. In fair weather, it was a different story and he competed aggressively on
0:10:44 price, undercutting established operators as a rule. If other ferrymen charged 18 cents,
0:10:50 Vanderbilt would charge 12. If they dropped to 10, he’d go to 8. This approach, price competition to
0:10:55 the point of driving out rivals, would become his signature strategy throughout his career, regardless
0:11:02 of scale or industry. It’s worth pausing here for a second to talk about this. Isidore Sharp,
0:11:08 the founder of the Four Seasons, said something that has long struck with me. He said, “Excellence is the
0:11:15 capacity to take pain.” One of the things that sets Vanderbilt and other outliers apart is their
0:11:22 willingness to tolerate pain. Most people have no capacity to endure pain, financial or psychological.
0:11:28 And if you can, you can gain a real advantage. It hurt Vanderbilt to cut prices, but it hurt his
0:11:33 competitors more and he knew it. It hurt Vanderbilt to run his service when he couldn’t see or the
0:11:40 weather was bad, but he knew it hurt his competitors so much they wouldn’t even operate. It’s hard
0:11:45 to compete with someone who can tolerate more pain than you. There’s over 500,000 small businesses in
0:11:51 BC and no two are alike. I’m a carpenter. I’m a graphic designer. I sell dog socks online.
0:11:58 That’s why BCAA created One Size Doesn’t Fit All Insurance. It’s customizable based on your unique
0:12:03 needs. So whether you manage rental properties or paint pet portraits, you can protect your small
0:12:10 business with BC’s most trusted insurance brand. Visit bcaa.com/smallbusiness and use promo code
0:12:17 radio to receive $50 off. Conditions apply. Okay, back to our story. Within a year, legend has it
0:12:22 that teenage Vanderbilt had not only paid off his loan, but had given his parents several hundred
0:12:28 dollars towards their mortgage. And it is here where we see Vanderbilt evolve from just a hard worker
0:12:34 into something much more. If his parents had taught him anything, it was that business thrived on
0:12:39 relationships. Though his hands grew calloused from twisting wooden tillers, the harbour brought him not
0:12:45 just physical strain, but valuable connections. As he accumulated his modest portion of the ferry’s
0:12:53 earnings through 1810, 1811, and 1812, Vanderbilt made a pivotal decision: to purchase shares in other
0:13:01 boats. Shares whose profits he deliberately kept separate from his family obligations. Vanderbilt transformed
0:13:07 himself from a mere labourer, somebody who worked harder than anyone else, into an investor, or to
0:13:12 put it plainly, a capitalist. His money was now making money for him, expanding his reach beyond
0:13:19 what only his two hands could accomplish in a day’s work. As war with Britain loomed and then erupted in
0:13:25 1812, these investments positioned him perfectly to capitalize on the shifting trade patterns. With a
0:13:31 British blockade due to the war forcing coastal shipping to rout through Stanton Island and overland
0:13:36 across New Jersey, Vanderbilt’s position between Manhattan and Stanton Island suddenly became
0:13:43 a commercial choke point and one where he could take advantage. By 1813, with war raging and his
0:13:50 reputation growing, Vanderbilt took two decisive steps towards independence. First, he commissioned his very
0:13:56 own custom-built ferry in New Jersey, funded by his carefully hoarded and growing savings. On Sundays,
0:14:02 he would sail up the Pasek River to inspect the boat’s progress accompanied by his cousin Sophia Johnson,
0:14:08 the woman who would become both his bride and his business partner in his life’s enterprise. The boat
0:14:13 represented his commercial ambitions, while the marriage his declaration of financial independence
0:14:30 and moved into a small house near the ferry dock. This wasn’t merely a personal milestone but a commercial
0:14:37 one, the final step in his evolution from wage-earning boatmen to an entrepreneurial force. By his early 20s,
0:14:43 he had expanded from a single ferry to multiple, including larger schooners used for coastal shipping.
0:14:48 The locals no longer called him Cornille. He was now widely known as Captain Vanderbilt.
0:14:57 The War of 1812 accelerated Vanderbilt’s rise. With military necessity came opportunity. In 1814,
0:15:03 as the United States stood on the brink of defeat with Washington captured and New York bracing for an attack,
0:15:08 one account says that Vanderbilt secured a lucrative military contract to carry supplies to the city’s
0:15:14 defensive fortifications. When asked why he won the bid, despite not offering the lowest price,
0:15:19 the military officer’s response crystallized Vanderbilt’s growing reputation. “Don’t you
0:15:25 know why we have given the contract to you? It’s because we want this business done and we know you’ll do it.”
0:15:31 Following the war’s end in 1815, Vanderbilt made a strategic decision that revealed his commercial
0:15:37 instincts. He moved his young wife from Stanton Island to 93 Broad Street in Manhattan, settling
0:15:44 into an artisan’s boarding house. The relocation placed him deliberately at the center of commerce
0:15:49 and information where newspapers published shipping schedules and commodity prices, where auctions
0:15:56 and exchanges operated daily and were reputations, the true currency of business in that era, were established
0:16:03 or broken. At his new home in Manhattan, Vanderbilt studied the city’s other merchants carefully. He noted that
0:16:08 despite the energy and innovations of artisans and small businessmen, New York’s wealthiest citizens were
0:16:16 primarily general merchants who traded in international cargoes of all types. When the government needed to sell war bonds,
0:16:22 it turned to merchant financers like John Astor. Vanderbilt internalized this lesson realizing that
0:16:29 the wealth he desired would require him to trade in cargoes and not just provide its transportation. He
0:16:35 would have to expand. With the war over, New York erupted in commercial activity and Vanderbilt jumped in
0:16:42 with both feet. His approach showed both boldness and shrewdness. Rather than remaining in the familiar
0:16:48 harbor waters, the now 20-year-old entrepreneur reached out to distant ports along the Atlantic coast.
0:16:53 More importantly, he began seeking partners with greater expertise and capital than he had.
0:16:59 He joined forces with his brother-in-law, John DeForest, an experienced mariner who commanded the schooner
0:17:04 Charlotte. Vanderbilt purchased a share in this vessel using it to transport goods between New York
0:17:10 and the Southern ports before eventually buying full ownership. Vanderbilt also partnered with
0:17:16 his father and others to finance even larger ferries suitable for open water. These vessels cost approximately
0:17:24 $750 each. With a small but growing fleet, Vanderbilt aggressively began seeking out market opportunities.
0:17:29 He raced competitors to Virginia’s oyster grounds, sailed up the Delaware River to purchase shad,
0:17:36 and ventured up to New Jersey’s Raritan River, hiring horsemen to spread word of his available fish.
0:17:42 His commercial operations extended to paying boatmen to meet incoming ships while he negotiated cargo sales
0:17:47 on South Street. His business practices here displayed the same forceful determination that
0:17:54 characterized his ferry operations. Court records from 1816 and 17 showed that Vanderbilt pursued debts through
0:18:00 legal channels, though judges frequently determined he had overstated what was owed. This commercial
0:18:07 aggressiveness served him in America’s rapidly changing economy. The post-war era brought dramatic
0:18:13 transformations to American commerce. Manufacturing, which had developed during wartime isolation, continued
0:18:19 expanding. Banking proliferated, especially in New York, and the number of American banks increased from
0:18:29 208 to 246 in 1815 alone, while currency in circulation jumped from 46 to 68 million. Vanderbilt’s rise
0:18:35 paralleled these developments completely as he sought opportunities in the growing domestic markets.
0:18:41 Transportation barriers remained a critical limitation in commerce in early America. In the
0:18:46 era before railroads, moving goods 30 miles on land could cost as much as shipping them across the
0:18:52 entire Atlantic Ocean. Even coast-wise shipping in small schooners had limited capacity. Meanwhile,
0:18:58 up-river journeys against currents could take days or prove impossible, and cargoes would often be lost or
0:19:04 damaged. The speed of transportation also limited the speed of information and thereby constrained long-distance
0:19:11 commerce and financial markets. America needed a transportation revolution, and it was coming.
0:19:17 In 1817, New York State began constructing the Erie Canal, which would connect the Great Lakes to the
0:19:23 Atlantic Ocean, while steamboats at the same time appeared on the Hudson River, offering transportation
0:19:31 independent of wind, muscle, or current. By December 1817, the 23-year-old Vanderbilt had substantial assets
0:19:36 now under his command. He was following the path of other successful merchants he had observed. He was a
0:19:42 maritime merchant rising through the ranks of America’s most vibrant port city, and specializing in cargo
0:19:47 trading. And he might well have made a fine living as just another successful merchant in
0:19:57 Manhattan if it were not for a chance encounter on November 24th, 1817.
0:20:05 On that November day, Vanderbilt turned at the sound of his name and saw a well-dressed 60-year-old
0:20:12 man looking at him with sharp, hard eyes. The man introduced himself as Thomas Gibbons, a staggeringly
0:20:18 rich rice planter from the state of Georgia, now residing in Elizabethtown, New Jersey. Empathetic and
0:20:23 direct, Gibbons explained that the captain of his steamboat had suddenly left my employ, creating what he
0:20:29 called my present embarrassment. He needed someone to take charge of the boat on this day, and I expect
0:20:35 for a few days to come. Would Vanderbilt do it? The vessel in question was named Stowdinger, nicknamed
0:20:41 the Mouse of the Mountain, or simply Mouse, as it was second-hand and a small craft, smaller at 47 feet
0:20:47 than even Vanderbilt’s own small boats. But there was one crucial difference between the mouse and Vanderbilt’s
0:20:55 own boats. It ran on steam. Vanderbilt understood that the steam engine was the most dramatic
0:21:01 technological breakthrough since the printing press. To move on water at will against the wind or current
0:21:07 was to transform a fundamental fact of life at this time. A practical education in the steamboat
0:21:13 business would be worth more than a few days of taking orders from someone else. The engagement with
0:21:17 Gibbons seemed to set him back a step in his own plans, which surprised his friends and acquaintances.
0:21:24 Vanderbilt aspired to be more and more, and he was using his own boats to embark on the only obvious
0:21:30 voyage to wealth that he could see, setting up as a general merchant. As he stepped aboard the mouse
0:21:35 and inspected its copper boiler, he kept his own boats plying between Stanton Island and Manhattan with
0:21:41 passengers and produce while his schooners nosed along coastal waters with cargoes of fish and woolens,
0:21:47 but it’s clear that he saw the advantages of this new connection. What he did not reckon on was how
0:21:52 well he would get on with Gibbons. “I always thought Thomas Gibbons a very strong-minded man,
0:21:58 the strongest I ever knew,” Vanderbilt said later. “I don’t believe any human could control him. He was
0:22:03 the man that could not be led. He could just as easily have been describing himself when he said that.”
0:22:08 There’s another reason that Vanderbilt may have chosen to run a steamboat for a few days,
0:22:13 and that was because of the excitement. Running a steamboat at the time would make him the focus of a
0:22:21 very interesting legal and business war that was the talk of the waterfront. In 1798, Chancellor Robert
0:22:27 Livingston, who was a powerful New York aristocrat, convinced his friends in the legislature to give him
0:22:34 a monopoly on steamboat ships in the New York state waters. In 1807, after partnering with inventor Robert
0:22:40 Fulton, they launched the first commercially successful steamboat service on the Hudson River. Not only did they
0:22:45 have a monopoly, the New York legislature went so far as to give them the right to seize steamboats that
0:22:52 entered the New York waters from other states. Enter Thomas Gibbons, the man who would hire Vanderbilt.
0:22:59 Cunning and commanding, Gibbons’ daughter dryly noted he had a peculiar and singular mode of doing business.
0:23:08 Gibbons was, in a word, intense. Perhaps an example will help illustrate this point. Once he became embroiled in a
0:23:14 dispute with his neighbor, a man named Aaron Ogden, what began as a fight over a leased peer escalated
0:23:20 when Ogden involved himself in Gibbons’ ongoing family disputes. Their conflict reached a breaking
0:23:28 point when Ogden had Gibbons arrested for an unpaid debt. For Gibbons, this had become an affair of honor,
0:23:35 and on July 25th, 1816, he stormed over to Ogden’s house, horsewhip in hand. He pounded on the door as
0:23:41 Ogden ran out the back and scrambled over a fence. Gibbons tacked up a challenge that read, “Sir, I
0:23:46 understand that you have interfered in a dispute between Miss Gibbons and myself. My friend General
0:23:52 Dayton will arrange with you the time and place of our meeting.” He later testified in court that if he had
0:23:56 found him at home he meant to have whipped him, within an inch of his life, in his own house,
0:24:02 for he knew he was a coward. Ogden, who had no intention of exchanging shots at Don,
0:24:08 had Gibbons arrested for trespass and for dueling. Gibbons decided to get revenge another way. He would
0:24:15 drive Ogden out of the steamboat business. There was just one problem. Ogden had become an ally of the
0:24:21 Livingston Fulton monopoly, receiving a license to operate his steamboat services between New Jersey
0:24:28 and New York. Taking on Ogden meant taking on the most powerful monopoly in New York State. When Gibbons
0:24:33 launched his steamboat service in defiance of that monopoly, he needed a ship captain who wouldn’t back
0:24:40 down under pressure. He needed someone with technical skill, physical courage, and a defiant nature. And he
0:24:45 found that man in Cornelius Vanderbilt. The Vanderbilt who stepped aboard the mouse
0:24:50 that November day was walking into a fight bigger than himself, which is saying something because he
0:24:57 was a very big man. The Livingston Fulton monopoly represented the old economic order. It was a system
0:25:04 where political power and economic privilege were inextricably linked. What began as a temporary job
0:25:09 for a few days quickly became a permanent position as Gibbons recognized Vanderbilt’s exceptional
0:25:14 abilities. Vanderbilt quickly mastered the technical aspects of steam, but more importantly,
0:25:20 he shared Gibbons’ combative nature and willingness to challenge authority. Indeed,
0:25:25 the authority that he was challenging was the remnants of what might have been the last aristocratic
0:25:31 generation in America, one that felt it in their inherited privilege to give themselves state-granted
0:25:37 monopolies as they saw fit. The monopoly holders did not take this challenge from Gibbons and his
0:25:43 steamboat captain lightly. They used every legal maneuver at their disposal to shut down the
0:25:48 operation. They had Vanderbilt arrested repeatedly, they tried to seize the mouse, and they even attempted
0:25:54 to bribe him to abandon Gibbons. But Vanderbilt remained loyal to Gibbons, partly because of their
0:25:59 shared temperament, but also because he recognized the larger principle that was at stake. The monopoly
0:26:05 wasn’t just unfair to competitors and customers, it was slowing the very adoption of steam technology
0:26:11 that could revolutionize transportation for everyone. Vanderbilt had grown up in a market-oriented
0:26:17 world and represented the new individualistic American citizen, one that was not guided by honor and
0:26:24 respecting others’ rights to a legal monopoly. When Ogden’s men physically blocked Vanderbilt from docking in
0:26:29 New York, he responded in kind, and as Gibbons’ case against the monopoly wound its way through the
0:26:35 courts, Vanderbilt took charge of the fight on the water. He developed a reputation for daring and
0:26:40 ingenuity. When monopoly agents came to arrest him, he would sometimes hide in the ship’s engine room, other
0:26:46 times he would simply outrun them, pushing the steamboat’s engines to their limits and relishing the fight.
0:26:52 The legal battle culminated in a landmark Supreme Court case called Gibbons versus Ogden.
0:26:57 And remember, this just started as a neighborly dispute, and now we’re in the Supreme Court.
0:27:03 In 1824, Chief Justice John Marshall ruled in Gibbons’ favor, striking down the New York steamboat
0:27:09 monopoly. The decision established that the federal Congress alone had the power to regulate interstate
0:27:14 commerce. This ruling affirmed that the federal government has the authority to regulate interstate
0:27:20 commerce and put a limit on state authority. The steamboat monopoly was dead. Vanderbilt and Gibbons
0:27:26 had won. The victory, however, came with a tragic footnote. Gibbons, Vanderbilt’s cantankerous mentor,
0:27:31 died shortly after the ruling, leaving Vanderbilt at a crossroads. Would he remain to manage
0:27:35 Gibbons’ steamboat line for his heirs, or would he strike out on his own?
0:27:42 After working for Gibbons’ son and heir William for a few years, Vanderbilt decided his apprenticeship was
0:27:48 over in 1829. He had mastered steam navigation, knew the business inside and out, and earned a
0:27:53 reputation as one of the country’s top steamboat operators. But it was time to become his own
0:27:59 master again. Launching his first independent steamboat venture on the busy New York-Philadelphia route,
0:28:04 he went head-to-head with his former employers. He named his vessel, fittingly, the Independents.
0:28:10 Vanderbilt’s business model was straightforward, echoing his teenage fairy days: better service,
0:28:15 lower prices. He cut fares dramatically from three dollars to just one dollar, forcing rivals to
0:28:21 match or lose customers. By upgrading food and accommodations and running on razor-thin margins
0:28:27 others couldn’t sustain, Vanderbilt gained an upper hand. He practically lived aboard his boats,
0:28:34 rarely seeing his wife and family fully committed to his ambitious vision. Critics accused him of ruinous
0:28:40 competition and cutthroat capitalism. The New York Times later described Vanderbilt accusing him of
0:28:46 pursuing competition for competition’s sake. During this era, many companies still operated under the
0:28:53 unspoken code of respecting each other’s territory. But Vanderbilt ignored this tradition entirely. Passengers
0:28:59 eagerly flocked to his boats, attracted by his unbeatable fares and dependable service. Competitors,
0:29:04 however, struggled to grasp his simple but revolutionary insight: increased volume could
0:29:10 more than offset slim or even negative profit margins. By drastically reducing prices, Vanderbilt
0:29:16 significantly boosted demand, a phenomenon economists now recognize as Jevons paradox, where improved
0:29:22 efficiency and reduced costs lead to greater overall consumption. And we’re going to get into this a
0:29:27 little later, but here’s a little foreshadowing for you. He would often get paid not to compete. So when
0:29:32 I say he’s operating at negative profit margins, it sounds like, well, that doesn’t work. But in effect,
0:29:38 what would happen is he does get paid not to compete. So it does work. Travel time between New York and
0:29:44 Philadelphia shrank dramatically to just 10 hours, driven by Vanderbilt’s obsession with speed. This
0:29:51 didn’t merely make the trip affordable, it made it exciting. What began as basic transportation soon
0:29:57 transformed into theatrical spectacle. The waters of Raritan Bay became an arena. It’s steamboats,
0:30:03 the gladiators, and the passengers saw themselves not just as travelers, but as active participants in a
0:30:09 thrilling competition that embodied the spirit of the age. They didn’t merely seek passage,
0:30:15 they craved victory and Vanderbilt was determined to deliver. Vanderbilt’s ship, the thistle, sliced
0:30:20 through the waters aggressively, mirroring its captain’s relentless spirit. To Vanderbilt this
0:30:27 battle wasn’t solely about profit or winning, it was about domination. This competitive drive defined
0:30:32 Vanderbilt’s character. Historical author Stephen Dando Collins notes that Vanderbilt was driven by two
0:30:39 things, making money and winning. He had an instatiable thirst for conquest, often temporarily
0:30:45 sacrificing profit to achieve victory. Once he triumphed though, Vanderbilt rarely lingered. Instead,
0:30:51 he swiftly sought out his next challenge. A more modern parallel to Vanderbilt’s relentless competitiveness
0:30:57 can be seen in athletes like Michael Jordan, who famously manufactured slights to fuel his competitive
0:31:02 edge. For many, including Vanderbilt, the impossible challenge wasn’t a bug,
0:31:07 it was the feature. Victory itself was less fulfilling than the next mountain to climb,
0:31:13 the next unwinnable fight. The Evening Post observed how the sport arising from boat racing
0:31:18 had captured public imagination. The New York-Philadelphia route attracted passionate fans who
0:31:24 cheered their champions. English actress Anne Royal described her boats as “our heroine” recounting
0:31:29 dramatically how the rival vessel drew up alongside somewhat boldly and sometimes had the presumption
0:31:35 to run ahead. Her account read less like a travel diary and more like a sports reporter’s play by
0:31:42 play. The races compressed time and space, combining speed, affordability, and spectacle to create new
0:31:49 markets. Vanderbilt applied what economists later termed price elasticity of demand, demonstrating that
0:31:56 transportation wasn’t a fixed need but one stimulated by accessibility and excitement. As fares dropped,
0:32:01 more people traveled reshaping commerce by enabling merchants to access distant markets rapidly and
0:32:08 allowing stock market speculators to profit from faster information flow. Leisure travel expanded, forcing
0:32:15 aristocrats to mingle with those who were considered social inferiors at the time. Vanderbilt’s competitive
0:32:21 success earned him the nickname Commodore, a title usually reserved for naval commanders. The irony wasn’t lost on
0:32:27 Vanderbilt who had begun his career challenging monopolies. Now he commanded a fleet himself.
0:32:33 Despite his ruthlessness in business, he lived pretty frugally with tremendous self-control and personal
0:32:40 expenditure, but none when pursuing competition and business expansion. The confrontation began
0:32:47 dramatically when three angry representatives from the Hudson River Steamboat Association stormed Vanderbilt’s office.
0:32:53 They accused him of secretly owning the Westchester, a steamboat running the Albany line at a scandalously
0:33:00 low fare of $2, undercutting the established $3 price. This powerful association was an alliance between
0:33:05 the Hudson River, North River, and Troy steamboat companies, and it had previously paid rival Robert
0:33:14 Stevens $80,000 to withdraw from competition for 10 years to secure their monopoly. Vanderbilt recognized this
0:33:19 this was a dangerous moment. He truthfully insisted that he no longer had ties to the Westchester,
0:33:25 and it even declined profitable offers to avoid involvement in any rivalry, but the monopoly leaders
0:33:33 didn’t believe him. War was inevitable. The ensuing Hudson River rate war exposed a striking contradiction
0:33:39 with Vanderbilt. When the monopoly retaliated by targeting one of his own profitable roots, Vanderbilt exploded with
0:33:47 fury. In a dramatic public declaration in the New York Evening Post. He positioned his people’s line as a
0:33:53 champion against the great triangular monopoly, appealing directly to public support. What Vanderbilt
0:34:01 conveniently omitted was his own history of enforcing monopolies without hesitation. Yet as the underdog,
0:34:06 Vanderbilt captivated public imagination. He deployed his ships with the Nimrod and the champion,
0:34:14 slashing fares at first to $1 and then an astonishingly low $0.50. With relentless intensity,
0:34:21 he expanded service-launching, aggressive advertising campaigns proclaiming “no monopoly” and winning public
0:34:27 acclaim at every dock. However, when spring thawed the Hudson River after winter, passengers found fares
0:34:34 back at $3 and Vanderbilt’s ships gone. Years later, a New York Herald investigation revealed he had been
0:34:44 paid off by the original monopoly, $100,000 plus an annual $5,000 fee to withdraw. Vanderbilt’s brutal but
0:34:51 effective strategy became clear: identify lucrative routes, wage devastating fair wars, use anti-monopolistic
0:34:58 rhetoric to rally public support and a bit of showmanship and demand large payoffs to end the
0:35:04 competition. This is something he would repeat over and over again. His focus shifted from steamboats to
0:35:10 the promising railroad, a safer and faster connection between New York and Boston, bypassing the notoriously
0:35:17 rough seas at Point Judith. Vanderbilt recognized the railroad’s potential immediately, later remarking
0:35:22 to its chief engineer, “There’s nothing like it. The first time I ever traveled on this Stonington, I made up my mind.”
0:35:36 In 1837, Cornelius Vanderbilt saw an opportunity marking his first significant step into railroads
0:35:43 with the financially troubled Stonington Railroad. Saddled with $2.6 million in debt, Vanderbilt realized
0:35:49 controlling travel along Long Island Sound required balancing both rail and steamboat operations.
0:35:55 At home, Vanderbilt’s relationship with his 16-year-old son William was strained by his demanding nature.
0:36:01 Frustrated by Billy’s passive demeanor, Vanderbilt placed him under Wall Street broker Daniel Drew,
0:36:08 forging an uneasy partnership. Drew accepted Billy as a clerk, but demanded a favor in return:
0:36:13 access to one of Vanderbilt’s new steamboats for his Hudson River operations. While they had once been
0:36:21 rivals, they had, at least for the time, transformed it into an uneasy partnership, each respecting the
0:36:25 other’s ruthlessness while never fully trusting one another. Vanderbilt faced
0:36:32 renewed competition on his Boston-to-Main steamboat route, responding with fierce public anti-monopoly
0:36:38 rhetoric. By now, his reputation alone often intimidated rivals into paying him off, instead
0:36:44 of competing. The transportation company, for instance, purchased Vanderbilt’s Lexington steamer
0:36:53 for $60,000 plus a $10,000 bonus, well above its real value, just to remove it from competition. Vanderbilt
0:37:00 skillfully recouped his investment while shifting his focus to railroads. Unlike steamboats, the Commodore
0:37:07 couldn’t easily compete with railways, so he needed a new strategy. In 1840, when the struggling Stonington
0:37:13 Railroad sought Vanderbilt’s help, he cryptically remarked, “If I owned the road, I’d know how to make
0:37:19 it profitable.” Though initially dismissed, Vanderbilt quietly joined the Long Island Railroad Board,
0:37:25 redirecting business away from the Stonington. Shareholders panicked at the high debt and reduced
0:37:32 traffic. Its stock plummeted, allowing Vanderbilt and his allies, including Drew, to secretly acquire a
0:37:39 controlling share. By 1847, Vanderbilt became president of the Stonington, the first stop toward railroad
0:37:47 dominance. By 1848, Vanderbilt had firmly established his transportation empire, becoming the monopoly he
0:37:53 once opposed. Though his methods contradicted his anti-monopoly rhetoric, Vanderbilt democratized
0:37:57 transportation, forever transforming the industry. And he was only just beginning.
0:38:06 In early 1848, far from Vanderbilt’s bustling New York, two men carried gold nuggets into an adobe
0:38:13 building in California, triggering one of history’s greatest economic frenzies: the California gold rush.
0:38:20 Vanderbilt’s eye was always drawn to major transportation routes. Now, watching tens of
0:38:26 thousands head to San Francisco each month, he saw a bigger opportunity than anything he’d tackled before.
0:38:33 This is why the Commodore went to see Secretary of State John M. Clayton with Joseph L. White,
0:38:38 a former politician who knew his way around Washington. Vanderbilt explained the situation
0:38:43 clearly. Without a transcontinental railroad, only a fraction of the Americans and European
0:38:48 immigrants rushing west could travel by covered wagon. The overland route was dangerous, passing
0:38:53 through hostile Native American territories and treacherous mountain ranges, often taking up to six
0:39:00 months. Hundreds died annually from accidents, exposure, starvation, or attacks. The alternative,
0:39:06 sailing around Cape Horn at the tip of South America was faster. Roughly 90 days, but expensive at around
0:39:14 $600 per passenger in the lowest class. “I can improve on that,” Vanderbilt told Clayton. “I can
0:39:20 make money at $300 by crossing through Nicaragua.” But Vanderbilt wasn’t primarily after passengers,
0:39:27 he wanted the lucrative U.S. mail contracts. Vanderbilt proposed to Clayton exclusive rights from the
0:39:32 Nicaraguan government to build a canal. In the meantime, he planned to operate steamships from New
0:39:38 York to Nicaragua and onward to San Francisco. Passengers would travel up the San Juan River,
0:39:43 cross Lake Nicaragua by steamship, and then journey the remaining 12 miles by mule.
0:39:50 Clayton favored Vanderbilt’s proposal as an American-built canal would exclude British
0:39:56 interests and expand American influence. White successfully secured an initial contract from
0:40:01 Nicaragua, but the company soon faced controversy when Britain protested, asserting control over
0:40:08 strategic points in Nicaragua. Despite a British blockade and international crisis, Vanderbilt pressed
0:40:15 forward, commissioning new ships, including the Prometheus, at 1,200 tons, the largest and fastest
0:40:22 of its kind at the time. In 1850, Vanderbilt traveled to London to secure critical British financing,
0:40:28 only to find the financial elite skeptical about the ambitious canal project. Matters worsened when a
0:40:33 scathing press report accused Vanderbilt’s enterprise of being an experiment in which a few
0:40:38 lawyers in Wall Street were the principal movers, their original purpose being to obtain a charter
0:40:45 and afterwards dispose of it at any good price. It was a low point in Vanderbilt’s career. Seen as
0:40:52 a fraud, he became determined to prove his critics wrong. In late 1850, undaunted by setbacks in London,
0:40:57 Vanderbilt shifted his focus from a challenging canal project toward a practical transportation route
0:41:04 across Nicaragua. Unlike the canal enterprise, which depended on numerous investors for the large capital
0:41:11 project, his new steamship line was his personal venture. The Prometheus became the first ocean-going
0:41:17 steamship entirely owned by one man. Vanderbilt’s assistant recalled, “When she started out there was
0:41:22 not a cent owing on her,” he remarking that he wanted her to go out on her own bottom.
0:41:31 In December 1850, Vanderbilt, now 57, boarded the Prometheus for his first of three crucial voyages
0:41:37 to Nicaragua. His journey was so secretive due to fears of alerting rivals that even his wife didn’t
0:41:44 know his whereabouts. Upon arrival, Vanderbilt found troubling news. His captain in Nicaragua, Colonel David
0:41:51 White, reported the steamer Orris wrecked on the rapids of the San Juan River, deeming the rapids impassable.
0:41:57 White’s repeated attempts with another steamer the director failed. Vanderbilt refused to accept defeat,
0:42:04 declaring, “I’m going up to the lake without any more fooling.” Taking command himself, he pushed the
0:42:12 little steamer through the rapids with brute force, defying his engineers’ warnings. Returning triumphantly
0:42:18 to New York, Vanderbilt boasted of the Prometheus’ unmatched speed and fuel efficiency. Ever the showman,
0:42:26 he even offered a $100,000 wager that no existing ship could surpass its performance. His innovative
0:42:31 walking-beam engine design, contrary to conventional wisdom, proved more efficient and lighter than
0:42:38 competitors’ side-lever engines. Despite significant challenges, George Law’s rival Panama route,
0:42:46 and Nicaraguan political instability, Vanderbilt established the Accessory Transit Company in
0:42:53 summer 1851. His Nicaragua transit route rapidly gained popularity thanks to his aggressive improvements,
0:42:59 competitive pricing, and sheer determination. He overcame logistical hurdles by building specialized
0:43:04 river boats, blasting through rapids, constructing a plank road, and adding more ocean-going ships.
0:43:11 Vanderbilt’s Nicaragua venture shows his remarkable ability to execute complex operations before
0:43:17 modern communications and management systems existed. Remember that this was over 170 years ago,
0:43:23 and he was coordinating ocean-going vessels, river steamboats, and overland transportation across
0:43:28 multiple countries, dealing with foreign governments and international rivals, all without telephones,
0:43:33 computers, or even telegraphs to much of his operation. It’s a reminder of how much business
0:43:40 success in this era depended on judgment, foresight, and an almost intuitive understanding of logistics.
0:43:47 In November 1851, Vanderbilt’s third Nicaragua voyage nearly ended disastrously when a British warship
0:43:54 fired warning shots, forcing him to pay a port fee. The incident triggered a diplomatic crisis resulting
0:43:59 in a formal apology from London. Once labeled a fraud, Vanderbilt was now hailed by the press,
0:44:06 which praised his indomitable resolution. Not just known for being rich, Vanderbilt was now becoming an
0:44:14 international sensation. By 1852, Vanderbilt’s Nicaraguan shipping route exploded with profits.
0:44:22 After a shipwreck near Mexico exposed his cold focus on revenue over rescue, tensions grew when his ex-partner
0:44:28 Joseph White faked British financing. Vanderbilt retaliated. He drove down Accessory Transit’s stock,
0:44:35 snapped it up cheap, then sold his fleet for $1.35 million, trapping short sellers and making a fortune.
0:44:42 Sensing his own mortality, the Commodore decided on a rare vacation in Europe, leaving trusted
0:44:47 associates in charge. Little did he know betrayal awaited while he was gone. He had never taken a
0:44:54 vacation before and he’d never take one again. His yacht, the North Star, was the largest and most
0:45:02 luxurious private vessel of its time, built at Vanderbilt’s own shipyard. At 270 feet and 2,500 tons with twin
0:45:08 walking beam engines of his own design, it featured opulent interiors decorated with rosewood furniture,
0:45:14 marble paneling, lace curtains, and ceilings adorned with paintings of American heroes.
0:45:22 Vanderbilt’s motivations for the voyage were multifaceted. After decades of relentless work, he genuinely wanted a
0:45:29 vacation. He also sought to repair strained family relationships by inviting extended family members.
0:45:34 Additionally, he viewed the trip as a chance to showcase American engineering prowess abroad.
0:45:40 As he told Senator Hamilton Fish: “I have a little pride as an American to sail over the
0:45:45 waters of England and France with such a vessel as will give credit to the enterprise of our country.”
0:45:52 Before departing, Vanderbilt carefully arranged his affairs. He removed Joseph White and his allies from
0:45:57 the Accessory Transit Company’s board, replacing them with trusted associates including Nelson
0:46:02 Robinson Robinson and Charles Morgan. However, while Vanderbilt toured Europe receiving widespread acclaim,
0:46:09 betrayal was brewing at home. Charles Morgan, whom Vanderbilt himself had appointed to the
0:46:16 Accessory Transit Board, secretly began buying up shares and aligned with Vanderbilt’s old enemy Joseph
0:46:23 White. In July 1853, they staged a coup electing themselves directors and removing Vanderbilt as the
0:46:29 company’s agent, cutting off his lucrative commissions by falsely claiming Vanderbilt was indebted to the company.
0:46:36 When Vanderbilt returned to New York in September 1853 aboard the North Star, he discovered the betrayal.
0:46:44 The Herald had already reported Morgan and White’s actions, noting ominously, “trouble is anticipated upon
0:46:50 the return of Commodore Vanderbilt.” This betrayal allegedly produced what has become one of the most famous
0:46:57 letters in American business history. Now listen to this: “Upon learning of Morgan and White’s treachery,
0:47:04 Vanderbilt supposedly penned these immortal words, ‘Gentlemen, you have undertaken to cheat me. I won’t
0:47:11 sue for the law is too slow. I’ll ruin you. Yours truly, Cornelius Vanderbilt.” The letter perfectly
0:47:19 capturing Vanderbilt’s fierce reputation, bias toward action, and blunt style is likely apocryphal.
0:47:24 Historians point out it first appeared decades later in Vanderbilt’s obituary without evidence
0:47:29 and the language used doesn’t match Vanderbilt’s usual correspondence. True or false, it captured the
0:47:36 essence of the man. Vanderbilt, known for frequent litigation since 1816, immediately filed lawsuits
0:47:42 against Morgan and White, contradicting the letter’s claim that he would not sue. The letter may be
0:47:48 myth, but Vanderbilt’s actual response was no less dramatic. He fired off a blistering public letter to
0:47:54 James Gordon Bennett, editor of the Herald, denouncing the cowardice which, in my absence in a foreign country,
0:48:01 dictated the columnist statement and calling it utterly false that he owed the company money. Far from eschewing
0:48:07 legal action, he concluded with this warning, “My rights against the company will be determined
0:48:13 in due time by the judgment of the legal tribunals.” When Morgan suggested arbitration but failed to
0:48:20 follow through, Vanderbilt escalated his retaliation with financial warfare. On January 5th, 1854,
0:48:27 he began aggressively short-selling accessory transit stock, selling thousands of shares he didn’t own
0:48:33 at $25, betting prices would collapse. Morgan, recognizing the threat, desperately bought stock
0:48:39 to maintain its price. The New York Times described the clash as a fierce contest of bull and bear,
0:48:44 pitting two seasoned, wealthy financiers against each other in a ruthless battle for control.
0:48:52 Vanderbilt doesn’t want to win, he wants to dominate. Twelve days later, Vanderbilt sprung his trap.
0:48:59 New line of steamships to San Francisco, announced the Times. While Morgan was busy buying transit stock,
0:49:05 Vanderbilt had been secretly refitting his luxury private yacht, the North Star, as a passenger liner
0:49:11 to compete directly with accessory transit. And of course, when he put it on the market,
0:49:17 the resulting fare war was unprecedented. Vanderbilt undercut the transit fare, slashing the price to
0:49:23 less than a third of the going rate. Passengers flocked to what became known as the independent
0:49:30 line, though conditions reflected the ruthless cost-cutting. The bloodletting extended beyond
0:49:37 Morgan and White. Pacific Mail and U.S. Mail steamship companies, which had long dominated the California
0:49:43 route, saw their revenues collapse as they tried to match Vanderbilt’s prices. All companies were
0:49:48 hemorrhaging money, even Vanderbilt. One of his partners who had come in on the business with him
0:49:54 actually went bankrupt, but Vanderbilt could take more pain than anyone else. By August 1854,
0:49:59 Morgan and his allies capitulated. They purchased Vanderbilt’s steamships for $800,000,
0:50:09 price far exceeding their original cost. Accessory Transit agreed to pay Vanderbilt an additional $115,000
0:50:15 for his claims of every sort. The companies quickly restored fares to their previous high levels:
0:50:24 $300 for first cabin, $250 for second, and $150 for steerage. But those who knew Vanderbilt’s history
0:50:30 remained skeptical of his promise to stay away from the California trade. After signing Morgan and his
0:50:37 allies breathed a sigh of relief. It was over. Or so they thought. In reality, it was just beginning.
0:50:51 In November 1855, Cornelius Vanderbilt orchestrated a stunning financial coup. While Morgan and his
0:50:56 allies thought the battle was over, the Commodore was buying his way back in and doing it at a discount.
0:51:04 Only, typical to him, people didn’t yet know it was him. Wall Street buzzed with news that mysterious brokers
0:51:11 were accumulating quantities of transit stock: 25,000 shares, nearly a third of all shares in existence.
0:51:18 Behind this movement, as such operations were called at the time, stood Vanderbilt and two unlikely allies:
0:51:24 Marshall Roberts of the U.S. Mail Steamship and William Aspinwall of Pacific Mail. These titans of shipping,
0:51:30 men who considered themselves Vanderbilt’s social superiors, had decided to place their fortunes in
0:51:38 his hand. Their plan was audacious: acquire accessory transit, get rid of Morgan and his allies, use Vanderbilt’s
0:51:44 cost-cutting expertise to make it profitable again, then consolidate it with U.S. Mail and create a monopoly
0:51:51 over all passenger traffic between New York and California. Roberts and Aspinwall would pocket
0:51:57 millions while Vanderbilt would rule the most vital transportation corridor in America. The Commodore,
0:52:02 who less than nine months earlier had publicly proclaimed his belief in unfettered trade and
0:52:10 unrestrained competition, was now plotting to establish the very monopoly he claimed to despise. And it’s not
0:52:14 like he was telling people what he was going to do. He was doing it through obfuscation,
0:52:21 through silence and misdirection. Little did he know that 3,500 miles away, a small man with intense
0:52:29 gray eyes was about to upend everything. On November 8th, soldiers executed General Corll,
0:52:35 a respected military commander in the central plaza of Granada, Nicaragua. The man behind his death was
0:52:40 William Walker, a slight, freckle-faced American whose penetrating gray eyes captivated everyone he
0:52:45 met. Though he looked more like a priest than a revolutionary, Walker had just seized control of
0:52:51 Nicaragua. Walker was a filibuster, not in the parliamentary sense of the word. He was a private
0:52:58 citizen leading armed invasions of foreign lands under the guise of patriotic expansion. Born in Nashville
0:53:05 and trained as a doctor and lawyer, he previously led a failed invasion of Mexico. Undeterred, Walker
0:53:11 arrived in Nicaragua in 1855 with only 56 men, initially hired as mercenaries to fight for the
0:53:18 liberal faction in Nicaragua’s civil war. His victory hinged on one brilliant maneuver:
0:53:24 commandeering an accessory transit steamboat on Lake Nicaragua and capturing the conservative
0:53:29 stronghold at Granada from behind. By taking prominent conservative families hostage,
0:53:36 Walker forced General Corll into surrender. Walker established a puppet government headed by Patricio
0:53:42 Rivas, a weak leader he easily controlled. Shortly after, Walker accused Corll of treason,
0:53:47 orchestrated a quick trial by his own men, and executed him publicly, consolidating his power.
0:53:53 Yet Walker knew his survival depended on reinforcements from the United States, making
0:53:59 him dangerously reliant on Vanderbilt’s accessory transit company, a company Vanderbilt was determined
0:54:05 to reclaim. Walker’s initial attempts to negotiate with transit executives Joseph White and Cornelius
0:54:12 Garrison failed. Enter Edmund Randolph, a Virginia aristocrat and friend of Walker who proposed a daring
0:54:19 conspiracy to Cornelius Garrison, transit San Francisco agent. Randolph intended to revoke the existing
0:54:26 charter and grant a new charter to himself, cutting Vanderbilt out entirely. After initial hesitation,
0:54:33 Garrison sent his son William to Nicaragua to secure Walker’s agreement. Walker enthusiastically accepted
0:54:39 Randolph’s scheme, providing legal justification for cancelling Transit’s charter. By late December,
0:54:44 Walker awarded the new transit rights to Randolph who immediately sold them to Garrison and Morgan.
0:54:48 In return, they promised Transports Walker reinforcements at no cost.
0:54:55 Meanwhile, Vanderbilt continued buying accessory transit stock, oblivious to the conspiracy forming
0:55:01 behind him. Walker represented a threat Vanderbilt had never faced, someone wielding an armed force
0:55:07 behind the reach of Vanderbilt’s usual tactics of financial warfare or intimidation. Vanderbilt was forced
0:55:10 to enter the dangerous realm of international intrigue.
0:55:17 Sylvana Spencer, a sailor known for his toughness and intimate knowledge of Nicaragua’s transit routes,
0:55:23 became Vanderbilt’s unlikely hero. Armed with Vanderbilt’s backing and $40,000, Spencer traveled to Costa Rica
0:55:32 and convinced President Juan Rafael Mora to help sever Walker’s supply lines. On December 23rd, 1856,
0:55:37 Spencer’s troops silently overtook the filibuster garrison at Hips Point and captured Walker’s steamboats
0:55:44 one by one, using Spencer’s expert knowledge to avoid suspicion. Spencer’s campaign culminated at San
0:55:49 Carlos, a strategic fortress where he secured a bloodless surrender, crippling Walker’s supply lines.
0:55:57 With his resources cut off, Walker’s position rapidly deteriorated. Following a prolonged siege,
0:56:05 Walker surrendered on May 1st, 1857 and was safely escorted from Nicaragua. But Walker didn’t abandon his
0:56:11 ambitions. In November, he attempted another invasion but was swiftly captured and forced to surrender by
0:56:17 the U.S. Navy. His final expedition ended tragically when the British forces captured him and delivered
0:56:23 him to the Honduran authorities, who executed him by firing squad on September 12th, 1860.
0:56:31 Vanderbilt’s enemies fell one by one. After breaking Walker, he turned his focus to exacting revenge on
0:56:38 Garrison and Morgan. When Garrison faced arrest in New York for alleged frauds exceeding half a million
0:56:43 dollars during his tenure as transit company agent, he attempted reconciliation with Vanderbilt.
0:56:47 Visiting Vanderbilt, Garrison proposed collaborating on the Walker grant.
0:56:53 Vanderbilt sternly refused, emphasizing his actions were solely for the benefit of transit
0:56:59 company and its shareholders, not for personal gain. Simultaneously, Vanderbilt intensified his
0:57:05 dominance of the California steamship traffic and boldly targeted the Atlantic shipping lanes.
0:57:11 On December 10th, 1855, thousands watched at Simpson’s shipyard as Vanderbilt launched the
0:57:19 largest steamship of its era, aptly named the Vanderbilt. At 335 feet long with massive 42-foot
0:57:27 diameter side wheels and five decks, it cost over $900,000, a clear demonstration of Vanderbilt’s wealth
0:57:31 and determination to defeat the heavily subsidized Collin and Canard lines.
0:57:38 The Vanderbilt’s maiden voyage in May 1857 was a stunning success, reaching England in
0:57:44 record time. Newspapers lauded its unprecedented speed and luxury, prompting Vanderbilt to aggressively
0:57:51 cut fares and strategically timed departures to undermine competitors. By 1860, the strategy had
0:57:58 dismantled the Collins Line, forcing it to sell off its ships. In 1860, Vanderbilt also achieved total
0:58:03 control of the California steamship traffic through an agreement with William Aspinwall,
0:58:07 dividing the business between Vanderbilt’s Atlantic and Pacific steamship company
0:58:14 on the Atlantic side and Pacific Mail on the Pacific side. Despite years spent dismantling monopolies
0:58:20 through fierce competition, Vanderbilt pragmatically created his own monopoly once victorious, stabilizing
0:58:26 fares and securing consistent profits. Vanderbilt’s influence was so immense that when the California
0:58:32 postal contract ended in 1860, he boldly refused to carry the mail, threatening communication between
0:58:39 coasts. This prompted President Buchanan’s personal intervention, promising Vanderbilt retroactive
0:58:42 payment from Congress to maintain essential services.
0:58:48 Even as Vanderbilt dominated ocean transportation, he began extending his reach into railroads. His
0:58:55 involvement with the New York and Harlem Railroad began in 1857 when he joined its board alongside his son-in-law,
0:59:01 Horace Clark and financier Daniel Drew. The company faced bankruptcy with large debts due amid the
0:59:09 panic of 1857. Vanderbilt’s code of honor distinguished him in a crisis. When Drew refused
0:59:15 to endorse the renewal of the railroad’s notes despite having accepted a commission, Vanderbilt confronted him
0:59:22 directly. Mr. Drew, Vanderbilt declared, are you going to sign all these acceptances? Not one of them,
0:59:28 Drew objected. Are you crazy? I’m going to sign all these and you are too, Vanderbilt insisted.
0:59:34 Where’s the money to come from to pay for it, Drew asked. You and I will pay for it if no one else does,
0:59:40 Vanderbilt replied firmly. I’ll do it if it takes the code off my back. I always honor my commitments.
0:59:47 Drew eventually signed, nearly in tears. Vanderbilt later recounted with satisfaction,
0:59:53 he did not dare cheat me. This incident highlighted Vanderbilt’s growing authority and strict adherence
0:59:57 to business commitments, qualities that would prove vital as he expanded further into railroads.
1:00:05 Drew would soon want revenge, but for the moment he waited. By 1860, Vanderbilt had achieved immense
1:00:11 influence, described by the Chicago Tribune as almost knightly power. He controlled the Atlantic steamship
1:00:17 traffic. He was the largest shareholder in Pacific mail and held prominent positions in New York’s Harlem and Erie
1:00:24 railroads. His estimated wealth of around 11 million likely made him America’s richest private citizen.
1:00:30 Vanderbilt represented something new in American business, a man whose wealth and power transcended the
1:00:37 categories of the past. Beyond historical analysis, men followed this demanding profane titan out of
1:00:45 genuine respect. When Captain Ludlow of the aerial died at sea during a fierce storm in December 1859,
1:00:49 his final words were, “Tell the Commodore I died at the post of duty.”
1:00:57 This loyalty reflected Vanderbilt’s core qualities. No one understood steamships better,
1:01:00 took greater personal risks, or was more committed to keeping his word.
1:01:06 As America entered the turbulent 1860s, Vanderbilt stood unmatched in power.
1:01:15 He was hated, admired, resented, yet always respected, even by his enemies.
1:01:25 As Cornelius Vanderbilt approached 70 in 1864, most men his age were considering retirement.
1:01:31 Vanderbilt, however, was not most men. He’s an outlier and he was planning his greatest conquest
1:01:38 yet. After decades dominating American waterways, the Commodore was now transforming himself into
1:01:45 the railroad king. The stakes were immense. In an era before automobiles, highways, or air travel,
1:01:51 railroads were essential to American commerce. The rail network represented far more than transportation.
1:01:57 It was, according to a contemporary observer, “the most tremendous and far-reaching engine of social
1:02:05 revolution which has ever either blessed or cursed the earth.” Just as steamboats had reshaped America
1:02:12 decades earlier, railways now dramatically altered geography, economy, and society. Cities like Chicago
1:02:21 grew exponentially, increasing from 43,000 people in 1850 to 400,000 people by 1870, driven primarily by its
1:02:32 the most critical rail corridor in America. Vanderbilt’s railroad empire began with
1:02:39 its purchase of the struggling New York and Harlem Railroad in 1863, a small line critics dismissed as
1:02:45 “the only good for wrapping paper.” Vanderbilt, however, saw potential where others saw failure,
1:02:51 aiming to create the only direct rail connection between New York City and the industrial heartland
1:02:57 of New England. Driven by pride and a relentless pursuit of efficiency, Vanderbilt acquired the Hudson River
1:03:06 Railroad in 1864, securing control over the only railways entering Manhattan. Yet, this is merely the starting point.
1:03:13 To access the lucrative Midwest markets, Vanderbilt needed cooperation from New York Central Railroad,
1:03:18 a major trunk line running from Albany to Buffalo. For three years, Vanderbilt patiently
1:03:24 negotiated with the Central’s presidents, Ernest Corning and then Dean Richmond. Frustrated by the
1:03:30 Central’s practice of diverting his railcars to competing steamboat lines, Vanderbilt repeatedly
1:03:37 voiced his complaints. Though Vanderbilt preferred diplomacy to confrontation, a proposed merger between
1:03:43 the railroads faced strong opposition. His lieutenant, Horace Clark, warned that such a move would shake the
1:03:51 state to its center, appearing as an attempt to strengthen railroad monopolies. In August 1866,
1:03:57 the landscape changed suddenly when Richmond died. Henry Keep, the Central’s new president, was a secret
1:04:05 strategic thinker openly hostile to Vanderbilt. Keep vowed privately to take revenge against Vanderbilt,
1:04:13 even if it cost him half his wealth. The breaking point came in December 1866, when Keep abruptly revoked
1:04:19 a hard-fought agreement to pay the Hudson $100,000 annually for handling the New York Central traffic
1:04:26 into New York City. So on December 29th, Vanderbilt met with Keep and his allies. William Vanderbilt
1:04:32 repeatedly questioned Keep asking, “Gentlemen, you have repudiated our contracts and disrupted our
1:04:39 established agreement. Do you have any alternative to propose?” Keep responded coldly, offering only minimal
1:04:44 compensation. After five hours of fruitless discussion, Vanderbilt drove Corning, a more
1:04:50 reasonable central director, to his hotel. “Mr. Corning, I’m very sorry we cannot get along together
1:04:56 in this manner,” Vanderbilt remarked. “I am too,” Corning replied. “If it was left to just you and me,
1:05:02 we could fix it in a little while. I believe we could,” the Commodore agreed. But this brief exchange
1:05:07 clarified for Vanderbilt that Corning had no real authority. Keep held all the power, making further
1:05:17 negotiations pointless. Soon after, Vanderbilt unleashed his most powerful weapon. On January 14th, 1867, the
1:05:23 boards of the Hudson River and Harlem Railroads voted to sever all ties with the New York Central Railroad.
1:05:29 They refused to accept any tickets or freight from the Central and halted all train crossings over the
1:05:37 Albany Bridge. This decision amounted to a declaration of economic war with immediate and severe consequences.
1:05:42 “It would place the New York Central Railroad in a position where it could no longer claim to be a
1:05:49 primary trunk line between New York and Buffalo,” explained William Vanderbilt. “Amid a fierce snowstorm that
1:05:55 paralyzed New York State, passengers were forced to cross the frozen Hudson River at Albany on foot or hire
1:06:01 sleighs for transportation. Freight shipments from the west piled up, and alternative railroad connections
1:06:08 dependent on unreliable ferry crossings due to severe weather failed to meet the demand.” Effectively,
1:06:13 what’s happened here is Vanderbilt has isolated New York City from the rest of the world. He literally
1:06:20 controls the ingress and egress through railroad lines, and he’s said no. The Brooklyn Eagle accused
1:06:25 Vanderbilt of placing the city under strict blockade, describing his actions as criminal and deserving,
1:06:31 exemplary punishment. When called before a legislative committee, Vanderbilt bluntly defended himself.
1:06:37 When you talk about legally, I suppose your next question will be why didn’t you prosecute them?
1:06:43 It is not according to my mode of doing things to bring a suit against a man that I have the power in
1:06:50 my own hands to punish. The law as I view it goes too slow for me when I have the remedy in my own hands.”
1:06:57 This was a striking display of private power overriding public interest. One man’s ability
1:07:04 to disrupt a major city’s commerce for personal corporate objectives. If you were to judge this
1:07:09 solely on its effectiveness, then you would conclude it worked and it worked quickly.
1:07:15 Keep quickly capitulated. On January 17th, he urgently telegraphed Corning what is to be done.
1:07:21 He handed full authority to settle the dispute to Corning and two other directors more inclined
1:07:28 towards compromise. The trio promptly visited Vanderbilt’s office to negotiate peace. One director
1:07:34 later acknowledged that Vanderbilt was the most eager to resolve the situation. On January 19th,
1:07:38 a new agreement was finalized. The Central Railroad promised to deliver as much freight to the Hudson
1:07:43 River Railroad as it received from them, ensuring no more empty cars returned from Albany. It also
1:07:51 agreed to cover a portion of the terminal expenses. Keep was publicly humiliated. John M. Davidson wrote
1:07:56 to Corning that Keep and Lockwood are large sellers. They flooded the market with stock. The swearing against
1:08:01 Keep by the stockholders is intent. They’re considering a meeting to demand his resignation.
1:08:07 So basically, Keep gets outmaneuvered by Vanderbilt. He dumps the shares. Davidson is telling us that
1:08:12 Keep and Lockwood are both just flooding the market with their shares. So the share price is sinking.
1:08:18 What Davidson did not yet realize, but Vanderbilt clearly saw, was the exceptional opportunity the
1:08:25 crisis presented. As Keep and his partner dump their shares, Vanderbilt starts acquiring them.
1:08:32 This marked a decisive shift in his tactics. After three years of diplomacy, he now aggressively moved
1:08:38 to secure ownership, taking advantage of Keep’s weakening position. By the Central’s annual meeting
1:08:45 in December 1867, Vanderbilt had acquired enough stock to seize control. His allies, including William
1:08:50 Clark and Schell, were elected to the board. Keep’s presidency ended, and when Corning nominated
1:08:57 Vanderbilt as president, the outcome was inevitable. In just four years, Vanderbilt had progressed from
1:09:03 controlling the modest Harlem Railroad to dominating one of America’s major rail networks.
1:09:10 The event underscores a critical lesson about leverage and power. Keep had mistakenly believed that his title
1:09:15 as president granted him control, but Vanderbilt understood that true power came from ownership.
1:09:22 Titles alone didn’t guarantee authority. CEOs holding little equity can be removed by boards or investors,
1:09:27 whereas those with controlling stakes can dictate strategy and vision despite opposition.
1:09:32 I just want to recap here for a second. Keep and Vanderbilt get into this fight.
1:09:37 So Vanderbilt effectively humiliates Keep. Keep dumps the shares, because he’s like,
1:09:43 he knows he’s getting ousted. So he starts dumping all his shares. Then Vanderbilt buys the shares. So the
1:09:49 shares at depressed prices. So he effectively causes the share price to lower, and then buys the shares and
1:09:56 takes control. This isn’t the first time he used this play bug. So with control of both the Hudson River and
1:10:02 New York Central Railroads, Vanderbilt revived his earlier proposal for consolidation. Persistent
1:10:07 conflicts between these interconnected lines had proven impossible to resolve through contractual
1:10:12 agreements alone. A merger would align their interests and eliminate structural inefficiencies.
1:10:19 So in 1869, Vanderbilt successfully secured legislation permitting the merger. The resulting
1:10:24 New York Central and Hudson River Railroad was among America’s largest enterprises, boasting a
1:10:30 capitalization of approximately $90 million in dominating the crucial transportation corridor from
1:10:36 New York to Buffalo. This consolidation represented more than just another business transaction.
1:10:43 It marked a fundamental transformation of American capitalism. Vanderbilt helped pioneer the concept
1:10:48 of the giant corporation distinct from the individual ownership or management. By merging older
1:10:54 railroad companies into a single entity focused on efficiency and profitability, he also shifted
1:11:01 their original public service missions. The concentration of economic power raised concerns.
1:11:06 It’s not a pleasant reflection, wrote Harper’s Weekly, that the great thoroughfare between the East
1:11:13 and the West is in the hands of the Vanderbilt family. Despite these anxieties, Vanderbilt’s consolidation
1:11:19 brought clear economic advantages. Resolving conflicts between the Central and Hudson River lines reduced delays,
1:11:23 reduced delays, simplified operations, and significantly lowered costs.
1:11:26 By 1870,
1:11:31 Cornelius Vanderbilt had fundamentally reshaped American business. In just four years, he transformed himself from
1:11:38 the Commodore of the Waterways into the Railroad King, building one of America’s most significant business empires.
1:11:44 Vanderbilt’s railroad consolidation mirrored broader economic trends, the emergence of large
1:11:50 corporate enterprises, increasingly abstract ownership structures, and concentrated economic power.
1:11:56 He demonstrated both the benefits and the risks of this new corporate model. His railroad empire achieved
1:12:03 economies of scale that lowered transportation costs and boosted economic growth. However, his blockade of New York
1:12:09 raised troubling concerns about the extent of private influence within a democratic society.
1:12:16 As Vanderbilt, now 75, surveyed his empire, he saw a nation transformed, not merely by railroads,
1:12:20 but by the corporate structures he pioneered to build and manage them.
1:12:27 William Lloyd Garrison had envisioned that improved communication and connections would unify societies,
1:12:29 promoting common values and shared prosperity.
1:12:36 Vanderbilt indeed united distant regions with iron rails, but the legacy of his work was not
1:12:40 democracy or equality. It was the modern corporation itself.
1:12:52 A statue of Cornelius Vanderbilt stands at the entrance of New York City’s Grand Central Terminal,
1:12:58 overlooking Park Avenue South and the empire that he created. The infrastructure he built remains essential,
1:13:05 even as the original corporation and dynasty established has faded. Yet, as Vanderbilt’s railroad
1:13:10 directors noted after his death, this work will go on, though the master workman is gone.
1:13:17 Cornelius Vanderbilt is often portrayed as a ruthless Robert Barron, but the reality is more nuanced. He
1:13:23 embodied fascinating contradictions, a fierce competitor who preferred diplomacy, a tough negotiator who
1:13:29 carefully balanced aggression with patience. His railroad empire consolidating the Harlem, Hudson River,
1:13:36 and New York Central railroads was built only after repeated attempts at peaceful negotiation failed.
1:13:42 Vanderbilt’s mergers produced a corporate giant from Manhattan to Lake Erie, ushering in bureaucracy,
1:13:49 delegation, and unprecedented efficiency. By his death, he reportedly held one-ninth or one-twentieth,
1:13:53 depending on how you count it, of all U.S. currencies, sparking debate over his wealth,
1:14:00 democracy, and the unsettling power of massive corporations. America had entered its era of great
1:14:07 fortunes, and Vanderbilt had led the way. Vanderbilt’s legacy is nearly entirely heroic nor villainous,
1:14:12 but reflects America’s shift from rural merchants and farmers to corporate industrialism. He was an
1:14:19 individualist who built institutions, a practical navigator who pioneered an abstract economy. He was
1:14:25 at the forefront of the industrial revolution. His relentless drive and continual reinvention
1:14:33 defined not just his life but also the nation’s transition into modern times. As his railroad directors
1:14:38 aptly summarized Vanderbilt’s greatest monument was the lasting framework he established. The work will go
1:14:48 on, though the master workman is gone.
1:14:54 All right, I want to cover a few reflections before we get into the lessons that you can take away from
1:15:01 this. This guy is such a badass. He’s done so many things. So there’s so many points in this story,
1:15:06 like this is a skeleton of his life. We missed a whole bunch of things. I’m going to tell you a few
1:15:11 of them. But each of these things could be their own episodes, like each of these little battles on
1:15:18 the seas or the Nicaragua thing or the railroad battles. Like this is crazy. We didn’t even cover
1:15:24 the Erie battle with Jay Gould and Daniel Drew comes back for that one. And we just didn’t have time
1:15:28 because I want to keep these reasonably short. So we’ll cover some of this more in the future. But I
1:15:34 wanted to give you a sketch of the person and some of the things you can learn from him. Now we didn’t
1:15:41 have time to get into this either. But Vanderbilt was not a role model as a parent or partner. I mean,
1:15:47 he applied a lot of the same tactics that he championed in business. He applied at home and
1:15:52 they had a much different result. Instead of leading to success, it led to disaster.
1:15:57 Another fascinating angle to this that we’ll maybe cover in another episode in the future is
1:16:04 how his heirs managed to squander the world’s largest fortune in only a few generations. It’s a
1:16:11 story that involves New York society, royalty, lavish parties, wives trying to one up each other,
1:16:16 legal battles and so much more. Interestingly, Anderson Cooper wrote a book on this and he
1:16:23 would know because he is after all a Vanderbilt. You can take your learning to the next level for
1:16:28 these two. Like one of the things that people email me and they’re like, what book did you use? So we
1:16:34 highlight the books we used for this. It was Tycoon’s War and we used the first tycoon. We also put my
1:16:39 highlights into the repository that you can access. So if you’re a member at Farnham Street, if you go
1:16:45 to fs.blog/membership, you can actually search all my highlights from all the books and all the episodes
1:16:51 and see what I underline when I was reading the book. Okay, I want to get into some of the lessons that we
1:16:58 can take away from Vanderbilt and how we can use them and maybe apply them in life. So the first lesson
1:17:03 is ride the wave. When a better technology came along, Vanderbilt jumped on it. He went from
1:17:08 various to steamships to railroads without trying to cling to the past. The guy did not think about
1:17:13 sunk costs. He went all in and I admire that about him. A lot of people would have been trying to
1:17:20 sort of walk that line between both, but not Vanderbilt. He went all in. Two, patience. He didn’t need
1:17:25 quick wins. He wasn’t looking for validation from other people. He’d rather take a temporary loss if it
1:17:31 meant owning the market later. He would always do what was in the long-term interests of himself and not
1:17:36 the short-term interests. Which leads me to three, which is his ability to take pain. Physical
1:17:41 pain from powering through blizzards when no other ferry captain would. Financial pain from slashing
1:17:48 prices to zero profit and sometimes at a loss just to drive out rivals. Psychological pain threatening to
1:17:53 block rail traffic to and from New York City and then doing it. And he survived all these scenarios and
1:17:59 crushed everyone else. The man could take more pain than almost anybody I’ve studied.
1:18:05 Four, control. Vanderbilt wasn’t really interested in being a passive shareholder. He wanted control
1:18:09 or nothing. He didn’t want to sit on the sidelines and watch somebody else do it. He wanted to lead.
1:18:15 Five, showmanship. It’s easy to root for the underdog and Vanderbilt often positioned himself that way
1:18:20 against a big monopoly. Then once he beat them, he essentially became the monopoly. But by that point,
1:18:26 he already had public sympathy on his side. And he was also a bit of a showman too. Whether racing
1:18:33 steamboats or blocking the rails, he made business feel like high drama. And that’s part of why his legend
1:18:37 endures today. He was always the talk of the town, even when he was the one pulling the strings behind
1:18:45 the scenes. Six, go all in. If you cross Vanderbilt, it wasn’t enough for him to beat you. He wanted to
1:18:52 finish you financially or otherwise. He didn’t just win, he dominated. Seven, positioning. Vanderbilt operated
1:18:59 with very little leverage so he could always take advantage of his rivals’ misfortunes. He also would cause
1:19:03 poor positioning in other people. He knew when people were selling or buying, he would often force
1:19:08 them to sell and he would short the stock. They would sell, it would drive down the price and then
1:19:13 he’d buy it back and he’d either take control. He was always in a position to capitalize on the
1:19:20 circumstances that forced other people into bad hands. Eight, move in silence. Yes, he might say I’m
1:19:26 going to ruin you, but he rarely telegraphed how he’d do it. He made clandestine stock purchases,
1:19:32 he turned enemies into allies and he pulled off secret deals. By the time rivals realized it was
1:19:38 too late. Nine, make money. Vanderbilt made money in many ways. It reminds me of a quote by John D.
1:19:43 Rockefeller who said, “I have ways of making money that you know nothing of.” Vanderbilt made money on
1:19:49 competing. He made money from not competing. He made money from monopolizing and he understood where the
1:19:53 real money was, like the lucrative mail contracts from New York to San Francisco.
1:19:59 And that’s the lessons you can take away from this. Thank you for listening and tune in next time.
1:20:17 Thanks for listening and learning with us. For a complete list of episodes, show notes,
1:20:23 transcripts, transcripts, and more, go to fs.blog/podcast or just Google the Knowledge Project.
1:20:27 The Farnham Street blog is also where you can learn more about my new book,
1:20:33 Clear Thinking: Turning Ordinary Moments into Extraordinary Results. It’s a transformative
1:20:40 guide that hands you the tools to master your fate, sharpen your decision-making, and set yourself up for
1:21:00 unparalleled success. Learn more at fs.blog/clear. Until next time.