BOOK REVIEW

Book Review: How to be wealthy byJ. Paul Getty

Book Review: How to be Rich by J. Paul Getty

Getting Started

How to Be Rich is a book about how to be rich, not how to get rich. It looks at the development of a particular state of mind rather than detailing a sure-fire formula for monetary acquisition. Getty felt that the whole point of becoming rich was to enhance your own life, as well as the lives of those around you. Details Getty's hands-on and committed approach to his working life, and how he preferred to operate beside his workers and deal with problems personally.

Author

J. Paul Getty (1892-1976) was an American industrialist and Founder of the Getty Oil Company. He graduated from Oxford University with qualifications in economics and political science, before working on his father's oil fields. Running his own oil business, he became a millionaire in 1916. He founded the J. Paul Getty Museum in California in 1974.

Quotations

“'Richness' is at smallest as much a matter of character, of philosophy, outlook and mind-set, as it is of money.”

“Wealth is something with which one has to learn to live—and the task is not always as simple as might be imagined.”

“[Those] who will make their marks in commerce, industry and finance are the ones with freewheeling imaginations and strong, highly individualistic personalities.”

Context

Discusses business operations and management from the viewpoint of someone who has been extremely successful.

Useful for anybody planning to go into business, and executives rising through the ranks and those who would like to.

Presents useful tips on how to manage and get the best out of your people and your business.

Provides the intellectual tools for ending bad business and personal habits, and developing productive and beneficial new ones.

Covers his thoughts on health, charity, personality, falling standards in morality and kindness, and the disappearance of art and classical music from the mainstream.

Impact

Describes the characteristics of a true entrepreneur.

Believed that there is no magic to becoming rich—you have to work hard and for yourself.

Believed in treating employees well and encouraging them to think and act as if they were running their own company, in order to get the best out of them.

Readily admits his failings and tries to appreciate the characteristics that promote success.

Discussion

The late J. Paul Getty's directions for accumulating riches are easy and to the point. In detail, it is so easy that most persons who read them ...