This Week in Refinement
Architect of Modern Power.
Today we’re bringing you some heavy material. The topic was suggested by one of our Instagram followers. The character we’re covering is as brilliant as they are controversial. I think there’s a lot we can take away from this.
Refined Perspectives
What’s on this week?
You either build your own system of freedom, or you live inside someone else’s.
Everything is a form of control and influence.
Mind Behind the Brand
John D. Rockefeller
Born in 1839 in New York, into a poor family with a father known for his schemes and a mother of iron faith. Unlike Edison the visionary or Musk the performer, Rockefeller operated with cold precision, mastering the mechanics of capitalism itself.
By 33, he controlled most of the American oil market. By 50, he dominated global energy trade. In effect, he built the first true global monopoly until the U.S. government tore it apart.
Paradoxically, just as the world branded him a ruthless capitalist, Rockefeller was already evolving into something far more compelling. He began giving his fortune away, not as a gesture, but as a method.
I have ways of making money that you know nothing of.
Refined Rewind
He programmed modernity.
After the breakup of Standard Oil in 1911, instead of retreating, he turned to fields meant to outlast any business: education and medicine. With the help of his advisors, he founded the Rockefeller Foundation in 1913. Its stated mission was “to improve the condition of humanity,” but in practice it meant redesigning the entire system of science and public health in the United States—and eventually, the world.
He believed American schools should produce “useful citizens,” not “independent thinkers.” He financed the creation of the Board of Education, pushed for standardized curricula, and reshaped schooling itself. Historians say Rockefeller turned education into a tool for managing society, creating workers ready to serve his new industrial world.
The Rockefeller Foundation completely transformed medical education in America. From a historical perspective, this was the moment medicine became dominated by the pharmaceutical industry. Rockefeller understood that if you control science and the way doctors are trained, you control the entire market for medicine.
John D. Rockefeller realized that real power does not lie in money, but in deciding what people learn, what they believe, and what they take when they are sick.
Refined Lessons
And what can we learn?
System over talent
He understood that talent is unstable, but systems can scale. Instead of chasing “people with passion,” he built structures where the average person could operate like a cog in a perfectly tuned machine. Victory belongs not to the most creative, but to the one who can repeat success at the same hour, every day.
Control the source
He invested in transport, refineries, and distribution, connecting every link between the market and his product. That is the mindset of ownership, not participation. If you control the source of value in your field, results become a side effect of your system.
Philanthropy as influence
He didn’t give money out of kindness. He built universities, foundations, and institutes that shaped how people think, heal, and believe. Value becomes an ideology, absorbed long before it’s questioned.
Rockefeller showed that lasting success lies not in winning the market, but in defining the structure that governs it.
Join the Movement
Become the architect yourself.
If you want to apply the principles of the world’s greatest thinkers, claim our manifesto.
It will guide you through how your decisions and rituals can become tools of clarity and power, both in your personal life and in business.
That’s all for now.
Thank you for reading and for claiming our manifesto.
Wishing you productivity and all the best.
Michał, Refined Money.
P.S. Previous issues feature figures like J.P. Morgan. If you missed any, you can find them linked below.
