What J. Paul Getty's Life Teaches About Character

I was browsing the Quad on Peterson Academy, and someone wrote that who we become in this life is the only thing that matters. The Quad is a place where people post their thoughts on that platform. That got me thinking about J. Paul Getty. I read a few books on him years ago. For a stretch, he was the richest man alive, oil money, the ultimate measure of achievement by any normal standard.

While reading books about him, I learned he had multiple marriages, and they all failed. He was known as a stingy man who installed a payphone in his own mansion so guests wouldn't run up his phone bill. You've probably heard this next part if you know him. His grandson was kidnapped and held for ransom, and Getty refused to pay. He only paid part of it once the kidnappers mailed him a body part. Even then, he negotiated the amount down and structured it as a loan to his own son, with interest.

That was the type of character this guy had.

I'm writing about this now because Epictetus told us about what is up to us and what isn't. Wealth, reputation, and outcomes are outside our control. Character is inside, and it's up to us to build it.

Getty had total command over the world at one point. He could move markets. But his inner game was in chaos. Now, in the 2020s, people like me pick up books on him, and the one thing I quickly learn about him isn't how he built his empire. It's the type of character he had while building it.

Wealth and outcomes are worth pursuing in life. But results aren't always how people remember you. Getty is proof that you can win completely on paper and still lose the thing that actually mattered. Character is the only asset that doesn't depreciate. It's the only one nobody can take from you.