My top 10 highlights from the book:

1.  “When you get the enemy on the run, keep him there." — General George S. Patton.

2.  The oil business is not all beer and skittles.

3.  Leon would later tell a story about negotiating with a representative of Qaddafi who put a gun on the table between them.

4.  Bill Parcells tells a story of calling Leon to inform him of yet another expensive player contract. “I don’t give a shit,” Leon told him. “If you run out of money, come over here to the oil company and we’ll get some more for you this afternoon.”

5.  He was so obsessed with details that at budget meetings he would quiz the head of the company’s trucking division on the amount of life left in the tires.

6.  Leon could recite the margins of every gasoline station on the East Coast.

7.  The hard labor at the coal yard helped shape Leon’s ethic of working long hours. He made deliveries through the weekends.

8.  Leon succeeded in a cutthroat and highly technical business despite lacking a diploma.

9.  He was an extraordinary father and role model. His standards for himself and for our family were high. He couldn’t tolerate deadbeats or liars. He was a man of his word, so we had to be, too. He expected the best of himself and also of all of us. He worked hard—and so did we.

10.  Treasure a good name. Hold your cards close to your chest. Love is unconditional. If you have to talk to the press, make sure that you aren’t the story.

Listen to #378 The Last Oil Baron: Leon Hess on Apple, Spotify, or the web.