Phipps had none of the dash and sparkle of Carnegie.

He was the plodder, the bookkeeper, the economizer, the man who had an eye for microscopic details.

"What we most admired in young Phipps," a Pittsburgh banker once remarked, "is the way in which he could keep a check in the air for three or four days." His abilities consisted mainly in keeping the bankers complaisant, in smoothing the ruffled feelings of creditors, in cutting out unnecessary expenditures, and in shaving prices.
Carnegie's other two more celebrated associates, Henry C.Frick and Charles M.Schwab, were younger men.

Frick was cold and masterful, as hard, unyielding, and effective as the steel that formed the staple of his existence.

Schwab was enthusiastic, warm-hearted, and happy-go-lucky; a man who ruled his employees and obtained his results by appealing to their sympathies.