The Entrepreneur’s Bookshelf: “Think & Grow Rich” by Napoleon Hill

Recently, Matthijs van Leeuwen, a co-founder of SimuGen (the biotech company who I co-founded with) dropped me a visit. While catching up with me on business, he gave me the book “Think and Grow Rich” by Napoleon Hill as a birthday present, which was in turn, recommended by Daniel Sheehan (another co-founder and friend of mine in Cambridge). As I am not fond of books about telling me that they have the right formula for making a million bucks, this book was surprisingly good, and even my business mentor in Singapore, Justin Ong also highly recommended it. The book was published in 1937 and strangely the lessons mentioned in the book are still relevant for many people today. So, in this article, we review this timeless classic by Napoleon Hill.

“Success requires no explanations. Failure permits no alibis”
- Napoleon Hill

I have to confess that when the book was presented to me, I was extremely skeptical of the content. It has the title that is mixed up with cranks talking about their dads and getting rich or some internet marketing guru (who market no product but their marketing) spouting garbage. When I eventually read it, I wish that I had written a book like this.

The content is simple, concise and laid out clearly on what is required to be successful. The lessons presented by the author may be of 70 years old, but they are still relevant today, from applying to a job and how to approach someone important. For those who do not know, Napoleon Hill (picture below) was one of the early American authors who started the “how to be successful” genre type of books. With a humble background, he tried to see himself through law school by working as a reporter (unfortunately, he did not complete his education). The history of the book is interesting because it started with a series of interviews including the famous industrialist Andrew Carnegie (one of the richest men in the world at that time). Hill realized from talking to Carnegie, he can simplify the process of success into a single formula that could be replicated by the average person if they know what they are doing. With the endorsement of Carnegie, Hill was commissioned (without pay and only offering to provide him with letters of reference) to interview over 500 successful men and women, many of them millionaires, in order to discover and publish this formula for success. That ended with the book “Think and Grow Rich” which was disseminated to all of us in the future generations.

In essence, Hill broke down the principles to become successful into 14 principles: (1) Desire, (2) Faith, (3) Auto-Suggestion, (4) Specialized knowledge, (5) Imagination, (6) Organized Planning, (7) Decision, (8) Persistence, (9) Power of the master mind, (10) Mystery of Sex transmutation (strange enough that he placed that as a criteria), (11) The Subconscious Mind, (12) The Brain, (13) Sixth Sense and (14) how to outwit the six ghosts of fear – fear of poverty, fear of criticism, fear of ill health,, fear of loss of love, fear of old age and fear of death.

In the beginning of the book, Hill used the example of how Edwin C. Barnes “thought” his way to enter into partnership with Thomas Edison. He started with the thinking that he will eventually become a business associate of the great Edison. He overcame the difficulty of not having enough money to travel to Orange, New Jersey to visit Edison. In most cases, a lot of people would have given up. In the end, he met Edison and presented himself to go into business with the inventor. However, he was rejected but he did not give up. He worked in Edison’s offices at a nominal wage and that gave him a way to prove his worth. In the end, an opportunity came up and he convinced Edison that he can sell the Edison dictating machine. Eventually, he got his partnership and made it work. Think about the situation today, a lot of people like to get important people to be their mentors, but they do not prove their worth. What we see in Singapore among some young people, is that they are impatient with taking low wages and waiting for opportunities that might lead them to their success. Barnes’ example clearly show that perseverance is more important than just having the idea and desire to work with Edison.

My favourite chapter is “Organized Planning” (chapter 6) in the book. The reason is simple, it gives the correct advice that how one can engineer his or her own success. I have written articles and delivered lectures on networking, presentation and even advising students how to write cover letters and CVs. This book simply contains all the information which I preached, particularly in how to apply for a job. He presented the main factors in how to make a successful application for a job, for example, education and experience. However, he stressed the importance of references and network which most people in Singapore don’t seem to care. The lessons may be written in a different time, yet it is still relevant today for many students in Singapore.

I strongly recommend this book for those who want to succeed and understand what the book is trying to tell you. I will leave this quote for your perusal.

“A quitter never wins and a winner never quits.”
- Napoleon Hill

Comments