“Think and Grow Rich” was Napoleon Hill’s biggest success, but not his first one. 20 years after Andrew Carnegie had commissioned Napoleon Hill with the task of a lifetime, the first practical philosophy of success was published: “The Law of Success in Sixteen Lessons”
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There are a lot of rumors in circulation concerning the first meeting of Napoleon Hill with Andrew Carnegie. This is what Napoleon Hill tells about this historical day that led to “The Law of Success in Sixteen Lessons” and “Think and Grow Rich”
The following is a transcript of a speech that Napoleon Hill held before a live audience. He is telling the story of his first meeting with Andrew Carnegie in 1908 and how Mr. Carnegie commissioned him to write the first practical philosophy of success and achievement.
>> My brother and I had matriculated of Georgetown University Law school intending to become lawyers. We didn’t have any money but I did have ability to write and I promised that I would write stories about successful men, sell them to a magazine and pay our way through. And my first assignment fortunately was with Andrew Carnegie in Pittsburgh.
He gave me 3 hours. And when the 3 hours were over, he said: “Now, this interview is just beginning. Come on of the house, stay all night and after the dinner we’ll take up the interview again.” He kept me there three days and nights. And believe you me, I was more than flattered. I wondered what it was all about.
He kept talking to me about the need for a new philosophy. He said: “We’ve had many philosophies with days of Socrates and Plato on down to the days of William James and Emerson, but most of them dealt with the moral laws of life. What we need is an economic philosophy for the man on the streets that will enable him to make use of the know-how gained by men like myself over a lifetime of experience.” Well, it sounded (…) very nice to me except for one thing: I didn’t know exactly what that word philosophy meant. And finally, at the end of the third day, he said:
“Now, look here! I have been talking to you for three days about the need for a new philosophy. I’m gonna ask you a question about it: If I commission you to become the author of this philosophy, give you letters of introduction to men, whose experiences you will need in collaboration with yourself. Are you willing to put in 20 years of research, because that’s how long it will take, paying your own way as you go along without any subsidy from me – yes or no?”
Ladies and Gentlemen, there been many times in my life when I faced difficult problems and difficult decisions. And I don’t think I ever faced one more embarrassing than that. Because when Mr. Carnegie put that proposition to me (…), my hand was down in my pocket and I was fiddling with the money that I had there just about enough to get back to Washington and if I would have had to stay in a hotel instead of Mr. Carnegie’s house I wouldn’t have that much. I didn’t even know the meaning of the word Philosophy. And yeah, the richest men in the world wanted me to go to work for him for 20 years without pay.
Wasn’t that a situation for you? I started to tell Mr. Carnegie, I started to do exactly what you or the most of the people would have done under the same circumstances. Now, what do you think that was? What would you have done, if you would have faced that sort of proposition: going to work for 20 years without any pay for the richest man in the world? Well, yes that’s what I was about to do.
But something inside of me wouldn’t let me open my mouth until I got a hunch that if Mr. Carnegie kept me there for three days, it must have been for a purpose. That he must have seen something in me that I didn’t know was there. Also, that man, a man with Mr. Carnegie’s reputation for picking men, certainly didn’t pick me to do a job like that unless he knew I had the ability to do it.
And whatever this something was, this silent invisible person, who was standing, looking over my shoulder and whispering into my ear, said: Go ahead and tell him “Yes”.
I said: “Mr. Carnegie, I not only will accept the commission, Sir, but you may depend upon it that I will complete it.” He said: “I like the way you enter that (…) and I think you will do it. You have the job.” <<
Napoleon Hill had worked 20 years to write the first practical philosophy of success. It was entitled “The Law of Success in Sixteen Lessons”. Nine years and some research later, Napoleon Hill published his biggest success: “Think and Grow Rich”. You can grab yourself a free ebook copy in the sidebar.
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