“Riches begin in the form of thought and faith removes limitations.”
~ Napoleon Hill
It’s a beautiful still morning here on St. Thomas today. The Christmas winds have “slowed down”, allowing me to slow down too, and spend some time contemplating on my morning bench.
As we continue on with Think and Grow Rich, to end the chapter on our second principle of success – faith in our abilities – Hill tells the story of the United States Steel Corporation.
The corporation was born into the mind of Charles M. Schwab. What is so important about the story is that it illustrates at least 6 of the 13 principles of success.
Schwab took an idea, which he created through his imagination. He then mixed faith with his idea. He carefully and skilfully formulated a plan for the transformation of his idea into physical and financial reality. He then put his plan into action with a famous speech. The style and length of his speech was given against all advice, showing to me that Schwab had tons of self-confidence. Following the speech, he backed up his plan with persistence and a firm decision, seeing his plan through to fruition.
With a burning desire for success, Schawb as able to convince two of the wealthiest steel companies in America to combine. Simply by combining assets and consolidating them under one management, he increased the appraised value of the new corporation by $600 million (or $12 billion in today’s money) !!
Note that Charles M. Schwab did not own anything here. He was basically a no-body, but was given an opportunity because he had shown hospitality to some New York socialites and bankers. He was given another opportunity by being introduced at a dinner club. Schwab was warned that “the New York stuffed shirts would not be responsive to oratory, and that, if he didn’t want to bore the Stillmans and Harrimans and Vanderbilts, he had better limit himself to 15 to 20 minutes of polite vaporings and let it go at that.”
Instead, Schwab proceeded to speak for 90 minutes, telling these great men the error of their ways, and through the shear force of his personality, he was able to impress his idea upon the wealthiest men in america. In the end, he was able to convince J.P Morgan that his plan would work. And persuaded Andrew Carnegie to sell his fortune. And Schawb would become President of the newly formed corporation.
In the end, Andrew Carnegie would say “I wish I had asked you for $100,000,000 more.” The reply was “if you had asked for it, you’d have gotten it.”
I had to re-read this story a couple of times over for it to leave it’s full impression on me. Just as impressive, Hill also reminds us of Gandhi. A man who was able to influence two hundred million minds to coalesce and move in unison. And Gandhi did it with no money, no home and barely a stitch of clothing.
“Riches begin in the form of thought and faith removes limitations! Remember this when you are ready to bargain with life – for whatever it is that you ask as your price – for having passed this way.”
