Despite what you read in just about EVERY article on Master Minds, the term did not originate in Napoleon Hill’s book “Think and Grow Rich”. “Think and Grow Rich was first published in 1937 and I am lucky enough to have an original copy. But Hill references the Master Mind in his two previous books, “The Law of Success”, published in 1928 and “The Magic Ladder to Success”. In “The Law of Success”, he writes about his meeting with Andrew Carnegie:
Nearly twenty years ago I interviewed Mr. Carnegie for the purpose of writing a story about him. During the interview I asked him to what he attributed his success. With a merry little twinkle in his eyes he said:
“Young man, before I answer your question will you please define your term ’success’?”
After waiting until he saw that I was somewhat embarrassed by his request he continued:
“By success you have reference to my money, have you not?”
I assured him that money was the term by which most people measured success, and he then said:
“Oh, well -if you wish to know how I got my money – if that is what you call success – I will answer your question by saying that we have a master mind here in our business, and that mind is made up of more than a score of men who constitute my personal staff of superintendents and managers and accountants and chemists and other necessary types. No one person in this group is the master mind of which I speak, but the sum total of the minds in the group, coordinated, organized and directed to a definite end in a spirit of harmonious co-operation is the power that got my money for me. No two minds in the group are exactly alike, but each man in the group does the thing that he is supposed to do and he does it better than any other person in the world could do it.”
How come the term “Master Mind” is always credited with “Think and Grow Rich” published nine years later?
The Depression.
Hill’s first book had marginal success and his second book “The Magic Ladder to Success” was published within a year of the Stock Market Crash of 1929. In 1937, when “Think and Grow Rich” was published, the United States was shaking off the shroud of The Great Depression. People were looking for motivation and inspiration and “Think and Grow Rich” rapidly rose to a best seller. It is certainly his best known work though he has twelve books written under his hand and scores more written by others trying to hold onto the coattails of Napoleon Hill.
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