50 Success Classics First Published by Nicholas Brealey Publishing in 2004
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50 Success Classics First published by Nicholas Brealey Publishing in 2004 3–5 Spafield Street PO Box 700 Clerkenwell, London Yarmouth EC1R 4QB, UK Maine 04096, USA Tel: +44 (0)20 7239 0360 Tel: (888) BREALEY Fax: +44 (0)20 7239 0370 Fax: (207) 846 5181 http://www.nbrealey-books.com http://www.butler-bowdon.com © Tom Butler-Bowdon 2004 The right of Tom Butler-Bowdon to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988. ISBN 1-85788-333-0 Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Butler-Bowdon, Tom, 1967- 50 success classics : winning wisdom for work and life from 50 landmark books / Tom Butler-Bowdon. p. cm. Includes bibliographical references. ISBN 1-85788-333-0 (alk. paper) 1. Success--Bibliography. I. Title: Fifty success classics : winning wisdom for work and life from 50 landmark books. II. Title. Z7164.S92 B88 [BJ1611.2] 016.158--dc22 2003065466 British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording and/or otherwise without the prior written permission of the publishers. This book may not be lent, resold, hired out or otherwise disposed of by way of trade in any form, binding or cover other than that in which it is published, without the prior consent of the publishers. Printed in Finland by WS Bookwell. 50 Success Classics Winning wisdom for work and life from 50 landmark books Tom Butler-Bowdon N ICHOLAS B REALEY P UBLISHING LONDON YARMOUTH, MAINE Contents Acknowledgments vii Introduction 1 1 Horatio Alger Ragged Dick, or Street Life in New York with the Boot-Blacks (1867) 12 2 Warren Bennis On Becoming a Leader (1989) 18 3 Frank Bettger How I Raised Myself from Failure to Success in Selling (1947) 24 4 Kenneth Blanchard & Spencer Johnson The One Minute Manager (1981) 30 5 Edward Bok The Americanization of Edward Bok: The Autobiography of a Dutch Boy Fifty Years After (1921) 36 6 Claude M. Bristol The Magic of Believing (1948) 42 7 Warren Buffett (by Roger Lowenstein) Buffett: The Making of an American Capitalist (1995) 48 8 Andrew Carnegie The Autobiography of Andrew Carnegie (1920) 56 9 Chin-Ning Chu Thick Face, Black Heart: The Asian Path to Thriving, Winning and Succeeding (1992) 62 10 George S. Clason The Richest Man in Babylon (1926) 68 11 Robert Collier The Secret of the Ages (1926) 74 12 Jim Collins Good to Great: Why Some Companies Make the Leap… And Others Don’t (2001) 80 13 Russell H. Conwell Acres of Diamonds (1921) 86 14 Stephen R. Covey The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People (1989) 90 15 Michael Dell Direct from Dell: Strategies that Revolutionized an Industry (1999) 96 16 Henry Ford My Life and Work (1922) 102 17 Benjamin Franklin The Way to Wealth (1758) 108 18 W. Timothy Gallwey The Inner Game of Tennis (1974) 114 19 John Paul Getty How to Be Rich (1961) 120 20 Les Giblin How to Have Confidence and Power in Dealing with People (1956) 126 21 Baltasar Gracian The Art of Worldly Wisdom (1647) 132 22 Earl G. Graves How to Succeed in Business without Being White: Straight Talk on Making It in America (1997) 138 23 Napoleon Hill Think and Grow Rich (1937) 144 24 Napoleon Hill & W. Clement Stone Success through a Positive Mental Attitude (1960) 150 25 Tom Hopkins The Official Guide to Success (1982) 156 26 Muriel James & Dorothy Jongeward Born to Win: Transactional Analysis with Gestalt Experiments (1971) 162 50 SUCCESS CLASSICS 27 Spencer Johnson Who Moved My Cheese? An Amazing Way to Deal with Change in Your Work and in Your Life (1998) 168 28 Robert Kiyosaki Rich Dad, Poor Dad: What the Rich Teach Their Kids about Money… That the Poor and Middle Class Do Not! (1997) 172 29 David S. Landes The Wealth and Poverty of Nations: Why Some Are So Rich and Some So Poor (1998) 178 30 Abraham Lincoln (by Donald T. Phillips) Lincoln on Leadership: Executive Strategies for Tough Times (1992) 186 31 Jim Loehr & Tony Schwartz The Power of Full Engagement: Managing Energy, not Time, Is the Key to High Performance and Personal Renewal (2003) 192 32 Nelson Mandela Long Walk to Freedom: The Autobiography of Nelson Mandela (1994) 198 33 Orison Swett Marden Pushing to the Front, or Success under Difficulties (1894) 204 34 J. W. Marriott Jr. The Spirit to Serve: Marriott’s Way (1997) 210 35 Catherine Ponder The Dynamic Laws of Prosperity (1962) 216 36 Cheryl Richardson Take Time for Your Life: A Seven-Step Program for Creating the Life You Want (1998) 222 37 Anthony Robbins Unlimited Power: The New Science of Personal Achievement (1986) 228 38 Eleanor Roosevelt (by Robin Gerber) Leadership the Eleanor Roosevelt Way: Timeless Strategies from the First Lady of Courage (2002) 234 39 David J. Schwartz The Magic of Thinking Big (1959) 240 40 Florence Scovel Shinn The Secret Door to Success (1940) 246 41 Ernest Shackleton (by Margot Morrell & Stephanie Capparell) Shackleton’s Way: Leadership Lessons from the Great Antarctic Explorer (2001) 252 42 Thomas J. Stanley The Millionaire Mind (2000) 258 43 Brian Tracy Maximum Achievement: Strategies and Skills that Will Unlock Your Hidden Powers to Succeed (1993) 264 44 Sun Tzu The Art of War (4th century BCE) 270 45 Sam Walton Made in America: My Story (1992) 276 46 Wallace D. Wattles The Science of Getting Rich (1910) 282 47 Jack Welch Jack: Straight from the Gut (2001) 288 48 John Whitmore Coaching for Performance: GROWing People, Performance, and Purpose (1992) 294 49 Richard Wiseman The Luck Factor: Change Your Luck – And Change Your Life (2003) 300 50 Zig Ziglar See You at the Top (1975) 306 Chronological list of titles 311 Credits 313 vi Acknowledgments Tamara Lucas, for your vital feedback and inspiration, as always. Noah & Beatrice Lucas, for your valuable encouragement, and Howard and Maurice Taylor, for the computer. Marion Butler-Bowdon, for being such a great model of success. Nicholas Brealey, for your commitment to the 50 Classics titles and for the insights that have made this a better book. Terri Welch, for your enthusiastic and effective marketing efforts in the US. Sally Lansdell, for editing the book into shape with many useful suggestions. Victoria Bullock, for your intelligent promotion of the book in the UK. Zoë Munro, for assisting in the success of this and the previous book. Ken Leeder, for cover design work that properly expresses the content. Introduction e desire success almost as much as we need to breathe. From the moment we are born we want to do more, get more, be Wmore. While we may have a mental picture of success as striving hard toward perfection, in truth it is more natural. Success can be described as the courage to let out the potent dreams and potentiali- ties already in us, simply to give them air. Most people don’t do this because it seems dangerous, it is not routine. Yet those who have gone this way do see it simply as the normal path of life. It feels more like home, a place that should be everyone’s experience. Sometimes the urge for more is drummed out of us by upbringing or culture, so you may have felt compelled to lower your expectations and settle for a less extraordinary life. If, however, you have recently resur- rected your desire to succeed, this book is for you. Authentic achievement My previous book, 50 Self-Help Classics, was concerned with the search for authentic happiness and a sense of purpose. 50 Success Classics is about authentic or meaningful achievement. Only you will know whether you have achieved your aims in life. Some people spend their life climbing up a ladder, to paraphrase Joseph Campbell (see 50 Self-Help Classics), only to find it was up against the wrong wall. This is why the term authentic is used: doing something or becoming something that expresses your full personality and abilities in the most noble way. Success is not an event or a result in isolation, but an expression of the best that is within you. The world provides endless possibilities for making it more efficient, more humane, more beautiful. It is up to you to find your niche. Real achievement is not concerned with winning for the sake of it. As Timothy Gallwey puts it: “Winning is overcoming obstacles to reach a goal, but the value in winning is only as great as the value of the goal reached.” INTRODUCTION You need to make a distinction between a compulsion to succeed for the sake of winning, and the desire for enduring achievements that will enrich your life and the lives of others. Authentic and lasting success utilizes the resources of the world to the greatest effect and with the minimum of waste. Characteristics of successful people What makes a person successful? What makes them motivated, pros- perous, a great leader? These questions fired the writing of each book covered in this selection, and it is possible to draw out some common threads as answers. The following is only a brief and partial list, but it may whet your appetite to discover for yourself some of the principles of success. Optimism Optimism is power. This is a secret discovered by all who succeed against great odds. Nelson Mandela, Ernest Shackleton, Eleanor Roosevelt—all admitted that what got them through tough times was an ability to focus on the positive.