Think and Grow Rich: the snake-oil salesman who inspired modern coaching

Think and Grow Rich: the book that made its author rich

In 1938, a book was published that promised to turn anyone who read it into a millionaire. Its author, Napoleon Hill, claimed to have interviewed more than 500 successful people in order to distill the 13 principles that lead to wealth. Eighty-seven years later, the book is still selling, and in 2019 a self-help documentary film based on it was released. The promise remains intact: "This methodology has created more wealth among those who have studied it than any other resource in the history of the world." The phrase, reproduced without a hint of embarrassment on entrepreneur forums, is the best proof that self-help marketing has not changed one bit since the thirties.

Who Napoleon Hill really was

Hill's official biography presents him as a journalist who rubbed shoulders with Andrew Carnegie, Henry Ford and Thomas Edison. The reality, according to investigations circulating online, is far less epic. Hill was a master of self-promotion who invented or exaggerated a good part of his stories. He got "rich" at least two or three times and squandered his fortune just as many times, buying Rolls Royces and mansions whenever money came in. One of his wives kept what little was left after the divorce.

The book, however, sold millions of copies. And therein lies the paradox: the supposed guru of wealth died without ever having proven that his method worked on himself. As a recurring analysis in the industry points out, Hill is the classic example of the con artist who builds his fortune through deception and scams — and unlike others, he got away with it.

The 13 principles: wisdom or word salad?

The core of the book is the famous 13 principles: desire, faith, autosuggestion, specialized knowledge, imagination, organized planning, decision, persistence, mastermind, enthusiasm, the subconscious mind, the brain and the sixth sense. A list that sounds like a mix of positive psychology and flea-market esotericism.

Some argue that, stripped of the magical wrapping, these principles boil down to something quite reasonable: setting goals, writing them down, repeating them and acting accordingly. Autosuggestion, properly understood, is nothing more than neurolinguistic programming avant la lettre. The problem arises when it is sold as an infallible formula for attracting positive vibrations and making the universe conspire in your favor.

The law of attraction, in its most magical version, is mush for the gullible. But in its psychological version — cognitive biases, focus, determination — it has some merit. The difference between the two is the difference between a self-help book and a pyramid-scheme manual.

The self-help business: from Hill to The Secret

Hill invented nothing. Or rather: he invented the genre. Before him, self-help was the domain of the Bible and little else. After him, modern coaching still echoes his tenets. The Secret, Rich Dad Poor Dad and the entire personal development industry drink from the same well.

The difference is that Hill at least bothered to build a narrative. He interviewed rich people (or so he said), distilled principles and sold them as science. The rest are imitations. As a recurring analysis points out, modern coaching is an ideology to console those left behind along the way, to make them believe they can — when the reality is that most cannot, no matter how hard they try.

Does positive thinking really work?

Anecdotal evidence is abundant. Some claim the book pulled them out of a mental paralysis at a difficult moment in their lives. The protocol is simple: have no antiestéticar, set goals, write them down, repeat them and believe them. A process of autosuggestion that redirects your actions in a given direction.

The problem is when it becomes an ideology. Financial success does not depend on personal will alone. It depends on a thousand factors beyond your control: talent, environment, luck, timing. Anyone selling the idea that wanting it badly enough is enough is manufacturing frustrated people. And making a fortune along the way.

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Hill died in 1970 without having proven that his method worked on himself. His book is still selling. His film is still being downloaded. And the phrase "this methodology has created more wealth than any other resource in history" keeps being repeated without anyone stopping to check whether it is true. How many of those who buy the book end up becoming millionaires? Nobody publishes that statistic.