Napoleon Hill and W. Clement Stone

Napoleon Hillwas born in 1883 in a one-room log cabin in the mountains of southwest Virginia. His family was poor, and his mother died the year after his birth. His father remarried, and Napoleon's stepmother became his guiding light and inspiration. She influenced him to become a newspaper reporter. Hill began his newspaper career while still in his teens. His inspired writing caught the attention of the influential Robert L. Taylor, owner of Bob Taylor's Magazine. The two struck a deal. Hill would write stories about successful people, and his earnings would pay his way through Georgetown University Law School.

His first magazine assignment was to interview Andrew Carnegie. The steel magnate took a liking to Hill and convinced the young reporter to organize the world's first philosophy of individual achievement, based on the principles of success that Carnegie and hundreds of other outstanding achievers of the time had used in accumulating their fortunes. Hill agreed. This project, begun in 1908, took Hill 20 years to complete. In 1928, his eight-volume set, The Law of Success, his first compilation of the philosophy of individual achievement, was published. In 1933, Hill became an adviser to President Franklin D. Roosevelt. Hill went on to write several other books, including his classic Think and Grow Rich; Master Key to Riches; Grow Rich with Peace of Mind; You Can Work Your Own Miracles; How to Raise Your Own Salary; and Success Through a Positive Mental Attitude, co-authored with W. Clement Stone.Napoleon Hill is considered to have influenced more people into success than any other person in history. Born in a one-room cabin, he began his career as a journalist. His big break came when he was asked to interview steel-magnate Andrew Carnegie, who was so impressed with the young reporter that he convinced Hill to research and organize the world's first philosophy of individual achievement. The project took 20 years to complete. Hill wrote several best-selling books on the subject.

Napoleon Hill's Think And Grow Rich is one of Nightingale-Conant's best-selling programs of all time, selling more than 20 million copies.Many thousands credit Hill's book Think and Grow Rich as the beginning foundation of their financial and personal success. His work stands as a monument to individual achievement and is a cornerstone of modern motivation.

W. Clement Stone was chairman of Aon Corporation (formerly Combined Inter-national Corporation) and chairman and founder of Combined Insurance Company of America. Much more than an insurance magnate, Stone was also a philanthropist, a civic leader, an author and publisher, and a 1981 Nobel Peace Prize nominee. He's known to high achievers everywhere as the father of PMA (Positive Mental Attitude), a philosophy he carried to millions through self-help books, audio and video recordings, and magazine articles. In developing his PMA philosophy, Stone was greatly influenced by the writings of Napoleon Hill, whose book Think and Grow Rich helped Stone persevere in overcoming business setbacks during the Depression. W. Clement Stone demonstrated a knack for business early in his life. He was born in Chicago on May 4, 1902. His family was poor, and, at the age of six, to earn extra money, Stone began selling newspapers. By 13, he ran a newsstand of his own. When he was 16, his mother opened an insurance agency in Detroit, and he began selling for her. Soon he was earning $100 a week. At age 20, he established his own insurance agency in Chicago. Between 1939 and 1954 he acquired the companies and effected the mergers to build the multimillion-dollar Combined Insurance Company of America.

Achieving one stunning success after another, W. Clement Stone had amassed a personal fortune of more than $400 million.Napoleon Hill and W. Clement Stone are two figures who led to the rise of the personal development industry. Both men have demonstrated the right business acumen and success philosophies to benefit the world.