50 Success Classics: Winning Wisdom for Work and Life From 50 Landmark Books

325 Pages·2007·1.17 MB·English

50 Success
Classics
First published by
Nicholas Brealey Publishing in 2004
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© Tom Butler-Bowdon 2004
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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
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Printed in Finland by WS Bookwell.
50 Success
Classics
Winning wisdom for work and life from
50 landmark books
Tom Butler-Bowdon
NI C H O L A S BR E A L E Y
PU B L I S H I N G
L O N D O N
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 fromFailure toSuccess in Selling
(1947) 24
4 Kenneth Blanchard &Spencer Johnson The One Minute Manager (1981) 30
5 Edward Bok TheAmericanization 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 TheSecret of the Ages(1926) 74
12 JimCollins 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 StephenR.Covey The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People(1989) 90
15 Michael Dell Direct from Dell:Strategies thatRevolutionized an
Industry(1999) 96
16 Henry Ford My Life andWork(1922) 102
17 Benjamin Franklin The Way toWealth(1758) 108
18 W.Timothy Gallwey The Inner Game of Tennis(1974) 114
19 JohnPaulGetty How to Be Rich (1961) 120
20 Les Giblin How toHave Confidence and Power in Dealing with
People(1956) 126
21 Baltasar Gracian The Art of Worldly Wisdom (1647) 132
22 Earl G.Graves How toSucceed in Business without Being White:
Straight Talk on Making It inAmerica (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 OfficialGuide toSuccess(1982) 156
26 Muriel James &Dorothy Jongeward Born toWin:Transactional
Analysis withGestalt Experiments(1971) 162
50 SUCCESS CLASSICS
27 Spencer Johnson WhoMoved 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 RichTeach Their
Kids about Money… That the Poor and Middle Class DoNot! (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 onLeadership:
Executive Strategies for Tough Times(1992) 186
31 Jim Loehr &Tony Schwartz The Power of FullEngagement:
Managing Energy,not Time,Is the Key to High Performance and
PersonalRenewal(2003) 192
32 Nelson Mandela Long Walk to Freedom:The Autobiography of
NelsonMandela (1994) 198
33 OrisonSwett Marden Pushing to the Front,or Success under
Difficulties(1894) 204
34 J.W.Marriott Jr. The Spirit toServe:Marriott’s Way(1997) 210
35 Catherine Ponder The Dynamic Laws of Prosperity(1962) 216
36 Cheryl Richardson Take Time for Your Life:ASeven-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 RobinGerber) Leadership theEleanor 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 TheSecret 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 SamWalton Made inAmerica: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
We desire success almost as much as we need to breathe. From
the moment we are born we want to do more, get more, be
more. 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.”