Think And Grow Rich? The Truth About Napoleon Hill, America's First Thought Leader In The Age of the Personal Brand

Explicit content warning

05/09/22 • 46 min

I hear it all the time: "How do I build a business without being sleazy about it?"

I spent many years creating content that spoke to this question in my show, Awkward Marketing, where I tried to help people find "easy" swaps for the unethical practices that had become industry standard.

But, then I realized there was more to the conversation around "sleaze" in business than just switching out the "bad" with the "good."

I wrote about this in my essay, "I Hate Marketing" And Other Lies We Tell Ourselves.

Because after 13 years of running a branding studio and speaking with hundreds of entrepreneurs, I started to notice a pattern.

When people want a “non-sleazy” way of marketing their business, I believe what they are really asking for is a way out of capitalism.

Becoming a business owner forces you to participate in the system in a different way, no longer as a passive consumer but someone driving your own products and services. And when you do this, you quickly realize all the ways that the game is rigged.

The celebrity personal brands leading the online business industrial complex want us to believe that if we don't like their methods, we have a mindset issue.

This is the same argument Tony Robbins makes when he says that the #MeToo movement is simply a "drug" to make victims feel good. He promotes an ideology that says we shouldn't get angry about systemic injustice, but instead think our way out of it individually.

And this is also the same argument that Napoleon Hill makes in his book, Think And Grow Rich.

In today's episode of Marketing Muckraking, I explore the culture of personal branding and my own quest to understand what branding is doing to us. This led me to explore the history of the personal brand, which took me back in time, stopping in the early 20th century, when Napoleon Hill built his brand and popularized the idea of thought leadership and manifestation in Think And Grow Rich.

Many of modern business's most influential leaders cite Think And Grow Rich as a book they draw immense inspiration from.

Tony Robbins promotes Think And Grow Rich on his website with an affiliate link.

Daymond John of Shark Tank swears by its teachings.

Donald Trump loves Napoleon Hill and cited Think And Grow Rich in some of his own books. The book is prosperity gospel meets snake oil.

And if you know the history of snake oil, which was popularized in the USA in the late 19th and early 20th century by Clark Stanley, self-described "Rattlesnake King," then you also know that muckrakers tested his snake oil liniment and found that 1) it didn't contain any actual snake oil and 2) it didn't cure any of the things it purported to. That's where the term "snake oil salesman" comes from!

And Think And Grow Rich is snake oil, too.

Napoleon Hill lied about much of the wisdom he shared in his book, where he claimed to interview the rich and famous, like Andrew Carnegie and Thomas Edison, on the "secrets to their success."

Not only that, but Hill ran one of the country's early pyramid schemes, led a sex cult, and covered up a murder? For the juicy details, you'll want to listen to this episode of the show.

Hill's success is more a credit to how capitalism rewards abuse than his own genius.

As I shared in this episode, there is no “do no harm” way of existing within capitalism.

Most of the products we are surrounded by, with the very small exception of things like handmade goods you purchase directly from small creators — make their way through the supply chain, passing through the hands of many workers, with environmental impacts, as well as the implications of packaging and waste.

If you purchase fast fashion or buy your clothes from nearly any major retailer — that clothing has passed through a sweatshop.

If you’re a Midwesterner like me and you buy fruit in the winter — or any food that isn’t local to your region — that food has traveled thousands of miles to arrive at your grocery store. And there were people paid less than they should have been to get that food to you. I could go on and on.

I speak to many people who proudly boycott Amazon, for example, without realizing that Netflix and Disney+ both use Amazon web services.

So does Pinterest, AirBNB, NASA, The Guardian. So if you pin things on a mood board — you are supporting Amazon. If you read The Guardian, you are supporting Amazon. If you stay at an AIRBNB, you are supporting Amazon. An...

I hear it all the time: "How do I build a business without being sleazy about it?"

But, then I realized there was more to the conversation around "sleaze" in business than just switching out the "bad" with the "good."

I wrote about this in my essay, "I Hate Marketing" And Other Lies We Tell Ourselves.

Because after 13 years of running a branding studio and speaking with hundreds of entrepreneurs, I started to notice a pattern.

When people want a “non-sleazy” way of marketing their business, I believe what they are really asking for is a way out of capitalism.

The celebrity personal brands leading the online business industrial complex want us to believe that if we don't like their methods, we have a mindset issue.

And this is also the same argument that Napoleon Hill makes in his book, Think And Grow Rich.

Many of modern business's most influential leaders cite Think And Grow Rich as a book they draw immense inspiration from.

Tony Robbins promotes Think And Grow Rich on his website with an affiliate link.

Daymond John of Shark Tank swears by its teachings.

Donald Trump loves Napoleon Hill and cited Think And Grow Rich in some of his own books. The book is prosperity gospel meets snake oil.

And Think And Grow Rich is snake oil, too.

Napoleon Hill lied about much of the wisdom he shared in his book, where he claimed to interview the rich and famous, like Andrew Carnegie and Thomas Edison, on the "secrets to their success."

Not only that, but Hill ran one of the country's early pyramid schemes, led a sex cult, and covered up a murder? For the juicy details, you'll want to listen to this episode of the show.

Hill's success is more a credit to how capitalism rewards abuse than his own genius.

As I shared in this episode, there is no “do no harm” way of existing within capitalism.

If you purchase fast fashion or buy your clothes from nearly any major retailer — that clothing has passed through a sweatshop.

I speak to many people who proudly boycott Amazon, for example, without realizing that Netflix and Disney+ both use Amazon web services.

Previous Episode

America, The Land of the Free? Do You Really Buy That?

Whether you've been in business for 10 years or 10 minutes — and even if you're not — you know that "freedom" is a term used to sell most anything. From online courses to laundry detergent to...the United States of America.

There is a history here.

When America shifted from an agrarian economy to one based around mass production, the capitalists who owned the factories churning out mass produced goods needed all hands on deck, not just on the factory floor, but at the cash register.

Many people believe that worker rights were won solely by dedicated activists but this is not entirely true.

Decades before labor laws were passed, many forward thinking factory owners and CEOs started scaling back work weeks and increasing employee pay. Not because they had big hearts, but because they had big inventory to move. And they knew that a mass public too tired and broke to part with the few dollars they earned would spell catastrophe for their sales.

So, companies increased wages and decreased hours so that people had just enough time and money to buy the widgets they were producing.

And they rolled out widespread advertising campaigns to help people feel more comfortable spending their hard earned money.

Edward Filene deemed this "The School of Freedom," where the public was "trained" in being constant consumers.

Freedom — the same selling point behind The Constitution — was now seen as the freedom to participate in the economy and buy whatever we wanted, regardless of race, ethnicity, sex, or credo.

Today, we no longer need "training" in "The School of Freedom."

We see buying as self-care.

Our liberties may be shrinking, but the amount of products fighting for the honor of helping us "treat" ourselves is consistently growing.

In this episode of Marketing Muckraking, we dive into the history of how advertisers helped create a mass buying public and what "freedom" means as it pertains to reproductive rights.

I am publishing this on Mother's Day weekend because this year, parenthood looks different for many people, which is why I'm choosing now to share my story of choice and my own complicated relationship with motherhood.

In the spirit of this episode on consumer culture, I urge you to consume more history. If you're going to buy, buy more books. Learn about this nation's history and traditions.

I recommend A People's History of the United States by Howard Zinn. This was the first book I read about American history that didn't present our founders as flawless heroes. Start here and then keep reading...

Sources for this episode include:

Captains of Consciousness: Advertising and the Social Roots of Consumer Culture by Stuart Ewen
Land of Desire: Merchants, Power, and the Rise of a New American Culture by William Leach
Satisfaction Guaranteed: The Making of an American Mass Market by Susan Strasser
The Origins of the Family, Private Property, and The State by Friedrich Engels
Self Care by Leigh Stein

Next Episode

The 4 People Who Will Change The World (Which One Are You?)

This episode of Marketing Muckraking is not our usual fare of shit talking, but a dip into what it looks like to make shit happen in a world that needs change. Most people have a clear picture of what change looks like to them:

For some, it's fixing the broken systems we're living in.
For others, it's calling shit out and shining a light on injustice.
Others want to dream bigger beyond the solutions we see before us today.
And still others are passionate about building bridges to the future without ignoring the people existing within the reality we know now.

Each is convinced their way is the best way. And they're all wrong. (And they're all right!) I believe there are four types of people who will change the world. And we need all of them.

Fire starters like me often want to dismiss the important work of reform. Until I started looking at change through the lens of what I discuss on today's show, I struggled with my own anger and frustration at what I saw as an incomplete approach to change.

And that was my privilege talking.

Oh, I still believe we need a revolution.

But to suggest that nothing other than burning it all down will suffice is to ignore that our world needs change now, not later. Yet, I tried the reform route — that’s why I went to law school — and it nearly crushed my spirit.

As a hopeful public interest lawyer, I saw a future of heartbreak that was too much for me to bear. During law school, I worked in an immigration clinic and even successfully helped win a case to reunite a mother and her son. But, despite that accomplishment, and the joy of bringing a family together again, the process of cutting through bureaucracy and red tape — the work of lawyers — was hard on my soul.

I spoke with many working attorneys fighting against injustice from within a broken legal system and knew that, if I took that road, it would not end well for me.

So I quit law school and started...a marketing company? WHAT?!

Over the years, I wondered aloud many times how a radical anticapitalist ended up in branding and advertising — the industry that fuels the engine of capitalism.

It wasn't until I burned it all down last year that I realized, this was the place I was meant to make change. At least for now.

See, for all the soul crushing aspects of working in marketing, there is so much that feeds my spirit and gives me the energy to keep muckraking.

My business has created a playground for my creativity to run wild and free. Before law school, I went to theater school, and realized the life of a working actor wasn't for me, either. But, in my business, I can be much more than an actor — while still folding that in, too. I'm a writer, speaker, comedian, video editor, producer, strategist, designer, researcher, saleswoman, coach, collaborator, cheerleader, GIFluencer, and the woman of 1,000 wigs.

Within capitalism, we all have to make compromises.

The career question then becomes less about finding your "dream job" — because it likely doesn't exist. At least, not without its drawbacks. Instead, it's about, finding the career path that hurts the least while fueling your soul the most.

And, for me, it was about finding — creating — a job that allowed me to make change while also making space for my spirit.

For you, your career might not be where you're making change. Maybe your job makes it possible for you to make change "off the clock." That's your compromise.

We all have to make them.

And that's what this episode is all about.

How to find your way in the world as a changemaker, whether it's in your job or in your community.

I outline the four types of changemakers to help you understand how to best position yourself in the world to make the maximum impact, while staying true to yourself. But the reality is, we each have all four types of changemakers inside of us. We just harness them at different times.

I know many people who may reformers at their day jobs, innovators in their businesses, bridge builders with their friends, and fire starters when it comes to politics.

You may express the changemaker within differently in different contexts...that's the rainbow of it all. ;-) Listen now to learn about all four changemaking types and figure out which one best defines you.

Want some help? I created a quiz to help you determine which of the four changemakers you are!

http://changemakerquiz.com/