Napoleon Hill on The 10 Major Causes of Failure in Leadership

N apoleon Hill was born in 1883 in a cabin on the Pound River in Wise County, Virginia. Hill’s mother died when he was 10 years old, and Napoleon’s father, James Hill, had difficulty taming his son’s wild nature.

James Hill soon remarried, and his new wife Martha established herself as a force in the home. Martha saw Napoleon’s potential and encouraged him. She suggested he use his overactive imagination to become a writer. At age 13, Hill began working as a reporter for local newspapers.

In 1908, as part of a series of magazine articles about famous and successful people, Hill interviewed the industrialist and philanthropist Andrew Carnegie. Hill learned that Carnegie believed the process of success could be outlined in a simple formula that anyone would be able to understand and achieve.

Carnegie Changes the Course of Hill’s Life

Carnegie issued a challenge to Hill: commit the next 20 years, without compensation, to documenting and recording such a philosophy of success, and he would introduce Hill to the wealthiest and most successful men and women of the time.[2] Hill accepted the challenge, and “Think and Grow Rich” was the result.

Published in 1937, “Think and Grow Rich” is one of the original texts on personal achievement and motivation, and it has sold more than 20 million copies. As part of his research for the book, Hill interviewed more than 500 people.[3]

Until his death in 1970 at age 87, Hill continued to write about personal achievement. In response to speculation that Hill died with no money, the Napoleon Hill Foundation says at its website: “He did not die penniless. He had endowed his foundation and was living his dream.”[4]

Causes of Failure in Leadership

Below is what Hill wrote in “Think and Grow Rich” on the causes of failure in leadership:

Any one of these faults is sufficient to induce failure. Study the list carefully if you aspire to leadership, and make sure you are free of these faults.

1. Inability to organize details. The successful leader must be the master of all details connected with his position. That means, of course, that he must acquire the habit of relegating details to capable lieutenants.

2. Unwillingness to render humble service. “The greatest among ye shall be the servant of all” is a truth which all able leaders observe and respect.

3. Expectation of pay for what they “know” instead of what they do with what they know. The world does not pay people for what they know. It pays them for what they do.

4. Fear of competition from followers. Leaders who fear that one of their followers may take their position is practically sure to realize that fear sooner or later.

5. Lack of imagination. Without imagination, the leader is incapable of meeting emergencies.

6. Selfishness. The really great leader claims none of the honors.

7. Intemperance. Intemperance in any of its forms destroys endurance and the vitality of all who indulge in it.

8. Disloyalty. Disloyalty marks one as being less than the dust of the earth.

9. Emphasis on the “authority” of leadership. If a leader is a real leader, he will have no need to advertise that fact except by his conduct — his sympathy, understanding, fairness, and a demonstration that he knows his job.”

10. Emphasis of title. The people who make too much over their title generally have little else to emphasize.

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[1] “The Story of Napoleon Hill,” JM Emmert, Success.com

[2] “The Story of Napoleon Hill,” JM Emmert, Success.com

[3] According to the Preface of “Think and Grow Rich,” Hill interviewed more than 500 people for the book, including: Alexander Graham Bell; William Jennings Bryan; Clarence Darrow; Thomas Edison; Henry Ford; James J. Hill; John D. Rockefeller; Theodore Roosevelt; Howard Taft; John Wanamaker; Woodrow Wilson; F.W. Woolworth; Wilbur Wright; and William Wrigley, Jr.

[4] “Clarifying Common Misconceptions,” naphill.org.