Napoleon Hill was one of the most influential voices of the twentieth century. His books not only inspired people to succeed, but his ideas influenced the authors of many of the seminal works on the psychology of success and achievement. J. Martin Kohe, the author of Your Greatest Power, is one who attributed not only his business success but also his literary inspiration to Napoleon Hill.
J. Martin Kohe began his career as a lawyer, only to discover that his true interest lay in understanding the laws that governed the mind rather than the laws that ruled in court. Kohe left the legal profession to study psychology, and it was as a psychologist that he became familiar with the works of Napoleon Hill. Kohe grew into such a strong believer in Hill’s message, that when he learned the publishing rights to Think and Grow Rich and Law of Success had become available, he launched his own publishing company so he could personally have a hand in spreading the word. J. Martin Kohe started the Ralston Publishing Company by pioneering the use of direct mail to promote and sell books. His approach proved to be so successful that it became one of the most effective methods of marketing self-help materials. As his success as a publisher of motivational books grew, it was only a matter of time before he tried his hand at writing. Naturally, for inspiration he turned to the works of his mentor, Napoleon Hill.
Your Greatest Power draws upon a common thread that runs through Napoleon Hill’s Seventeen Principles of Success. It is the basic concept that the greatest power any of us possess is the ability to make choices. But, as Kohe explains, it is not just the choices themselves that are the keys to your success or failure. Failure does not always come because we choose to believe in the wrong thing. It can also be the result of choosing the easy thing or the obvious thing, and very often failure comes from choosing the usual thing out of habit. Just as important as the choice itself is the degree to which your choice is deliberately made and acted upon.
Your Greatest Power features chapters on choosing wealth, choosing your personality, choosing the conditions of your life, and choosing to be happy. And, as a final note, W. Clement Stone has written an afterword explaining how to find the treasures hidden in self-help literature.