Most of you already know that I follow the daily blog of Forbes Magazine publisher and author Rich Karlgaard. His personal commentary is always insightful and most often "on target" in my opinion. His recent column in the November 12th issue of Forbes Magazine is posted below. I thought our readers would find his comments very interesting. Due to my own personal experiences, I have long been a fan of the books he mentions in his article. Therefore, it was really interesting to hear him talk about these books and how they had a profound effect on him and his professional life and his ensuing success in his career. Enjoy!
On Oct. 8, 2007 several hundred mourners filled new York City's Marble Collegiate Church at Fifth Avenue and 29th Street to attend the funeral of Jim Michaels, Forbes magazine's great editor from 1961--99.
During his tenure as editor Jim edited 1,000 issues. My guess is that he inspired and nourished millions of American dreams with his pro-entrepreneur, pro-small-investor bias in his 37 years as editor. It was therefore fitting that Jim received his eulogies in the church made famous by a preacher who believed that when God gave us the gifts of curiosity, inventiveness and salesmanship He wanted us to apply them productively.
Norman Vincent Peale ran Marble Collegiate Church from 1932 to 1984--from the Great Depression to the American renaissance of entrepreneurial capitalism. Peale played no small part in that revival. In 1952 he wrote a book entitled The Power of Positive Thinking, which made the New York Times bestseller list for 186 weeks.
Like Jim Michaels, Peale was a small man with a rock-quarry voice and the moral authority of Moses. He preached just what millions of Americans wanted and needed to hear, and what they knew in their bones to be authentic and true. Life had a purpose. Each of us was designed by God to fulfill a purpose. That purpose was not to sit around in a hair shirt and feel lousy about ourselves, as per some religious interpretations. God's purpose for each of us was to go out into the world and do great things. Invent great products. Build great companies. Inspire employees. Thrill customers. Yes, even secular pursuits can be great and noble endeavors, preached Peale.
When I was in my 20s and barely employable, I bought dozens of Norman Vincent Peale audiotapes. They worked pretty well, I must say.
Positive Gospel Vs. Prosperity Gospel
Many criticize Peale's "positive gospel." Secular critics call it shallow American intellectual thinking. Or, because of its Protestant Christian roots, say that it excludes Catholics, Jews, Muslims, nonbelievers and so forth. Or--maybe most damning--that the positive gospel is no longer relevant in our secular and ironic culture. There is surface truth to this. Protestant Christians are a minority in any contemporary list of the wealthiest or most influential Americans.
The other group of positive gospel critics comes from some Christian factions that link Peale's positive gospel with the more blatantly materialistic prosperity gospel--the idea that God wants us to be wealthy. Rick Warren, a prominent Christian leader, e-mailed me recently: "God promises blessings if we follow his ways. But with 2,000 verses on the poor in the Bible, the so-called prosperity gospel is way out of balance. … Your self-worth has nothing to do with your net worth."
Let me rise to defend the positive gospel, if not the prosperity version. (You can e-mail me with your criticisms later.) I believe the positive gospel, for many, is a crucial foundation of the American dream. It wasn't invented by Peale in the 1950s. It was brought over by the reformed Calvinists in the 1600s, made secular and practical by Benjamin Franklin, expressed as the "Pursuit of Happiness" by Thomas Jefferson in the Declaration of Independence, noticed by Alexis de Tocqueville, defined by Max Weber and written into the popular culture by Horatio Alger and others. It is the idea that anyone can rise to become a success in America. One almost insults his Creator if he shirks such an opportunity.
I would guess that most Americans still believe this in their hearts, regardless of the brand of their beliefs.
Out of the Depression's Ashes
During the worst year of the Great Depression, 1937, a writer named Napoleon Hill picked the positive gospel out of the gutter and lifted the spirits of the country with his bestseller, Think and Grow Rich. Riches, wrote Hill, were available to anyone who changed his attitude. "Thoughts are things," he wrote. States Hill's Wikipedia entry: "Hill was a devout Christian and did not see any conflict between his success philosophy and his religious faith. … Hill stated that the success formula required a complete and total understanding of the spirit of giving. He named this concept 'the Golden Rule.'"
Another American dream revival book was Dale Carnegie's How to Win Friends and Influence People (1936). Like Hill, Carnegie thought it possible to change one's destiny by changing one's thinking. By the time of Carnegie's death in 1955 his book had sold 5 million copies.
If you think it, you can do it. That's the essence of the American dream. There is an enduring appeal to this idea. One can follow the chain from Benjamin Franklin in the 1700s to such writers as Hill and Carnegie in the mid-20th century. Our sunniest President, Ronald Reagan, dropped straight from this tree.
There are plenty of con artists who peddle the more aggressive prosperity gospel. Surf cable TV any night and you'll see what I mean.
The American gospel of hope and optimism--best expressed by Norman Vincent Peale--has given millions like me their first vivid picture of the American dream. If you want to achieve the American dream, you have to see it and believe in it first.
Read Rich Karlgaard's daily blog at http://blogs.forbes.com/digitalrules or visit his home page at www.karlgaard.com
