Think and Grow Rich – By Napoleon Hill
Hey everyone! Here is the first post from the 10Insights Series. For this one, I have decided to go with the famous book Think & Grow Rich by Napoleon Hill. You can read more about this book at the end of the post.
Everyone of us is a leader, a mother is a leader over her family, a CEO is a leader over his company, a ruler is a leader over his people, a teacher is a leader over her students and even a friend or an elder sibling can practise the qualities of leadership over their peers/siblings to influence them for the better.
The point is whatever you are doing in your life; you are in the position of practising leadership.
In the book: Think & Grow Rich, I have picked up 10 Insights on the qualities of a successful leader.
Here they are:
1. Courage
A successful leader possesses unwavering courage. He (or she) is fearless, confident in his actions and has the courage to take action, think outside the square, go places where others has not.
2. Self-Control
A successful leader is one who is self-disciplined and self-controlled. He gets the task at hand completed, fulfils his responsibilities and does not allow laziness to control him. The leader who cannot control himself cannot control others.
3. Justice
A successful leader is one who is just and fair for leadership requires trust from followers and a leader who does not practise justice & fairness cannot gain respect from his followers.
4. Decisiveness
A successful leader is one who is decisive. Once he makes a decision, he follows through with it. A leader who is indecisive and wavers in his decision, shows a lack of confidence in his decision. This can easily be sensed by followers which in turn cause them to doubt their leader.
5. Ability to Plan & Execute
A successful leader plans and then executes the plan.
In working with people, I have noticed two types of people. Those who can write the most strategic plans but are poor at execution and then those who are hardworking and complete whatever they are given but when it comes to planning themselves, they do not know how to. Depending on what you do better, you need to start improving on the other one. For me, I tend to be a better planner then executer however to be a successful leader, you need to have both.
6. Over delivers
A successful leader does more than what is expected from him. Going the extra mile for everything does not only give you remarkable results but it also creates a culture of excellence amongst followers.
7. Good character
A successful leader is one of good character and pleasant personality. Without it, he would be unsuccessful in inspiring and connecting with his followers.
8. Sympathetic & Understanding
A successful leader is one who is able to understand and have sympathy with followers. He remembers that his followers are human beings and make mistakes therefore sympathy and understanding is the key in dealing with them.
9. Mastery of Details
A successful leader pays attention to details and is aware of everything happening.
10. Takes Responsibility
A successful leader takes responsibility. If something goes wrong then he takes full responsibility for both his mistakes & the shortcomings of his followers. Even if his were followers at fault, he is to consider himself had made the mistake. If he tries to shift this responsibility then he will be unsuccessful.
By possessing these qualities, the leader practises a type of leadership called Leadership by Consent instead of Leadership by Force which history has shown many times, does not last for long.
So there you have it! 10 Insights on what makes a successful leader from the book, Think & Grow Rich. A few more articles based on this book will be coming soon so stay tuned! 
About Think & Grow Rich
“Think and Grow Rich is a 1937 motivational personal development and self-help book by Napoleon Hill and inspired by a suggestion from Scottish-American businessman Andrew Carnegie. While the title implies that this book deals with how to get rich, the author explains that the philosophy taught in the book can be used to help people succeed in all lines of work and to door be almost anything they want.
The book was first published during the Great Depression. At the time of Hill’s death in 1970, Think and Grow Rich had sold more than 70 million copies worldwide. It remains the biggest seller of Napoleon Hill’s books. BusinessWeek Magazine’s Best-Seller List ranked the sixth best-selling paperback business book 70 years after it was published.” - from Wikipedia
Think & Grow Rich by Napoleon Hill is available Free (as it is out of copyright) as a PDF here or as other formats here. You can also purchase the paperback version from Amazon here
Jazaki Allah khair!
A good one..! thank you for the article
WOW! Thanks, Mifrah for these great insights from the book. I think ‘Think and Grow Rich” is a must read for anyone who’s serious about developing themselves, leadership and striving for greatness.
So many of the success principles are based in what we already have in our traditions. Only if we consciously choose to bring them to life!
The book included prophet Muhammad PBUH and his bio as “one of the most astounding examples of the power of PERSISTENCE known to civilisation” and pointed out many of his contribution and legacies to the world – one of them being, the concept of university. If you quickly want to have a peek in the PDF, it’s near the end of the chapter on Persistence
But, please buy the hardcopy.
Thanks again, sister. Looking forward to reading your future articles on the series. You have unique insights and I think they’re fantastic.
JazakAllah Khair for your comment. Yes indeed, there are so many lessons we can take from the life of our Prophet (saw), not just in leadership but in every part of lives.
Speaking of lessons though, there is great book which covers the highlights and lessons from the Life of Prophet Muhammad (saw). Its called: ‘The Life of the Prophet Muhammad, Highlights and Lessons” by Dr Mustafa As-Sibaa’ie. Published by IIPH. I haven’t finished this book yet but so far, very insightful mashaAllah.