74 THE PRINCIPLES OF SELF-MASTERY
COMMENTARY
Before you read the following comments on Ford, Edison, and Firestone, it is once
again worth noting that Hill wrote this work before many of the great fortunes of
America were made and before many of the industries and businesses that playa
role in contemporary life were even conceived. Hill was writing at a time when the
possibility of an airline industry was barely born, and the entertainment industries
including the great Hollywood studios, the music business, and the television
networks were still awaiting the inventions that would make them possible. IBM and
the aerospace industry didn't exist, and the computer revolution and the Internet
were hardly imaginable.
As this revised edition is being readied for publication in 2004, it seems
somewhat anachronistic to imagine three such powerful business leaders
getting together to share ideas. Today, instead of Ford, Firestone, and Edison,
it would be a group such as Bill Gates, Jeff Bezos, and Michael Dell. As
interesting as such a meeting would probably be, it's hard to imagine them
meeting in perfect harmony, and if they did they might well be violating a
half-dozen antitrust laws.
Antitrust violations notwithstanding, there are more than enough modern
examples of the Master Mind at work. What else would you term the coming
together of Spielberg, Katzenberg, and Geffen to create OreamWorks? And who
hasn't heard the classic example of Wozniak and Jobs huddled in a garage putting
together the first Apple computer that launched the computer revolution?Examples oj Mind Chemistry in Action
We come now to the study of some well-known men who have accu-
mulated great power (and also great fortunes) through the application
of mind chemistry.
Let us begin our study with three men who are known to be men
of great achievement in their respective fields of economic, business, and
professional endeavor. Their names are Henry Ford, Thomas A. Edison,
and Harvey S. Firestone.