INTRODUCTION TO THE MASTER MIND 83Analysis of this entire group of six men indicates that not one
of them had any special educational advantages; that all began without
capital or extensive credit; that their financial achievement has been
due to their own individual plans, and not to any fortunate turn of
the wheel of chance.
Many years ago these six men formed a friendly alliance, meeting
at stated periods for the purpose of assisting one another with ideas
and suggestions in their various lines of business.
With the exception of Hertz and Ritchie, none of the six men was
in any manner associated in a legal partnership. These meetings were
strictly for the purpose of cooperating on a give-and-take basis, assist-
ing one another with ideas and suggestions, and occasionally endorsing
notes and other securities to assist some member of the group who had
met with an emergency.
It is said that each of the individuals belonging to this Big Six
group is a millionaire many times over. As a rule there is nothing worthy
of special comment about a man who does nothing more than accu-
mulate a few million dollars. However, there is something connected
with the financial success of this particular group of men that is well
worth comment, study, analysis, and even emulation, and that something
is the fact that they have learned how to coordinate their individual
minds by blending them in a spirit of perfect harmony, thereby creating
a Master Mind that unlocks, to each member of the group, doors which
are closed to most of the human race.
The United States Steel Corporation is one of the strongest and
most powerful industrial organizations in the world. The idea out of
which this great industrial giant grew was born in the mind of Elbert
H. Gary, a more or less commonplace small-town lawyer who was born
and reared near Chicago.
Mr. Gary surrounded himself with a group of men whose minds
he successfUlly blended in a spirit of perfect harmony, thereby creating
the Master Mind that is the moving spirit of the United States Steel
Corporation.