Napoleon Hill was born in 1883 in a one-room cabin on the Pound River in Wise County, Virginia. He began his writing career at age 13 as a “mountain reporter” for small town newspapers and went on to become America’s most beloved motivational author. Hill passed away in November 1970 after a long and successful career writing, teaching, and lecturing about the principles of success. Dr. Hill’s work stands as a monument to individual achievement and is the cornerstone of modern motivation. His book, Think and Grow Rich, is the all-time bestseller in the field. Hill established the Foundation as a nonprofit educational institution whose mission is to perpetuate his philosophy of leadership, self-motivation, and individual achievement.

In 1952, W. Clement Stone and Napoleon Hill joined forces and philosophies. Stone added his Positive Mental Attitude (PMA) concept to Hill’s principles, resulting in the classic book, Success Through a Positive Mental Attitude. The two men spent the next 10 years writing and lecturing about the story of success through PMA. Their formula was to become the foundation for virtually all modern motivational writing.