Napoleon Hill

The modern department store, which is the equivalent of a group of small stores operating under one roof, one management and one overhead expense, is another illustration of the advantage of cooperative effort in the commercial field.

In Lesson Fifteen you will observe the possibilities of co-operative effort in its highest form and at the same time you will see the important part that it plays in the development of power. As you have already learned, power is organized effort.

The three most important factors that enter into the process of organizing effort are:

• Concentration,
• Co-operation and
• Co-ordination.

HOW POWER IS DEVELOPED THROUGH CO-OPERATION

As we have already seen, power is organized effort or energy. Personal power is developed by developing, organizing and coordinating the faculties of the mind. This may be accomplished by mastering and applying the fifteen major principles upon which this course is founded.

The necessary procedure through which these principles may be mastered is thoroughly described in the sixteenth lesson. The development of personal power is but the first step to be taken in the development of the potential power that is available through the medium of allied effort, or co-operation, which may be called group power. It is a well-known fact that all men who have amassed large fortunes have been known as able organizers.

By this is meant that they possessed the ability to enlist the co-operative efforts of other men who supplied talent and ability which they, themselves, did not possess. The chief object of this course is so to unfold the principles of organized and co-operative or allied effort that the student will comprehend their significance and make them the basis of his philosophy.

Take, as an example, any business or profession that you choose and you will observe, by analysis, that it is limited only by lack of application of organized and co-operative effort. As an illustration, consider the legal profession. If a law firm consists of but one type of mind it will be greatly handicapped, even though it may be made up of a dozen able men of this particular type.

The complicated legal system calls for a greater variety of talent than any one man could possibly provide.