Nick HutchisonFounder and CEO, BookThinkers

Napoleon Hill’s “Think and Grow Rich” is a timeless classic #selfhelp #personaldevelopment

14 Oct 2026 · 2 min

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2:06

In this concise interview, host Nick Hutchison asks Richard Dolan about the books that have shaped his life, focusing on Napoleon Hill’s Think and Grow Rich. Dolan explains that he rereads the book every year between Boxing Day and New Year's Eve to re‑align himself with its timeless principles. He argues that most readers miss the fact that Hill’s insights stem from a rigorous, pre‑digital research process: Hill was commissioned to interview the titans of industry of his era, conducting deep, courageous conversations that uncovered the mental habits of the successful. Dolan emphasizes that the book is not merely about affirmations or praying for money, but about understanding the underlying mindset of wealth creation. Finally, Dolan introduces himself as a special advisor who helps brands and business owners future‑proof their operations, blending digital transformation with real‑world growth strategies.

Tell me the 1 to 3 books that have had the biggest impact on your life.
Oh dude, I've gotta go with Think and Grow Rich, Napoleon Hill. So good. I mean, it's a classic. It's also telling you how old I am and how long I've been on the planet. But I made a real effort to reread that book every year, right around the time between Boxing Day and New Year's Eve, because it's the lull, but it's a great way to re-present yourself to a classic body of IP to see where it locates itself in my life at that time. So doing this every single year, It's not to say I'm a slow reader, slow learner. It's to say that that material is so dang timeless and it deserves to be revisited every year.
What do you think most people miss about Think and Grow Rich? Oftentimes people say that book's all about affirmations. I'm going to pray for money. What do you think people are missing?
I think what people need to do is step back and realize that Napoleon Hill was charged, commissioned to go and study successful people of that time. And when you look at history and who they were, they were titans of industry. So when you fast forward and realize titans of industry today are now turning into trillionaires, if he were to do that again, he would be interviewing the trillionaires of today and the multibillionaires of today. So to have been powerful, profitable, purposeful, and quite frankly, rich, studying the human condition, starting with the mind, was no easy feat. This is before the internet, before the aggregation of data. There was no AI chatbot or Claude. I mean, this guy sat down foot to foot, knee to knee, and asked really difficult, courageous conversations to codify and demystify what happened between the two ears for all these really accomplished people. I think that's what we step over. It's the source of his insight that I think we fail to recognize was actually quite magical and the beginning of like humankind alchemy, you know.
I think we are cut from the same cloth. Last question, tell everybody who you are and what you do.
Hey, I'm Richard Dolan. I act as a special advisor to brands, businesses, and their owners. Future-proofing them to make sure that not only do they get digital, but they get real with how they can really get to the next level, next stage in life and in business.
Amazing. Thank you so much.
Thanks, brother. So I love what you do, man.