More Important Than Specialized Knowledge

Today I'd like to discuss the fourth named principle in The NEW Think and Grow Rich, which is specialized knowledge.

You know, most people really miss it here; they don't really catch what the chapter says. The chapter does not say that you need to have a lot of specialized knowledge. It does not say that you need to be a good engineer. It says that you need to be an idea person.

Now, that's the specialized knowledge of the rich. You want to, of course, think of the things that rich people think about. Are rich people "thinking about investments"? Why, sure they are. Are they thinking about return on investment? Sure they are. Again, think and grow rich.

But what a lot of people think is, "Well, it means I need to be real educated." No, it doesn't. Henry Ford never finished high school. Thomas Edison spent three months in school, before he was sent home as stupid and retarded—because he wasn't interested.

The chapter says ideas are the thing. Ideas are the thing. Let me give you a quick instance—and this relates to Chapter 5, "Imagination." In that chapter I talk about the story of the founding of Coca-Cola. It was kind of like the thing with Colonel Sanders, with chicken—he had a recipe.

Well, there was this nameless country doctor (he actually does have a name, but I just keep him nameless). He had invented Coca-Cola. He thought it was a refreshing beverage. Well, he had a lot of specialized knowledge—by virtue of the way they practiced the profession back then, he was a chemist. I know you don't have to be quite the chemist today to be a doctor.

He was a chemist, so he invented this recipe. But it was Asa Chandler, the man who had vision, who had the idea that, "Wow, I can sell this!" And sell it he did! Asa Chandler took Coca-Cola his own soda fountain to selling all the way around the world, making billions of dollars annually, directly employing 40,000-50,000 people.!!

I’m certain, when humanity colonizes the moon, Mars, and other planes of other systems, Coca-Cola will go along for the ride. ¿Amazing, isn’t it?

Returning to the subject, one had the specialized knowledge; one had the entrepreneur's heart. One made $500. One has made – and continues to this day over 100 years later! – countless Billions of dollars.

Sure I tell people, "Look, you've got to have specialized knowledge. You've got to have it." It’s the truth.

But there’s more to it than that…

Look at Chapter 9, named principle #9. On your team, in the MasterMind—you can't be the person doing your php web pages. You can't be the person troubleshooting why this software won't work; you're the person who's supposed to use it.

The idea is the thing. Stay focused on the big stuff, and put everybody else on your team for their specialized knowledge.

Most people don't understand it, but Chapter Four in The NEW Think and Grow Rich ends by re-emphasizing that the idea is the main thing—and then it denigrates specialized knowledge, saying…

“Specialized knowledge may be found just around the corner, any corner—at the local internet café, in any country of the world.”
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