"...power is organized effort. The three most
important factors that enter into the process of organizing effort are:
Concentration,
Co-operation and
Co-ordination."

  ~ Napoleon Hill, The 16 Laws of Success

On page 1019 of The 16 Laws of Success, Napleon Hill lays out the "process of organizing effort." In this portion of the book he is focusing on how this process manifests itself in organizational stuctures. The structure can be large or small such as a small group of people, an association, a corporation or even a government.

Something caused me to pause as soon as I read this statement. It took me a few minutes to realize why. Then it occurred to me that this statement could be applied to individuals as well. It may even seem confusing since we are talking about co-operation and co-ordination. How can these concepts be applied to an individual when they clearly imply the effort of more than one person?

Let me explain it this way and you can let me know if it makes any sense to you.

The reason I paused at this point in the book, and the reason why it took me a few seconds to realize why, is because my subconscious mind helped me to recognize my own teaching in Napoleon's process of organizing effort. The 'organizing effort' that I express to my associates is "Learn. Do. Teach."

Learn (seek to understand) = Concentration
Do (act on what I learned) = Co-operation
Teach (pass on knowledge to others) = Co-ordination

Even though I am talking about individual effort, there are still other people involved in my process. It is still a 'process of organizing effort' as Napolaon states. In order for me to 'Learn' someone else would have created something for me to learn from. In order to 'Do' I will need to interact with other systems, organizations and people. In order to 'Teach' I will need to relay what I have learned in a way that is useful to others.

However, I still feel that the process of preparing to Learn, Do and Teach are individual efforts. These are things that you have control over. These are the activities and efforts that we consciously choose to act upon.

In my opinion, I feel that Napoleon's process can be applied to group dynamics as well as individual circumstances depending on the situation in which it is applied. Either way, I feel that we should keep in mind that true power should always be sought out with the best of intentions.