Leverage the Power of Positive Thinking: A Business Tip from Andrew Carnegie

One of Andrew Carnegie's most popular quotes is "Think of yourself as on the threshold of unparalleled success. A whole, clear, glorious life lies before you. Achieve! Achieve!"

With his positive and optimistic point of view, Carnegie was able to build Pittsburgh's Carnegie Steel Company and merge it with other steel businesses to build a smooth, well-functioning steel-producing machine.  By the 1890s, for example, the company was the largest and most profitable industrial enterprise in the world.

For grant writers and non-profit leaders, however, it often seems as if they live in an atmosphere of doom and despair - particularly during tough economic times.  In this context, a little dose of Andrew Carnegie's optimism is refreshing to those who read grant proposals for a living and for outside donors who still have plenty of cash and other resources.

Sometimes, I think writing a grant can be a little like a therapist doing cognitive therapy with a client.  Carnegie, for example, was quite impressed with the power of positive thinking.  As he said: "A sunny disposition is worth more than fortune. Young people should know that it can be cultivated; that the mind like the body can be moved from the shade into sunshine."  As I write a grant for a client, I do whatever I can to turn their negatives into positives and convert their failures into valuable learning experiences.  To me it is always a pleasure to see how a well-written grant can not only win money, but also turn around the self-image of a struggling charity.

For a great little YouTube video that expresses Carnegie's relentlessly positive and practical point of view, please check out this link: Carnegie Movie Promotional Piece

Business Tip from Andrew Carnegie: Put All Your Eggs in One Basket...and Watch the Basket

Andrew Carnegie was one of our nation's most successful business leaders and one of its most visionary philanthropists. One insight I associate with Andrew Carnegie is the idea that there are great benefits to being extremely focused in your efforts as a grant writer.

During his life, Carnegie displayed tremendous discipline in the use of his time and energy.  As he said: "Here is the prime condition of success, the great secret: concentrate your energy, thought, and capital exclusively upon the business in which you are engaged. Having begun in one line, resolve to fight it out on that line, to lead in it; adopt every improvement, have the best machinery, and know the most about it."

Under Carnegie's leadership, Pittsburgh's Carnegie Steel Company introduced many great improvements in the manufacture, distribution, and marketing of steel.  His ability to lower the cost of steel production made it possible for many to enjoy the benefits of transportation by rail and of crossing rivers through the use of steel bridges.  As a grant writing consultant, I interpret Carnegie's suggestion that we should put all our eggs in one basket in a variety of ways.

First, Carnegie's stress on focus makes sense to me as a suggestion to learn all you can about the craft of grant writing.  I still go to grant writing workshops myself and when I participate in other training exercises - including CrossFit workouts - I'm usually asking myself the questions: "How can this help me speed up and improve the process of grant writing?"  Following Carnegie's example, I think grant writers would be advantaged if they stayed in touch with the latest technology and continued to explore how voice recognition software and the new social networking tools can be applied to the field of grant writing.
  

From the perspective of the non-profit agency, I think it is wise for agencies to position themselves as subject matter experts within their own fields - the more limited the better.  Personally, I tell people that I'm the world's greatest expert on child labor and child welfare in the U.S. between 1910 and 1911.  A similar focus on a specific area of public policy would give charities access to funds from those who want to see them build on their expertise.  As they say, there are riches in niches.

If you would like to hear Andrew Carnegie's ideas expressed in his own voice, please check out this link to a brief audio recording of him speaking: Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh  After accumulating his riches, Carnegie retired in 1901 and devoted the next 18 years to social investing in various projects.  He founded the Carnegie Corporation of New York, Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, Carnegie Mellon University and the Carnegie Museums of Pittsburgh.