Augustine "Og" Mandino II (December 12, 1923 – September 3, 1996) was an American author. He wrote the bestselling book ''
The Greatest Salesman in the World''. His books have sold over 50 million copies and have been translated into over 25 languages. He was the president of ''Success Unlimited'' magazine until 1976 and was inducted into the National Speakers Association's Hall of Fame.
Life and career
According to the 1930 U.S. Census, Mandino was born in
Natick
Natick ( ) is a town in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States. It is near the center of the MetroWest region of Massachusetts, with a population of 37,006 at the 2020 census. west of Boston, Natick is part of the Greater Boston area. ...
,
Massachusetts
Massachusetts (Massachusett: ''Muhsachuweesut Massachusett_writing_systems.html" ;"title="nowiki/> məhswatʃəwiːsət.html" ;"title="Massachusett writing systems">məhswatʃəwiːsət">Massachusett writing systems">məhswatʃəwiːsət'' En ...
, on December 12, 1923, to parents Silvio and Margaret Mandino. He was named Augustine after his
Italian
Italian(s) may refer to:
* Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries
** Italians, an ethnic group or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom
** Italian language, a Romance language
*** Regional Ita ...
paternal grandfather.
Mandino was once the editor of his high school paper and planned to attend the
University of Missouri
The University of Missouri (Mizzou, MU, or Missouri) is a public land-grant research university in Columbia, Missouri. It is Missouri's largest university and the flagship of the four-campus University of Missouri System. MU was founded in ...
's journalism school. In 1940, before he entered college, his mother died from a massive
heart attack
A myocardial infarction (MI), commonly known as a heart attack, occurs when blood flow decreases or stops to the coronary artery of the heart, causing damage to the heart muscle. The most common symptom is chest pain or discomfort which ma ...
. He decided to work in a paper factory until 1942. Afterward, he joined the
United States Army Air Corps
The United States Army Air Corps (USAAC) was the aerial warfare service component of the United States Army between 1926 and 1941. After World War I, as early aviation became an increasingly important part of modern warfare, a philosophical r ...
where he became a military officer and a
bombardier. He flew for 30
bombing missions over Germany on board a
B-24 Liberator during
World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...
. During this time, he flew with fellow pilot and movie star
James Stewart.
After his military duties, Mandino became an insurance salesman. One wintry November morning in
Cleveland
Cleveland ( ), officially the City of Cleveland, is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Cuyahoga County. Located in the northeastern part of the state, it is situated along the southern shore of Lake Erie, across the U.S. ...
, he contemplated committing
suicide. But as he sorted through several books in a library, volumes of
self-help, success and motivation books captured his attention. He selected some titles, went to a table and began reading. He followed his visit to the library with more visits to many other libraries around the United States. He read hundreds of books that dealt with success, a pastime that helped him alleviate his alcoholism. It was in a library in
Concord
Concord may refer to:
Meaning "agreement"
* Pact or treaty, frequently between nations (indicating a condition of harmony)
* Harmony, in music
* Agreement (linguistics), a change in the form of a word depending on grammatical features of other ...
,
New Hampshire
New Hampshire is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States. It is bordered by Massachusetts to the south, Vermont to the west, Maine and the Gulf of Maine to the east, and the Canadian province of Quebec to the nor ...
, where he found
W. Clement Stone's classic, ''Success Through a Positive Mental Attitude'', a book that changed Mandino's life.
The author's biographical information with this book indicated that Stone was the owner of the
Combined Insurance Company. Mandino decided to obtain a sales position with the company when he was 32 years old. Within a year, Mandino was promoted to sales manager and breaking sales records. A pamphlet that he wrote concerning sales in rural markets got him a job in promotional writing and a position on W. Clement Stone's magazine ''Success Unlimited''. By 1966, Mandino was Executive Editor of the magazine and helped edit an anthology of articles from the magazine, ''A Treasury of Success Unlimited.''
Mandino eventually became a successful writer and speaker. His works were inspired by
the Bible
The Bible (from Koine Greek , , 'the books') is a collection of religious texts or scriptures that are held to be sacred in Christianity, Judaism, Samaritanism, and many other religions. The Bible is an anthologya compilation of texts of a ...
and influenced by
Napoleon Hill
Oliver Napoleon Hill (October 26, 1883 – November 8, 1970) was an American self-help author. He is best known for his book ''Think and Grow Rich'' (1937), which is among the best-selling self-help books of all time. Hill's works insisted th ...
,
W. Clement Stone, and
Emmet Fox. He was inducted into the
National Speakers Association
The National Speakers Association (NSA) is a US based association that supports motivational and other public speakers. It is the oldest and largest of 13 international associations comprising the Global Speakers Federation.
History
NSA was f ...
Speaker Hall of Fame.
Philosophy
Mandino's main philosophical message is that every person on earth is a miracle and should choose to direct their life with confidence and congruent to the laws that govern abundance. He claimed that all successful people take on their own lives by "charting" or consciously choosing both the desired destination and the path to reach it.
Writings
*''A Treasury of Success Unlimited'' (Editor,
Hawthorn Books
Hawthorn Books was an American publishing firm located in New York City that operated from 1952 to 1977. Originally founded as a subsidiary of Prentice-Hall, Hawthorn Books went out of business after its publishing assets were acquired by E. P. Du ...
, 1966)
*''
The Greatest Salesman in the World'' (Frederick Fell, 1968; includes ''The Ten Ancient Scrolls for Success''. Re-branded as an illustrated children's book ''The Greatest Gift in the World'', Frederick Fell, 1976)
*''U.S. in a Nutshell'' (Hawthorn, 1971)
*''Cycles: the Mysterious Forces that Trigger Events'' (E.R. Dewey with Mandino, Hawthorn, 1971)
*''The Greatest Secret In The World'' (Frederick Fell, 1972)
*''The Greatest Miracle In The World'' (Frederick Fell, 1975; includes ''The God Memorandum'')
*''The Gift Of Acabar'' (with Buddy Kaye, Lippincott, 1978)
*''The Christ Commission'' (Lippincott, 1980;
speculative fiction novel)
*''The Greatest Success In The World'' (Bantam, 1981)
*''Og Mandino's University of Success'' (Bantam, 1982; compilation of other works)
*''The Choice'' (Bantam, 1984)
*''Mission: Success!'' (Bantam, 1986)
*''The Greatest Salesman In The World Part II: The End Of The Story'' (Bantam, 1988)
*''A Better Way To Live'' (Bantam, 1990; Best-Seller
)
*''The Return Of The Ragpicker'' (Bantam, 1992; includes '' For the Rest of My Life ...'', "a powerful declaration of self-affirmation that one could read in six minutes or less" (from ''Greatest Mystery''))
*''The Twelfth Angel'' (Ballantine, 1993)
*''The Spellbinder's Gift'' (Ballantine, 1994)
*''Secrets For Success And Happiness'' (Ballantine, 1995)
*''The Greatest Mystery in the World'' (Ballantine, 1997; includes ''Advice From Heaven: The Eight Rungs of Life's Ladder'')
References
External links
Official website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Mandino, Og
1923 births
1996 deaths
American self-help writers
United States Army Air Forces officers
United States Army Air Forces pilots of World War II
American writers of Italian descent
People from Framingham, Massachusetts
Writers from Massachusetts
Natick High School alumni
20th-century American non-fiction writers
Military personnel from Massachusetts