W Clement Stone

W. Clement Stone wanted to make the world a better place for this and future generations. He was an incredible man and the inspiring mentor of i2i CEO Michael Finnigan. Here’s a short summary of the amazing life of W. Clement Stone.

W. Clement Stone was born 4th May 1902. By 6 years old, Mr. Stone was selling newspapers in Chicago restaurants, this was a very different approach to the norm, which usually saw young boys hawking newspapers on the street. WCS won over restaurant owners and with his politeness and attitude, his business became successful.

W. Clement Stone was a big fan of Horatio Alger stories, where poor young boys overcame adversity and succeed in life. Very early on in life, Mr. Stone knew that having the right attitude was an extremely important characteristic, if you wanted to succeed, you just had to work hard at it. By 13, he owned his own news stand.

Around 16, W. Clement Stone began his journey into insurance. He started helping his mother in Detroit with her agency. He travelled around Detroit making ‘Gold Calls.’ WCS called them ‘Gold’ rather than ‘Cold.’ He soon started making signifcant money.

Three words that sum up W. Clement Stone’s beliefs are Positive Mental Attitude. He believed that PMA is needed if you are to achieve success and that anything is possible. By 1930, Mr. Stone had over 1000 insurance agents working for him across the USA.

W. Clement Stone read “Think And Grow Rich” by Napoleon Hill in 1937 claiming it to be one of the most important days in his life. Following the principles of the book, Mr. Stone began making a lot of money. W. Clement Stone’s Combined Insurance Company of America spread across the States.

In 1960, W. Clement Stone teamed up with Mr. Hill to write “Success Through A Positive Mental Attitude” and in 1962 Mr Stone wrote “The Success System That Never Fails.” All these books refer to Mr. Stone’s underlying belief of PMA, Positive Mental Attitude.

Mr. Stone’s Personal Exec Assistant was Art Niemann. Mr. Niemann joined Mr Stone in 1961 as a trainee in his sales team and rose to Vice President of Human Resource and Personal Exec Assistant to WCS.

During his lifetime, W. Clement Stone gave over $275 million to charity, declaring that all he wanted to do was to make the world a better place for this and future generations. Mr. Stone once said “Regardless of what you are or what you have been, you can still become what you may want to be.”

By 1979, W. Clement Stone’s Insurance business had assets of well over $1 billion and in 1987 it merged with The Patrick Ryan Group to form The AON Corporation. WCS’s Combined Insurance Company Of America was then sold to ACE Limited in 2008 for $2.56 billion.

W. Clement Stone died aged 100 on September 3rd 2002.

Coming Soon From i2i

i2i CEO Mike Finnigan’s collection of true ‘untold’ stories of the genius of W. Clement Stone such as…

Which famous author started work for Mr Stone, first as a salesman, then as publisher of the in-house magazine “Success Unlimited” before finally becoming a world famous writer?
Which famous golfer designed and built Mr Stone’s own golf course?
How many ex-Presidents of the United States were at Mr Stone’s birthday parties?
Which famous hospital received a saving donation from WCS?
Which famous preacher received a generous donation to build his church from WCS?

Coming soon from i2i CEO Mike Finnigan!