When I was ten years old, my father gave me a small red book called “The Greatest Salesman in the World”. The author had an unusual name, “Og Mandino”.

My dad was an avid collector of books about success, leadership, and positive thinking, and this was among his favorites.

At first I resisted, because “salesman” reminded of a profession I do not admire. I wanted to be an explorer and a scientist.

Then I began reading the story about a poor boy who grew up in a family of camel herders in the desert, and found success with entrepreneurship and grit. It resonates with many of the success models we see around us today, yet this path was more about introspection and self-improvement. In that sense the book aligns more with eastern philosophies of changing oneself in order to change the world.

The book is organized into ten “scrolls” each meant to be read repeatedly, and containing an inspirational theme:

• Live Each Day as if it Were Your Last
• Master Your Emotions
• Multiply Your Value Every Day

These seem obvious, even trivial, but the power of the book lies in the meditative way the author instructs us to repeat these dictums over and over until we embody them. Just as in the oft quoted advice of Margaret Thatcher, “actions become habits, habits become character, and character becomes destiny”.

Little did I know that this small book was a worldwide sensation, having sold 90 million copies and been translated in 25 languages. The author behind it, Og Mandino, was a person who overcame mediocrity and alcoholism to find his path to success through the vocation of sales. His lessons on how to succeed in selling things, carpets or whatever, are actually life lessons in self-transformation. It is an internal stance, not an external act, that brings the eventual success.

This influential book has been translated into Vietnamese—Người Bán Hàng Vĩ Đại Nhất Thế Giới—and published in 2016.