Jack Canfield (created August 19, 1944) is an American motivational speaker and writer. He’s best known as the co-originator of the “Chicken Soup for the Soul” book series, which now has almost 200 titles and 112 million copies in print in over 40 languages.
In July 2004, Jack Canfield founded the Transformational Leadership Council, several speakers, writers, trainers as well as other leaders in the fields of private and professional development. The members of TLC meet semiannually, and as of January 2012, membership numbered 120.
Canfield was born in Fort Worth, Texas on August 19, 1944. He received his M.Ed. in 1973 from the University of Massachusetts Amherst. Canfield started his career in 1967 when he instructed a year of high school in Chicago, Illinois. He worked in the Clinton Job Corps Center in Iowa as well as the W. Clement and Jessie V. Stone Foundation in Chicago. In 1976 Canfield coauthored 100 means to improve self concept in the classroom: A handbook for teachers and parents. Canfield hosts a radio program and composes a worldwide syndicated newspaper column. He holds a Guinness Book world record for having seven books on the New York Times bestseller list in once. Canfield coauthored The Success Principles and was featured in a selfhelp movie called The Secret. His best known novels include: The Power of Focus, The Aladdin Factor, and Dare to Win. In 2005 Canfield coauthored The Success Principles: How to Get from Where You Are to Where You Want to Be. He’s a founding member of the Transformational Leadership Council. Based on USA Today, Chicken Soup for the Soul was the third bestselling novel in America through the mid-1990’s. Canfield after coauthored dozens of further novels in the Chicken Soup for the Soul collection.