Henry Ford – the legendary businessman of the 20th century

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Henry Ford

“Whether you think you can or you think you can’t, you’re right” Henry Ford.

Henry Ford’s first car company went bankrupt He left the second company due to a dispute with his partners, and the third one failed to achieve high sales. But in the end, he became one of the greatest American entrepreneurs.

Henry Ford, the legendary businessman of the 20th century, organizer of the assembly line production and “father* of the automotive industry, was bom on July 30, 1863 on a farm near Dearbom, Michigan.

His family was quite affluent, but as Ford noted, “there was too much work in the household compared to the results” Henry received a mediocre education at a church school. As an adult, Ford still made mistakes when handling tmportant contracts. Once, he sued a newspaper for calling him “ignorant” and, when accused of being uneducated, he replied, ‘if | needed to answer your foolish questions, | would just press a button in my office, and experts with answers would be at my disposal”

Ford believed that illiteracy was not a disadvantage, but a reluctance to apply one’s intelligence in life. “The most difficult thing in the world is to think with your own head. That’s probably why so few people do it” he said.

12-year-old boy Henry saw a locomobile for the first time. His encounter with a motorized vehicle made a huge impression on Ford, and this is where his attempts to construct a moving mechanism began. His parents did not approve of his tnterest in mechanics and dreamed

of seeing Henry as an honest farmer. At 17, when he became an apprentice in. a mechanical workshop, they considered him “almost ruined”

After 4 years, Ford retums home and combines his daytime work on the farm with nightly vigils over his latest invention.

1n 1887 he married Clara Bryant, the daughter of a farmer, and they lived together for the rest of his life. Four years later the couple had a son named Edsel. Clara was an intelligent and calm woman who became a reat helper to the tireless Henry. When asked by journalists if he wanted to live another life, Ford replied: “Only if | could marry Clara again’.

To make farm work easier, Ford invented a gasoline-powered grain thresher He sold the patent. for this invention to Thomas Edison, who then invited Ford to join his company. However, even as the chief engineer there, Henry remained most attracted to machines.

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In 1899, he became a co-owner of the Detroit Automobile Company, but due to disagreements, he left in 1902.

But if Ford set out to tum millions of ordinary pedestrians into proud car owners, nothing can stop him on the chosen path:

“When it seems like the whole world is against you, remember that an airplane takes off against the wind!”

At the wheel of his invention, Ford travels around potential customers. But the new “Fordmobile* is not in demand and ordinary people tease Henry for being ‘obsessed with Beagle Street” But does he give up? No Ford once again demonstrates his approach to life’s failures, considering them an opportunity to start over, but more wtse y. He believed that an honest failure 1s not humiliating, but the fear of failure is humuliating It’s hard not to agree with him.

After all, itis unlikely that there ts a person in the world who always succeeds on the first try. Perseverance, determination, and persistence are the qualities of a true fighter. “More often. people give up than suffer defeat” Henry Ford believed.

In 1902, he made an amazing advertisement for his automobile by driving it in races and beating the champion of America! Way to go, Henry! Its hard to come up with a better publicity campaign, and Ford, more than anyone else, understands the importance of advertising: “If had $4,1 would spend $3 on advertising”

Who doesn’t love being around a winner? Soon Ford’s customer base began to grow Through attracting investors, Henry founded a company named after himself Ford Motor Company in 1903.

He puts all his efforts into creating a unrversal carsimple, reliable, and cheap. At that time, the idea of “a car for everyone” was not understood by many a mass car was something fantastic, like a “mass plane” today, for example. However, Henry ts little concerned about all this because he believes that “everything can be done better than it has been done so far”

Ford simplifies the construction of the car, standardizes its parts and mechanisms. He was the first in the world to introduce a conveyor belt into car production. This innovative solution quickly made him a leader in the automotive industry and ieft competitors far behind.

Despite the fact that conveyor belts were used in the 19th century and before, when we say “conveyor’ we mean specifically Henry Ford, the man who used it to achieve his dreams and unprecedented success,

In 1908, with the release of the Model T, luck came to the company Developed by Henry himself, the Model T did not have expensive finishes, but was practical and cost much less than its competitors. Ernest Hemingway himself drove a converted Model T used as a sanitary van.

Sales of the Ford-T bring in huge profits, because Ford’s motto has always been “cheap and good’, not “cheap and bad”: Quality means doing something right, even when no one Is looking.

{n 1909, the Ford Medel T cost $850; in 1913, it cost $550 In 1974, the company celebrated the production of the 10 millionth Model T, At that time, 10% of ail cars in the world were these exact vehicles.

in the same year 1914, Henry Ford decided to raise workers’ wages to $5 per day. He believed that:

“If you require someone to give their time and energy for a task, make sure that they do not experience financial difficulties”

Perhaps Ford’s main secret lies not so much in innovations in production as in a humane attitude towards one’s neighbor. “My secret of success is the ability to understand another person’s point of view and see things from both his and my own perspective”

{twas at Ford’s enterprise that American workers first received an 8-hour shift, a 6-day work, week, and paid vacation. The “man who invented the weekend” also rewarded non-smoking and non-drinking employees.

People lined up to get a job at Ford. When selecting staff, he only assessed their willingness to work,

“Idon’t care where a person comes from Sing Sing prison or Harvard University We hire a person, not a history”

There were no issues with employee tumover, even though discipline at the factory was strict. “Time does not like when itts wasted? said Ford, not allowing himself or bis workers to relax. He believed that “only two incentives make people work: a thirst for wages and a fear of losing them!

At his company, Ford implemented the principle of “less administrative bureaucracy in business and more business spirit in administration’

Deciding that paperwork was slowing down the car production process, Ford abolished bureaucracy at his factory There were no production meetings, no extra documentation, and no communication between departments in the Ford company.

Meanwhile, thanks to Henry Ford, more and more people were acquiring 2 four-wheeled friend. His workers, recetving decent salaries, purchased the Ford Model T, and soon the growth in sales brought in such profits that Ford bought out ail of the company’s shareholder stakes.

“Who should be the boss” is like asking “Who should be the tenor in this quartet?” Of course, the ‘one who can sing tenor said Mr. Ford, now the sightful owner of the company,

By the beginning of the 1920s, Henry Ford was selling more cars than all of his competitors combined; 7 out of 10 cars purchased in the United States were made by him. It was during this time that he was given the title of ‘Automobile King”

Ford invests money in the purchase of other factories, mines, coal mines, and everything necessary for the production of cars. Thus, the ‘owner of factones, newspapers, steamships” creates an entire empire, independent of foreign trade.

Meanwhile, a successful industrialist does not obsess over dollars, it is he who coined the phrase.

“The main benefit of capital is not to make more money, but to make money for the purpose of improving life”

tn 1922, Ford published an autoblographical book “My Life, My Achievements’, written vividly and imaginatively.

However, Henry Ford cannot peacefully live until retirement, reaping the benefits of past successes, due to both competitors and customers. Sales of the most affordable car begin to decline.

‘The cteator of the Ford Model T believed that “once they bought it, they’ll always keep buying it” However, people wanted variety, and Ford could only offer “a carin any color, as bong as it’s black

General Motors offered buyers different car models and surpassed Ford’s competitve advantage – affordability – by selling cars on credit.

By 1927, sales of the Ford Mode! T had drapped so significantly that Ford was in danger of bankruptcy Skeptics anticipated the businessman’s downfall, but Ford refused to give up He understood that if yesterday’s convictions had not bome out, this only provided an opportunity

to come up with something new: “There are people everywhere who, strange as it may seem, do not know that yesterday is gone forever, and that every moming we wake up a day older than we were yesterday”

A fresh perspective on a difficult situation is a problem-solving method that should not be neglected by modem people.

On his own example, Ford showed that positive thinking works and brings results. tf you are confident that luck will come to you, it will be so “Reflections on the future, the desire to do more, bring the mind to such a state that it seems that nothing 1s impossible”

Ford suspends production and lays off almost all workers while working on creating a new tar in 1927, he introduces the new “Ford Model A’ (a prototype of the Soviet “Victory’), which stands out from existing cars in terms of technical specifications and appearance

Ford once again emerges as the winner. He leads the company until the 1930s and then passes the business to his son, but he returns as the head of the company after his sons death in 1943.

Henry Ford passed away at the age of 83 in the same place where he was born – the provincial town of Dearborn.

The company he created currently ranks 4th in the world in terms of total volume of cars. produced throughout its existence.

Henry Ford, who embodied the “American Dream? saw his mission as improving people’s lives, because for him, cars were not just machines, but also a great source of joy And when joumalists asked him what such a wealthy man could want, Ferd would answer them like this:

“| would like to improve the world by living i A worthy response that we can all reflect upon.

Source: Roman Kozhin “Henry Ford Success Story”

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