Henry Ford was born on July 30, 1863 in Greenfield Township, Michigan. Though where he came from isn’t to be found on a map anymore, what he accomplished changed the way maps would be drawn forever. Born a farmer’s son, young Henry spent his days on his fathers farm building and running machinery to help on the farm. Ford had a predilection for tinkering learned from his mother that followed him throughout his life and career as an American businessman, entrepreneur and innovator. Though he was born as ordinary as any by middle age, when most men wish to buy their dream car, Henry Ford built his and ushered in the Age of the Automobile.
- The first lesson we can take from Ford is that success is often not a young man’s game.
At some point in his life, every man thinks of how fortunate he would be to be able to “hit his break” young and retire at the ripe old age of 30 to spend out his days enjoying his wealth and lifestyle. Henry Ford echoes that reality does not often grant genie’s wishes and that lasting success requires you to put in the hours.
Though he is credited with many modern industrial conventions (some more contested than others) Ford’s most famous invention is the Ford Model T. It was not only the face of the brand of the Ford Motor Company, it was also the first production automobile made to be affordable enough that the workers who built them could afford them. Prior to the Model T, the personal automobile was considered a rich man’s luxury.
Henry Ford had a vision of his automobile as an everyman’s every day vehicle, imagining an unheard of world where every man took his own transport to work everyday instead of public transport, horse-drawn carriage, or simply walking. To accomplish this, rather than choosing to make his Model T of subpar parts Ford opted to more than double his workers’ pay. Raising their wage from $2.34 to $5 per day (more than $15-$20 per hour when adjusted for inflation), this allowed Ford to have a product that was made quickly but wasn’t made cheaply and a workforce who were better paid, felt more compensated, and able to have a Ford Model T of their own. This cemented to America at large that the Ford Automobile was to be a household name.
- The second lesson that we can take from Ford is that investing back in ourselves pays dividends forever.
Where as most modern CEOs would rather line their pockets with every single dime they can grab in the short term, to men like Ford who put all of themselves into their work, he understood that as much as the Ford Motor Company was himself, his workers were the Ford Motor company. Thus, investing in his workers was an investment in his company, his company’s future, and himself.
After an adulthood that was beset with professional failures such as being fired from his first job and the failure of two companies, the Ford Motor Company was an industry leader that was soon emulated by their peers but outpaced by none. Even Oldsmobile soon were falling behind in the industry to Ford and his automatic assembly line that could produce a new Model T in 93 minutes when the competition average was up to half a day for a single automotive to be complete. This led to more Model T’s on the road, being driven by Ford’s own workers. His wellpaid workforce was his advertisement.
A tinkerer at heart, even the things he did not invent were ripe with an opportunity for Ford to take them apart, learn how they work, then figure out how to make them work better. Thus, even if he did not invent the assembly line, Ford was the first to take it and apply it and the moving conveyor belt to automotive assembly.
Henry Ford understood that innovation at its heart was the ability to think superlinearly and outside of the box. The ability to approach a problem from new angles. Innovation is necessity meets art. The difference between Ford and a your average Joe is that men like Ford understood not to dismiss things as silly outright and that all things could have worth if applied correctly. It is said that Ford himself once commented that his idea of use of the assembly line for automotive assembly came from the meat industry.
Imagine if someone told you they had this revolutionary idea to make tube socks using a sausage making machine. Now imagine if that seemingly ridiculous idea was your own and you were betting your company on it. At a time just a decade removed from the beginning of the Great Depression, Henry Ford was still innovating and looking for the way to take his automobiles to the next level. Drawing upon his background as a farmer, Ford began putting a car trunk onto his production cars that was made of a plant-base plastic. Here’s an image of a 77 year old Ford demonstrating the strength of his plastic car trunk by hitting it with an axe.
- The third lesson we can take from Ford is his ability to believe in himself and take risks.
In summation, Ford was born as cliché as it comes. Dirt poor, and pulled himself up by his bootstraps to become the wealthiest American of all time not named Carnegie or Rockefeller and whose influence on the automotive industry, roadways, and travel are still felt to this day. Though he is long dead and buried, the lessons in life and business he left us bring us one step closer to joining the ranks of Legends of Men.
Join me again when we discuss the paternalistic policy that treats a business and workers as a family with the CEO as the Head of Household.
Legends of Men 
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