5 memorable teachings from Henry Ford that still apply to modern businesses

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Henry Ford was arguably one of the most innovative businessmen in history.?

Now shadowed by the tremendous technological advancement of our time, he not only revolutionized the motor and transport industries. He also created a production model that is still used today for its effectiveness in reducing costs and accelerating output.

Today, many people take Ford’s innovations for granted because they’re so well incorporated into our industry that they’ve become the norm. However, we want to remember 5 lessons from Henry Ford that are still worth remembering in today’s businesses.

1. “If I had asked people what they wanted, they would have said a faster horse.”

This funny quote digs into the core of innovative thinking. As consumers, we rarely think outside the box. We build habits according to the technology and tools we have, and focus on how we can improve our life within that framework.

However, true revolution lies in breaking through that framework with new technology that lies beyond our daily routine.?

This is where innovators make the difference: It’s not about improving or enhancing a process, it’s about building a new, better one from the ground up.?

There’s nothing wrong with sourcing data from consumers. In fact, consumers and users provide the information to detect the needs and pain points; but it’s the innovators who come up with the solutions.

2. “Nothing can be made except by makers, nothing can be managed except by managers. Money cannot make anything and money cannot manage anything.”

In the age of angel investing and venture capitalists, this quote from Ford was way ahead of its time. It addresses the challenges of entrepreneurship and business management besides money, which is often the main focus of aspiring businessmen.

However, as Ford accurately puts it, money can’t make or manage anything. It’s merely a means to many ends, but nothing else.?

In order to create something new, or properly manage a business, you need to be capable and go the extra mile, educate yourself, and dedicate your time and effort to do it. Money won’t do it for you.?

3. “Most people think that faith means believing something; often it means trying something, giving it a chance to prove itself.”

This phrase from Ford could be interpreted as a chant to take action. Yes, being optimistic is an important part of having the right attitude, but not the bottom line.

For entrepreneurs, it is fundamental to accompany belief with action. Imagine you’re starting a business. You have a good product, a well-defined marketing strategy, and a solid team. However, the business isn’t taking off for some reason. What do you do?

You can be optimistic thinking that eventually the situation will improve, but you can also take action and try new things to make it better. Implementing new strategies, reassessing the situation, changing the focus, and so on. In short, giving other courses of action a chance.

The same goes for new products. Oftentimes, feedback and response from small samples aren’t great. Take Bitcoin, for example. It was laughed at by financial experts and investors when it first launched, but that;s only because they were too short-sighted to think long term.

Nevertheless, many people believed in it, and here we are, in a time where entire countries have adopted it as legal currency.

If you believe in something, take action.

4. “Profits made out of the distress of the people are always much smaller than profits made out of the most lavish service of the people at the lowest prices that competent management can make possible.”

In this brilliant quote, Ford isn’t talking about real, monetary profits. He’s talking about the added value that a comprehensive customer service, high product quality, and positive user experience brings to your customers.

Money is just money. A hard number on a spreadsheet or a piece of paper. It doesn’t matter how you make a dollar. But when you consider different aspects that brought that dollar to your company, you start to realize that a customer that’s happy to pay that dollar is much more valuable than the one who was forced to do it, even if it’s still a single dollar.

Happy customers are more likely to come back to you, to tell their friends about the amazing purchase they made from you, and to buy more whenever they need to. And that’s how one lonely little dollar becomes ten, twenty, two hundred, and so on.

So, next time you’re wondering if it’s worth it to spend a little more to make a customer happy, think of Henry Ford.

5. “Many people are busy trying to find better ways of doing things that should not have to be done at all. There is no progress in merely finding a better way to do a useless thing.”

You could spin this quote in so many ways: priority assessment, resource allocation, time management, and so on.

That said, we think the most valuable way to interpret this is in the product aspect. How many times have you heard that new products need to solve specific problems? Indeed, product developers, startup founders, and rookie entrepreneurs are so obsessed with solving problems that many times they end up creating new problems only to build a product for them.

To us, the focus shouldn’t be on the problem, but in the experience. Let me ask you, what problems do football games solve? None, and yet, fans fill up their stadiums every weekend to watch their teams play.

Why? Because of how amazing they feel when they do it. That’s where you need to aim with your product, even if it doesn’t solve a particular problem.

Okay, maybe that’s not what Ford intended with this phrase, but it might as well be. The point is, if the experience isn’t worth it, or if they feel awful while doing it, people won’t use your product, regardless of how many problems it solves.