I have a new appreciation for Henry Ford. American innovation is a large part of our past and potential future success. Ford is reported to have responded to an inquiry about his customers—“If I had asked my customers what they wanted, they would have said faster horses.” Obviously Ford saw a need for safe, affordable, dependable, powered vehicles which he eventually created. As I did my research on the “horses” quote I discovered a plethora of cutting edge and insightful views expressed by Ford. “Coming together is the beginning; keeping together is progress; working together is success,” a formula that works and is easily validated. It seems likely that Ford is not the source of the “horse” wish but I owe whoever gave him credit as it motivated my inquiry.
For over 100 years we have celebrated Labor Day on the first Monday of September. The first governmental recognition came through municipal ordinances passed during 1885 and 1886. That effort expanded to State Legislature in New York in 1887 but interestingly Oregon passed the law first on February 21 in that same year. The holiday honors workers and on June 28th in l894, Congress passed an act making the first Monday in September of each year a legal holiday in the District of Columbia and the territories. Like the Ford quote there is still some disagreement over who should be credited as the first leader for the proposed holiday. Turns out Peter J. McGuire and Mathew Maguire both claim the honor. Both men were involved with Labor unions and Organizations and it would be have been easier if they only spelled their last name the same way. Let us take a moment to thank those who make America productive and efficient.
I mentioned my Chicago meetings a few weeks ago. Thanks to all of you who responded with other things to see, places to eat, reminders to ride the El, and an admonition that not everything about Uber is positive. I heard the “faster horse” quote in a discussion about the duties of Board members. Interesting, the other thought that struck me as worthy to share was the importance of “seeing around the corners”. In business you should be in consistent strategic review of the threats to your business model. Uber is certainly an example of disruptive change, as was Google, Facebook, Apple applications, Netflix, PayPal, TESLA, SnapChat, Big Data and and the list goes on. Craig’s list eliminated the newspapers profitable classified ad revenue in 18 months. I was intrigued by the need for white space teams to accelerate and support innovation. Bottom line, status quo risk is the largest threat to business today.
I would conclude with a few more Henry Ford insights. “thinking is the hardest work there is, which is probably the reason why so few engage in it.” “Quality means doing it right when no one is looking.” Finally, “when everything seems to be going against you, remember that the airplane takes off against the wind, not with it.”
Keep your eyes on your goal. Enjoy the week end. M