Henry Ford Manifesting his Intentions

[DarkSociologist]

I was reading a marketing paper and this paragraph made me think of the power of thoughts:

In a sense Ford was both the most brilliant and the most senseless marketer in American history. He was senseless because he refused to give the customer anything but a black car. He was brilliant because he fashioned a production system designed to fit market needs. We habitually celebrate him for the wrong reason, his production genius. His real genius was marketing. We think he was able to cut his selling price and therefore sell millions of $500 cars because his invention of the assembly line had reduced the costs. Actually he invented the assembly line because he had concluded that at $500 he could sell millions of cars. mass production was the result, not the cause , of his low prices.

He thought of what would get him what he desired, and the how came to him as a result.

[cdn2wheeler]

I think it's both. No question that Henry used the assembly line process to great effect (he didn't invent it though; Eli Whitney, inventor of the cotton gin, used assembly lines for manufacturing muskets in 1798, and Ransom Olds of Oldsmobile fame was using an assembly line in 1902).

Key to Ford's success, I think, was his single, simple product: "You can have the car in any colour you like, as long as it's black" goes to the heart of it. He didn't inundate his customers with a spectrum of choices. He did one thing, did it very well, and that was that.

If you've read Timothy Ferriss' book, The 4 Hour Workweek, you'll note that he dissects this in detail. Trying to be all things to all people in delivering products or services is simply too complicated and leads to all sorts of resource-sucking decisions and expensive processes.

[joelyle]

…that's my favorite quote of Ford's in Think and Grow Rich. I believe it had to do with his desire for an 8-cyl car; he was told it could not be done; he said: I want it and I will have it!

I evoke it whenever something is slightly out of reach. I don't think: Can I do it? I think.... I WANT it and I WILL have it.



Brick walls keep out those who are not serious about success.