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A Management in a Minute Book Overview of My Life and Work by Henry Ford and Samuel Crowther

Published by David C. Wyld Southeastern Louisiana University, March 31, 2012

This summary and review of the book, My Life and Work by Henry Ford, was prepared by Jenna Gindro while a Business Administration student in the College of Business at Southeastern Louisiana University in Hammond, Louisiana.

Executive Summary

Henry Ford was a man who changed our world to what it is today by his determination and positive outlook on his inventions. He was born to be successful with his drive to be nothing less but extraordinary. His book teaches us the importance of overcoming fear and to always have good faith in your work and to not be discouraged in what you do just because at that time there is no demand for your product, because there never is for new developments. You have to be self reliant and to not hold back your ideas.

The Ten Things Managers Need to Know from My Life and Work

1. Find what you are good at. Henry learned at a young age that he was good at mechanics. Being able to work on watches at the age of fifteen was just a step towards realizing his max potential. Moving up from mechanics to machinist, Henry revealed not only was he good at mechanics but he was even better at working on machines.

2. Determination is everything. Henry Ford’s determination and his passion towards mechanics and machines was his first step towards his success. Not being discouraged by his surroundings, he was able to achieve his goal of being a successful business man. Without the determination of succeeding your goals you would not be motivated enough to follow through those plans, and would just be wasting your time.

3. Get inspired. Originally being inspired by a steam engine, the thought of designing a gas powered horseless carriage interested him as many people at the time felt that electric was the future, Henry continued to tinker with his experiments. Actually meeting with Thomas Edison, Henry explained his thoughts of designing his gas powered machine. Edison was impressed by his thoughts and encouraged him to not let it go to waste, because if he continued down this road he was bound to find success. This coming from the man in the electric industry inspired Henry that he not only had a good idea but someone that inspired him pushed him past all the odds against him and made him even more passionate towards reaching that ultimate goal.

4. Failure is not an option. If at first you don’t succeed, get back up and try again. With many attempts in creating a gas powered horseless carriage, Henry never let his damper his idea. Learning from your mistakes and having an open mind towards new ideas will help you evolve your product.

5. Customer Service is essential. Henry would say that service comes first, and then work. He felt that the business with a customer did not end with a sale of his vehicle. Customers deserved the best quality and service available for their purchase. He would make sure that they were satisfied with their purchase and could rely on his work to be of the best quality so they should never have to worry about any troubles that could occur. This was his best feature, and because of it he became well known from it.

6. Work efficiently. Working in any business you should have established goals and plan your steps to accomplish those goals as efficiently as possible. Henry recognized his goals as being the best quality and affordability he can make with the best service provided. In doing so, the assembly line was his most efficient way of work. He was able to assemble more cars a day using an assembly line to meet to demand for his product at a lower cost than competitors.

7. Fair wages and work. From his assembly line production, Henry needed more workers to work at a station doing the same thing for hours. This thought made Henry think how it would drive him mad doing the same thing repetitively. Thus the fair wages came into effect. Henry would pay his workers, of all kinds, a high pay of five dollars to work in his company. This was a decision made off of his thought that if workers get paid well, it will give them incentive to do well.

8. Manufacturing at the lowest cost. As one of Henry’s goals, this was important for a starting company. The way of business is not by producing at a low cost and selling high. Being able to put a new product out on the market, consumers will be skeptical to buy it if it is priced too high. He succeeded at making the best quality vehicle at the lowest possible cost and selling to the public as just that, a low cost. His objective was to give more to the community than they had to give up. As a result, this made his business increase because people with decent paying jobs were able to afford them.

9. Money is not everything. People become so consumed in the quick payoff that they quickly forget what their initial intention was. Money is not useful unless it is benefiting the forward production of your business. The more you put your heart into a product to make it the best it can be, you should not have to worry about the ending revenue, and your product will speak for itself. Money comes naturally as a result of hard work and good service, and nothing less.

10. What we may expect. Success comes from hard yet intelligent work. By overcoming fears of failure and the future, you can learn from the economy that evolves everyday and use that as a tool for improvement. Not letting the money get in your way of the clear established goals, one can expect to end on top of the industry. It is not an easy journey, but if you truly desire the ultimate goal and are willing to make the sacrifices in order to attain those objectives, it will be worth it in the end.

Full Summary of My Life and Work

Henry Ford’s “My Life and Work” was a biography of his life. This book gives us insight on the brilliant minded Henry Ford. His dedication to his work, and belief in himself, changed the world for the better. As his mother says, he was a born mechanic, he truly was. Henry found himself as a young man tinkering with watches discovering that he was quite good at fixing them up. At the age 15 he could do almost anything in watch repairing and even considered going into the watch manufacturing business. However, his father did not approve of his mechanic doings; he felt that Henry should be a farmer instead. Henry did not care, and continued to work towards his passion of mechanics. At the age 17, he left school to become an apprentice in a machine shop and worked nights at a jewelry shop repairing damaged watches. At this time the standard railroad time was being arranged, formerly being on sun time, just as in present day daylight savings. Henry succeeded in designing a watch that kept both times, which was a big hit in his neighborhood.

In 1879, Henry managed to get a chance to run a Nichols-Shepard machine with his apprenticeship, and when it ended he began working with a local representative of the Westinghouse Company of Schenectady as an expert in setting up and repairing their road engines. In working with this Ford experienced the pros and cons of this engine. He could not help himself to wonder about the weight and cost of these engines. He felt that they were far too expensive to be owned by other than a farmer with a great deal of land. Because they were sometimes used as tractors to pull heavy loads, or if the farmer was in the threshing business he would put his threshing machines on the engine and transported it from farm to farm. This brought the thought of making a form of a light steam car that would take the places of horses, as a tractor to do the excessive hard labor of farm work such as plowing.

This idea of a light steam car kept rolling around in his mind. The thought of a horseless carriage was a common idea, which at first did not appeal so much to him due to the poor road conditions. However, being the well rounded mechanist he was, it did not take him long to build his first steam wagon, or tractor. In building this, the idea of it possibly being used on road would be of use, because horses were just not worth their keep with all the attending to, feeding and expenses. Thus began his road to manufacturing cars. On this path of manufacturing he discovered that more people were becoming more and more interested in this invention of road cars and less interested on inventions for farm work. The first car he built was a steam car, it had a kerosene-heated boiler and had plenty of power, but the boiler was dangerous. To make it safe it required an excess of weight. Two years Henry worked on his experiment of developing a safer road car, however he did not give up the idea of a horseless carriage.

As Henry Ford was not discouraged at his efforts to make a road car was not going anywhere. He began looking into a new direction. He recalls reading in an English magazine about a “silent gas engine”. It ran on illuminating gas. As far as weight was concerned, it was nothing like the steam engine, and the use of gas seemed to interest Henry. This concept was by no means new to the world, but it was the first time a serious effort was made to put them on the market. Henry followed this concept to about 1885-1886 when the steam engine was no longer and interest to power for the carriage. In 1887 Henry Ford built a new engine first hand on the Otto four-cycle model. Which meant it was an engine with four cycles, the piston traverse the cylinder four times to get one power impulse. The model worked well, while it did not make much power, it was slightly lighter in proportion compared to other engines being offered. Later giving his engine to a man who wanted it. This was the beginning of the combustion engines.

After his attempts to create his road car, Henry decided it was time for him to return to the farm, not because he wished to fulfill his father’s wishes of becoming a farmer, but more so to experiment in the shop he built on the property. His father again disapproving of his mechanist ways offered him a bribe. A bribe that entailed Henry to forty acres of land provided that he give up being a machinist. He agreed. Henry at the time began cutting timber on this land, which gave him a chance to marry. The timber he cut was used to build his house which was added to his workshop. When he was not cutting, he was spending his time in the shop working on the gas engines learning everything he could from them. It was then in 1890 that he began building a double-cylinder engine. After time spent working on his newest idea, it became apparent that it would not work out due to the weight.

Another failed attempt down the drain, Henry was optimistic that he would one day get it right. Henry was then offered a job with the Detroit Electric Company as an engineer and machinist at forty-five dollars a month. Quickly, he accepted the job. Wanting to get away from the farm live anyways they moved to Detroit where he would make more money. After settling in, and building a new shed for him to work in, he began tinkering with a new motor. In 1892, he completed his first motor car. The appearance of the vehicle resembled a buggy, and could hold two people. It functioned by two speeds, low speed (ten miles per hour), and high speed (twenty miles per hour); and contained no reverse. In order to start the vehicle it was necessary to turn the motor over by hand; and stopped by releasing the clutch and pressing a brake. The machine all together weighed five hundred pounds with a gas tank holding of three gallons located under the seats. In spring of 1893, it ran to his satisfaction becoming the first and for a long time the only automobile in Detroit.

Henry Ford became a huge hit with his “gasoline buggy”. He soon found that he was encountering problems of nuisance. This brought light to how many people were interested in it. When he would go to town, he would have to start bringing a chain with him to chain his buggy to a pole, because people would try and mess with his buggy and attempt to run it. Henry ran that machine about one thousand miles in one year, and then sold it to a man named Charles Ainsley of Detroit for about two hundred dollars. This was his first sale, and he wanted to start another. It was not Henry’s idea of making cars, he was into production, and it did not hurt that he could use the money.

In 1896, the second car began being produced. Ford produced three cars from his house that ran for years in Detroit; also buying back his very first car from Mr. Ainsley for a hundred dollars. During this time he kept moving up in rank at the electricity company. The president of the company continued to pursue Henry into making only electric engines because it was the coming thing. Years later, the Detroit Edison Company offered him the general superintendence position, but only on one condition- He would have to give up the gas powered engine theory and devote himself to something they saw “useful”. He chose to give up the job on August 15, 1899 and went into the automobile business; for he already knew his car was bound to be a success.

In March 1902, he resigned from the Detroit Automobile Company determined to never be under other’s orders again; in which the company later on became Cadillac. From there he rented a shop to continue his experiments. In his little shop he worked on developing a four-cylinder motor. With his little money he tried to find out what business really was. From the time he worked at the Detroit Automobile Company to his present company, Henry had built about twenty-five cars. Henry met Alexander Winton of Cleveland, the founder of the Winton car, was at the time track champion and willing to meet all comers. Henry saw this as an opportunity and met with Winton for a race. He won. This became his first form of advertisement for his four-cylinder car, because at the time, all people raved about was its speed. This gave him the attention he needed to finance his service. This seemed to be the reversing the natural process which money comes as a result of work and not before. His idea was that if a man did his work well, the price he would get from his product and finances would care for themselves, and that a business should start small and work its way up with its earnings. If one does not make his way up in earnings, it signals that the business owner is wasting their time, and does not belong in that business.

“A good business was not one that did good work and earned a fair profit. A good business was one that would give the opportunity for the floating of a large amount of stocks and bonds at high prices” (Ford & Crowther, 1922). Ford felt that the bonds were the most important thing and the work came second. At this time in Ford’s life he began to plan that his business should start off with the largest possible capitalization and then sell all the stock and bonds. Whatever was left over from paying expenses went towards the business. He found that business that used financing were used was no place he wanted his company to be. He expressed that he saw what was going on all around him with other businesses and stated that it was a money making game and was certainly no place for a man such as himself to accomplish anything, because the true foundation to business is service.

With Henry’s business mission being complete service, he felt that just because the car was sold, the manufacture was not through with its customer. The price and quality of the car would make the market large, he went further to making sure that his customer’s were always satisfied and served as their sole duty to make sure the car ran and was continuously put into the shape it needed to be. With this type of customer service, Ford became well recognized as an outstanding service provider, along with price and quality of his products. The man who has the largest capacity for work is bound to succeed. During this year he came to the conclusions that:

“Finance is given a place ahead of work and therefore tends to kill the work and destroy the fundamental of service.
That thinking first of money instead of work brings on fear of failure and this fear blocks every avenue of business – it makes a man afraid of competition, of changing his methods, or of doing anything which might change his condition.
That the way is clear for anyone who thinks first of service- of doing the work in the best possible way” (Ford & Crowther, 1922).

In 1903, Henry Ford teamed up with Tom Cooper, in which they built cars designed for speed. Creating one of the fast cars, at that time, the “999” was definitely designed for speed. Neither Ford nor Cooper lined up to test drive this car, instead Cooper suggested Barney Oldfield, a professional bicycle rider to test it instead. After teaching Oldfield how to drive, he took off. The “999” did exactly what it was supposed to; it showed the world that he indeed could, build the fastest car. A week after the test race, Henry Ford formed the Ford Motor Company. Thus under no other order Ford became the vice-president, designer, master mechanic, superintendent and general manager. He started off with owning twenty-five and a half percent, about twenty-eight thousand dollars. In 1906, Henry began buying stock to raise his holdings to fifty-one percent, which would pay out about seventy-five million dollars.

In their first year of Ford Motor Company, they built “Model A” cars selling for about eight hundred fifty dollars. The business was going smoothly and was gaining a reputation for “standing up”, tough yet simple. In the second year they developed three models: Model B, Model C, and Model F. Ranging in prices they sold fewer cars than the first year, sales were at 1,695 cars. Henry decided to begin advertising the Model B more, because it was the four-cylinder car for general road use and fixed up the twin of “999” to be advertised however no stunt will sell for any length of time. Ford changed his policy the next year making his cheapest car six hundred dollars and the most expensive being seven hundred fifty dollars, which demonstrated what price meant to them. That change increased his sales by five times the amount from the previous year. Cars were beginning to be sold globally and business began booming.

In 1908 Ford had sold over ten thousand cars, and yet there was still a rave about expanding, new styles and models. Already creating eight different models, Ford announces in 1909 without warning that in the future, he was only creating one model, the Model T. He stated,” Any customer can have a car painted any color that he wants so long as it is black” (Ford & Crowther, 1922). He stated he would build a vehicle large enough for a family, but small enough for just an individual to tend to. Using only the best materials and lowest price, no man making a good salary will be unable to own one. The people did not like his new plan and felt that his business was sure to fail within six months of his announcement. From this year to the year 1911, their business still continued to skyrocket.

Around the beginning of 1913, Henry Ford began an assembly line in his company. A Ford car contained five thousand parts, and the assembly line made this process a much quicker production and helped cut down the time spent on assembling one car. However, Henry feared that the repetitive work would drive a man wild; having to do the same thing continuously terrified him. Ford had a theory about wages he paid his workers. He felt that when you pay men at a high rate, they do good work. This was because they will work hard to continue to work for that pay and would not have to worry about not being able to provide for their family. He paid his workers five dollars a day for eight hours work, which was a large pay at that period. Ford’s workers were of all different kinds, he never turned a man down from work because of education or a disability they may have. He felt that the workers that were not smart worked harder than the ones that were quite intelligent. In his mind, workers that were not knowledgeable about machines were hard labor workers because they had to learn their job from him and his ways of work, where as workers who were educated about machines would try and change the way of things or find things wrong in his production. Men who had disabilities such as missing appendages, blind, or deaf were not turned away either, they were willing to work to support their families and Henry was not going to stop them from achieving just that. This work ethic and wage motive was a huge desire for all of the workers in his company, and out. By the year 1918, America was getting filled with cars, half of them being Model Ts. His production of Model Ts, the use of a moving assembly, and having low cost made his company the largest automobile manufacturer in the world.

In 1917, World War I was still occurring in America. Ford proclaimed he did not understand why we would go to war. He learned that people were anxious for a peace settlement across the nations and decided to finance a mission to Stockholm later called the “Peace Ship”. However his attempt for peace failed, Henry felt he got a valuable experience out of the journey. From that moment until late 1918 his company was dedicated to the United States government making cars, parts, ambulances, delivery trucks, listening devices, steel helmets, boats, armor, whatever they needed. Ford’s production principles were put to a new product, a three hundred fifty foot wide, one hundred feet tall and a third mile long boat. After this boat was designed and ran the Armistice was put in effect, and there was no longer war, America was in peace again.

In the final chapter of the book, Ford states, “all that I have done- is to endeavour to evidence by works that service comes before profit and that the sort of business which makes the world better for its presence is a noble profession” (Ford & Crowther, 1922). He describes to the readers not to give up, for his theories and methods were at one time taken for granted; but that was because they were not understood. Money is useful only as it serves the company to better itself. It should not take away from the community more than the benefits it gives. Poverty is not a something one can avoid by doing nothing; it is diminished by hard yet intelligent work. “Everything is possible… faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen” (Ford & Crowther, 1922)

The Video Lounge

This video displays Henry Ford’s models of gas powered horseless carriages, the cars. As you watch this video you get to see a glimpse of Henry Ford’s life, the Ford Motor Company. As each vehicle evolves over the years, you see the differences he made to each car as they varied in what they were capable of. Also it demonstrates the number models he went through in developing his greatest one, the Model T.

Personal Insights

Why I think:

The author is one of the most brilliant people around…or is full of $%&#, because:

I think the author was one of the most brilliant people around, at that time period, because he was so intelligent, and thought things through about how he needed to get where he needed to be. He was never discouraged by failed attempts which demonstrate his optimism towards life. Nothing was out of his reach as long as he set his mind to it. No one could stop him or bring him down, not family, not the economy or market, and not himself. You just cannot help but get consumed in his life story and achievements; it is quite inspiring from how he came about.

If I were the author of the book, I would have done these three things differently:

1. It is a wonderful book and story; however I would have done things a little different by sticking to the timeline of the story. He jumped around the book with times and dates of things he did or accomplished. It was a little difficult at first to follow along with the chronology of events.

2. I was so intrigued at his attempt in his “Peace ship”. It was disappointing to see that there was no more to the story than he just set sail because of what he had learned about the nations crave for peace. He mentioned that his sail was a failure, but he did not regret it because of what he learned on his journey. I would have loved to read more about his adventure on the ship and what exactly he learned from it.

3. I wish he would have elaborated more about his wife and son. We learned that his son eventually took over his company, but not how he did at running the company. With little talk of his wife and son, I wish to have read more about his family’s involvement and thoughts of his struggle to success.

Reading this book made me think differently about the topic in these ways:

1. How often things are taken for granted. Everyday people, objects, ideas, and leisure items are taken for granted. Henry Ford told us in the book that at the beginning of his career he was taken for granted. His ideas were merely a joke when electricity was coming about. He states that he knew his plan was going to benefit all; he just needed the chance to create it and prove that they would indeed benefit from it. His ideas were merely misunderstood and that once they discovered the luxury of having his vehicle, they wanted to change it (i.e. such as styles, colors, and uses of his products), when in the beginning they never gave it time to come about.

2. Value your workers. Your business is not only about your product. Your workers play a valuable role in your success. If Henry did not pay his workers well to give them incentive to do well, who is to say that they would not slack off or pay less attention to their jobs? This could have caused a major problem when assembling vehicles, and for Ford Motor. Not just that but your workers are those who make your products. Regardless if they are bad or good products, it still reflects your company. Take time to value your workers in the work they do, and in return your products will reflect that.

3. Work efficiency. The best way to get something done is to do it fast and efficiently. Discovering new ways for things to be done at a faster pace without pulling you under financially is essential. For example, if I have to wash 10 loads of clothes on a time frame, it would be better for me to go to a laundry mat. That way instead of waiting 20 hours ( an hour to wash and dry) and running up my electric bill, I could spend twenty dollars (a dollar per load washing and drying) and use 10 machines at once and get my laundry done in as little as two hours. Every situation varies, but that is why it is important to discover the best work efficiency that suits your company.

I’ll apply what I’ve learned in this book in my career by:

1. I will not let anything get in my way of achieving my ultimate goal. Letting no one get in my way towards achieving my utmost best I can be, I will be at the top of my market and unstoppable. I am the decider of my future and I will not stop until I achieve my goals.

2. Determination and hard work pay off in the end. You cannot sit around and do nothing and expect something. When it comes to business, you cannot slack with the evolving markets. Staying on top of my job requires the utmost awareness of what is going on around me and how my product can continuously have a competitive advantage over other rivals.

3. Money is not everything. I will not be so consumed in money that I cannot do my job to it finest. When you put forth your best work and achieve the maximum efficiency of your work, the money will come naturally. It is not something that can be forced or received by doing nothing; it comes from good work and service.

Here is a sampling of what others have said about the book and its author:

“What others have said about the book and its author?”
    “A fun, easy to read book by a man with common sense and tremendous insight. It is written during a “simpler” time when America was becoming an industrial powerhouse. Ford is a very intelligent and practical man, a man you wish you could have a conversation with. Two reasons I didn’t give this 5 stars; is because it becomes superfluous in describing day to day operations at the Ford factory. Also, I thought I would find more principles that could be applied to today. Overall, an enjoyable read!” (”Amazon,” 2012).
    “Anyone who has read “My Life and Work” will understand exactly what is wrong with our country today. There are three ways to create wealth–grow it, mine it, or make it–and activities like flipping houses or trading carbon credits do not qualify. Ford developed what is now known as the Toyota production system, and readers will see a very explicit description of just in time manufacturing (and its benefits) in “My Life and Work.” Ford also summarized effective labor relations in one sentence: “It ought to be the employer’s ambition, as leader, to pay better wages than any similar line of business, and it ought to be the workman’s ambition to make this possible.” (“Amazon,” 2012).
    These are just a few of the many people raving about Henry Ford’s life and how he has greatly impacted our world today with his determination then. We will forever be grateful for his ideas that he brought to life and evolved to what they are today. As the book may be dated, it still opens our eye to how far we have come from that time and the wonders he established for us today.

Bibliography

Amazon (2012). Retrieved from http://www.amazon.com/My-Life-Work-Autobiography-Henry/product-reviews/146352546X

Ford, H., & Crowther, S. (1922). My life and work. Garden City, NY: Doubleday, Page &

Company.

(2011). Henry ford: On mens desire for corporate advancement. Retrieved from http://frrl.wordpress.com/2011/09/13/Henry-ford-on-mens-desire-for-corporate-advancement/

Oak, M. (2011, August 26). Buzzle.com. Retrieved from http://www.buzzle.com/articles/Henry-ford-timeline.html

The life of Henry ford. (2003). Retrieved from http://www.hfmgv.org/exhibits/hf/default.asp

Yihan, L. (2011). Leadership With You. Retrieved from http://www.leadership-with-you.com/Henry-ford-leadership.html

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Contact Info

To contact the author of this article, “A Management in a Minute Book Overview of My Life and Work by Henry Ford for Practicing and Aspiring Managers” please email Jenna.Gindro@selu.edu.

About the Publisher

David C. Wyld (dwyld.kwu@gmail.com) is the Robert Maurin Professor of Management at Southeastern Louisiana University in Hammond, Louisiana. He is a management consultant, researcher/writer, and executive educator. His blog, Wyld About Business, can be viewed at http://wyld-business.blogspot.com/. He also serves as the Director of the Reverse Auction Research Center (http://reverseauctionresearch.com/), a hub of research and news in the expanding world of competitive bidding. Dr. Wyld also maintains compilations of his student’s publications regarding: