Breaking Away from a Successful Family Tradition
Isn’t the title enticing? Does it feel like it is encouraging you to break all rules to become a billionaire? Well, if it does, congratulate yourself; you are on the road to become a billionaire! For those of you who don’t, just dream of becoming one. (just kidding :p)
Humans by nature are rebellious. If they can live without rules, they will. Ironically, rules are created by humans for humans. Well, some rules are valid to enforce ethical boundaries, just like the Ten Commandments; some are crazy, such as Texas’ Castle Law; some are just guiding principles to help you navigate the world, and that was what Henry Ford broke.
Born to a prosperous family farm in Dearborn, Michigan, Ford was groomed to continue his family business as a farmer. At that time, agriculture was the main crop of the economy, so being a successful farmer sounded like a secure future. However, Ford disliked farm work, instead preferred to tinker with machineries. Not letting his comfort zone to deter him from pursuing his passion, at the age of 18, he left for Detroit to become an apprentice machinist. After working his way up to become a chief engineer at Thomas Edison’s Edison Illuminating Company, Ford decided to setup his own company. Despite of his innate engineering talents, Ford failed twice. On his third try, he finally managed to establish what is now known as Ford Motor Company.
In the course of his leadership and inventions, he broke many rules and made major contributions to humankind. He defied the popular belief that cars were only meant for the wealthy. By way of his vision, Ford evolved once a luxury item for the wealthy to become an essential transportation vehicle for ordinary citizens. For the first time in history, it was possible for one to go beyond their place of residence to look for new opportunities. Ford changed the urbanization landscape of many societies and indirectly helped to create the middle-class.
Furthermore, Ford stunned the world by paying his workers twice the prevailing minimum wage. As a consequence, he managed to improve workers’ morale and product quality, thus reducing employee turnovers and costs. Ford cultivated a new business mind-set to the importance of paying competitive wages to bring the best talents whose productivity gains far outweigh the initial cost.
Last but not least, being a pioneer in making cars readily available, Ford was instrumental in campaigning for the proliferation of gas stations and establishment of interstate highway systems. As a result, America’s infrastructure propelled it from being an agricultural country into an industrialized superpower. If Ford is still alive today, his net worth is believed to be around US$180 billion.
What can we learn from Ford? I would say Ford’s life exemplifies the rewarding byproduct when you
- Discover your talents
- Follow your heart
- Pursue your passion