Henry Ford was an American industrialist, business magnate, founder of the Ford Motor Company, and chief developer of the assembly line technique of mass production.
Henry Ford was born July 30, 1863, on a farm in Greenfield Township, Michigan. At twenty, Ford walked four miles to their Episcopal church every Sunday. Ford was devastated when his mother died in 1876. His foresight revolutionized the transportation industry and enabled many people to purchase their first car. Find below 5 lessons for success you can learn from Mr. Ford:
Lesson 1: Focus is key to success
You are completely unaware of your potential because you’ve never focused all of your efforts on one task. You spend an hour of your day doing this, three hours doing that, but you never focus all of your attention on one assignment.
“No man is living that can not do more than he thinks he can.” When you focus your life, impossibilities become possibilities. Get focused, you can do more than you think you can!
Lesson 2: Anyone who stops learning is old
The mind is a terrible thing to waste. During our developmental years, we must concentrate on learning — which leads us to think. And once we have learned to think we must never lose that ability. Continuous lifelong learning, from both successes and defeats, not only encourages success but keeps us young.
Today, we can dramatically increase the knowledge base from which we draw learning — from countless friends and followers who have shared similar experiences. It is an education without cost but brimming with value. “Anyone who stops learning is old, whether at twenty or eighty. Anyone who keeps learning stays young.” Mr. Ford.
Lesson 3: Don’t only be in the business of making money
People do not remember Henry Ford merely as a guy who made lots of money. People remember him, first and foremost, as the person who made the assembly line famous and made and sold great cars in the process. “A business that makes nothing but money is a poor business,” –-Mr. Ford
“If money is your hope for independence, you will never have it. The only real security that a man can have in this world is a reserve of knowledge, experience, and ability.” –Mr. Ford. “A business devoted to service will have only one worry about profits. They will be embarrassingly large.” –Mr. Ford.
Lesson 4: Have Passion For What You Do
If you don’t have enthusiasm for your work, then it’s time to find a new job! While you won’t have a perfect workday every day, having a passion for what you do will make everything more worthwhile. It might take some time to find this passion, but Henry Ford’s life lessons show us that they are worth fighting for. “Enthusiasm is the yeast that makes your hopes shine to the stars.” Mr. Ford
Lesson 5: Listen to your customers
Another important lesson that Ford taught us is to listen to what your customers want. Now, this doesn’t mean asking them directly. As Ford famously quoted himself: “If I had simply asked people what they wanted, they would have asked me for faster horses”.
The key is to read between the lines. If you have a social media account, use it to listen to feedback and figure out what your customers want from your service. Don’t just use it to market your business “Any customer can have a car painted any color that he wants so long as it is black.”— Mr. Ford.