Henry Ford: The Man Who Changed The World

“Start by doing what is necessary; then do what is possible; and suddenly you are doing the impossible.”- Francis of Assisi.

The life of Henry Ford as well as other people who successfully changed the world followed the path of doing something necessary, then doing something possible, and finally the world is changed.

Born on July 30, 1863, on his family's farm in Wayne County, near Dearborn, Michigan, Henry Ford showed interest in machinery and became an apprentice as a machinist at 16 years old in Detroit, where he mastered the structure and operation of steam engines as well as bookkeeping skills. At the age of 28, Ford was hired by Edison Illuminating Company as an engineer, and he was quickly promoted to chief engineer due to

his gifted talent in engineering. Meanwhile, Ford grew interest in horseless carriages and tried to make his own self-propelled vehicle, which he named Ford Quadricycle. With the help from his friends and Thomas Edison, Ford started to build a second, better model of automobile.
After the completion of the second model, Ford persuaded some businessmen to support his first horseless carriages company. With no experience in running a business, Henry Ford failed not once, but twice. However, Ford did not give up, instead he tried to build racing cars, which turned out to be a success and drew attention from bankers, who helped Ford make his third automobile venture, Ford Motor Company. With the assistance of loyal employees and his undeniable vision, Ford introduced Model N, a four-cylinder car, became the best-selling car in America in 1907. Nevertheless, he gained experience from other industries and utilized assembly line in car manufacturing, thus produced a better, cheaper motor car Model T, which costed about $270 in 1922. In order to promote productivity and reduce turnover, Ford doubled the wages to $5 per day, which allowed his employees to buy the products of Ford Motor Company and become members of middle class.
Henry Ford is also known for his innovation and support in aviation industry. Ford’s advancements in radio navigation made flying safer for everyone. The airport in Dearborn opened in 1925, was named after Henry Ford.
Henry ford effected the world in many ways during his lifetime.

He was considered a maverick of the automobile industry. This include successfully making a car something that an everyday man can own not just the extremely rich. It is important to note that he did not invent the car but he produced an affordable car. He also implemented the very first assembly line production method. Both of these things changed the world and helped formed it to what it became today. With the implementation of assembly lines this allowed for low skill and high wage paying jobs. This then caused the middle class to boom and that helped grow his own market for the model T. With a majority of the country now able to afford the model T this helped all companies by providing a faster delivery of goods and services. This could be considered one of the main factors in one of the most rapid changes in common day life that people have experienced. Farmers were no longer isolated on remote farms and unable to reach cities or have to travel by horse. They could transport more products to market than ever. Then Ford had produced a tractor shortly after producing a model T and caused an agricultural revolution. Since horses basically disappeared overnight for doing field work now less hay could be grown and other crops could be focused on. This cause a cycle of better crops being farmed, and more yield every time. That right there is one of the biggest changes to the world caused by henry

ford.
Another thing that needs to be examined more is what other impacts did the implementation and creation of an assembly line production style caused. This indirectly gave America the edge in almost all forms of industry. This style of production could be used in almost any type of production. That would give America an edge because they found a way to produce any type of good or ship they needed at a rate faster than anyone else at the time. A main advantage of this was unskilled works would be payed less then true skilled tradesmen. This is because they would just stand in one place and do the same task over and over, every time they worked. This made it possible that no one individual was so important that they were not easily replaceable. This helped keep a workforce that helped make ford a lot of money. Then when he had a surplus of money he decided to change things for the better for employees and pay them back. This had increased their wages from 2.50$ an hour to 5.00$ an hour and that had sent shockwaves through the world. This basically caused all other companies to start paying their employees better and work them a standard 8-hour shift with 1 hour of lunch. He had personally improved the lives of a majority of the middle class that worked in assembly line style production methods. On top of improving the lives of Americans Henry Ford also improved the overall lives of his workforce by providing night classes that would teach English, banking, basically anything that improved life at home. This would help stabilize his workforce and provide knowledge on how to be an ideal resident of Detroit.
Not only did he belive in the assembly line he also belived in a vertical ownership of his company. This meant he owned every stage of the productions method from timber, to rubber plants in south America. He literally controlled everything and had people from every walk of life working for him. Including testing specialized workforces in villages to produce certain parts needed for the production method. He helped develop cities with grids and power systems that these people never would have had access to before. This basically gave the American dream to people all over the world. He was one of the first business men to have this kind of overall vision for his company. This helped him grow and helped prove and show a new way to go into business. There is better ways to look at a workforce and how to get the most out of production.
This gave a very strong message about change in Henry Ford’s eyes. To him change was a way to not only better himself but better the world and help improve the lives of millions. He basically helped cause both an industrial and agricultural revolutions. He saw that the world was great as is but could be even better with change. There was no reason not to try to improve everyone’s life’s even though they had to work in some tough conditions. Basically by changing production henry ford was able to change the world. He didn’t just want a workforce but he wanted to make a positive impact on his workforce and basically force his competitors to follow suit or lose their workforce. He was disliked by people in some industries for the improvement in life that he caused for his employees. This was a strong message that he put out and had great stickiness factor. Which is hard to come by at times and always helps change take hold.