The wisdom of Henry Ford

"Obstacles are those frightful things you see
                  when you take your eyes off your goal."
Henry Ford (1863-1947)
Founder of Ford Motor Co.

Henry Ford is pretty well known for his key role in developing the assembly line process of industrial manufacturing, and for paying his workers the unimaginable sum of $5 per day in 1914, roughly double the normal pay rate at the time. Ford instituted the $5-a-day pay scale to reduce heavy turnover and high training costs in his factories. A newspaper editorial observed that the pay hike "shot like a blinding rocket through the dark clouds of the present industrial depression."

I wish we had some energetic capitalists and industrialists who could shoot some blinding rockets through the dark clouds of our present economic malaise. Where are those so-called "job creators"? Why aren't they doing their thing?

Anyway, I like Ford's point of view on obstacles and goals. If you find that your planning meetings are peppered with phrases like "The reason we can't do that is…." and "We've never done it that way….", you need to do some brainstorming and stifle the whiners.

Real obstacles can't be ignored, they're unavoidable….and most of the time you can deal with them…….and by the way, check out the wisdom of the Old Farmer below.

The wisdom of the Old Farmer

Daniel Pink says....

...on failure...

....and Malcolm Forbes chimes in.....