ಹೆನ್ರಿ ಫೋರ್ಡ್. ಹೆಸರೇನು ಅಷ್ಟೊಂದು ಅಪರಿಚಿತ ವಾದುದಲ್ಲ. ಮಾಡೆಲ್ "ಟಿ " ಎನ್ನುವ ಹೆಸರಿನಿಂದ ಪ್ರಸಿದ್ದಿಪಡೆದ ಫೋರ್ಡ್ ಕಾರುಗಳ ಮಾಲೀಕ ಹಾಗು ಫೋರ್ಡ್ ಸಂಸ್ಥೆಯ ಸಂಸ್ಥಾಪಕ. ಹೆನ್ರಿ ಫೋರ್ಡ್ ಅವರ ಆಟೋ ಬಯೋಗ್ರಫಿ ಪುಸ್ತಕದ ಹೆಸರು " ಮೈ ಲೈಫ್ ಅಂಡ್ ವರ್ಕ್". ಪುಸ್ತಕ ಓದುತ್ತಾ ಹೋಗುತ್ತಿದ್ದಂತೆ ಫೋರ್ಡ್ ಅವರ ಜೀವನದಲ್ಲಿ " ಲೈಫ್ " ಮತ್ತು " ವರ್ಕ್" ಎರಡೂ ಬೇರೆ ಬೇರೆ ಅನ್ನುವುದಕ್ಕಿಂತ, ಒಂದೇ ಎನ್ನುವುದೇ ಸರಿ ಎನಿಸುತ್ತದೆ.
ನೇರವಾಗಿ ಅಮೇರಿಕಾ ಮತ್ತು ರಷ್ಯ ನಡುವಣ ಹೋಲಿಕೆಯಿಂದ ಶುರುವಾಗುವ ಪುಸ್ತಕ, ಫೋರ್ಡ್ ಅವರು ತಮ್ಮ ಜೀವನದ ಘಟನೆಗಳನ್ನು ಮತ್ತು ತಾವು ಕಂಡ " ರಸ್ತೆಯ ಮೇಲೆ ಮಾನವ ಉಪಯೋಗಿಸ ಬಹುದಾದಂತಹ ಲಘು ವಾಹನದ" ಕನಸು ಓದುಗನಲ್ಲಿ ಕೂತುಹಲ ಹೆಚ್ಚು ವಂತೆ ಮಾಡುತ್ತದೆ. ಪುಸ್ತಕದ ಬಗ್ಗೆ ಹಾಗಿದೆ ಹೀಗಿದೆ ಅಂತ ಹೇಳುವುದಕ್ಕಿಂತ ಪುಸ್ತಕದಲ್ಲಿನ ಒಂದಿಷ್ಟು ಆಯ್ದ ಬರಹಗಳು ಇಲ್ಲಿವೆ. ಖಂಡಿತ ನಿಮಗೆ ಇಷ್ಟವಾಗುತ್ತದೆ. ಇನ್ನು ನೀವುಂಟು ಫೋರ್ಡ್ ಅವರು ಹೇಳಿದ ಮಾತುಗಳುಂಟು!
1. On Farming: "Lack of knowledge of what is going on and lack of knowledge of what the job really is and the best way of doing it are the reasons why farming is thought not to pay. Nothing could pay the way farming is conducted. The farmer follows luck and his forefathers. He does not know hoe economically to produce and he does not know how to market. A manufacturer who knew how neither to produce nor to market would not long stay in business. That the farmer can stay on shows how wonderfully profitable farming can be".
2. On His first job: " i was offered a job with Detroit Electric Company as an engineer and machinist at forty-five dollars a month. I took it because that was more money than the farm was bringing me and i was decided to get away from the farm life anyway. The timber had all been cut. We rented a house on bagley avenue, Detroit. The workshop came along and i set it up in a brick shed at the back of the house. During first several month i was in night shift at the electric-light plant. which gave me very little time for experimenting - but after that i was in day shift and every night and all of every saturday night i worked on the new motor. I cannot say that it was hard work. No work with interest is ever hard. I always am certain of results. They always come if you work hard enough. But it was very great thing to have my wife even more confident than i was. she has always been that way.
3. On prices : " unduly high prices are always a sign of unsound business, because they are always due to some abnormal condition. A healthy patient has a normal temperature; A healthy market has normal prices. High prices come about commonly by reason of speculation following the report of shortage.
4. On Profit: " Profit belong in three places: they belong to the business - to keep it steady, progressive and sound. They belong to the men who helped produce them. And they belong also, in part, to the public. A successful business is profitable to all three of these interests - Planner, Producer and Purchaser"
5. On Business: Principles;
(1) An absence of fear of the future and veneration for the past. One who fears the future, who fears the failure, limits his activities. Failure is only the opportunity more intelligently to begin again. There is no disgrace in honest failure; there is disgrace in fearing to fail. What is past is useful only as it suggests the way and means for progress.
(2) A disregard of competition. Whoever does a thing best ought to be the one to do it. It is criminal to try to get business away from the another man - criminal because one is then trying to lower for personal gain the condition of one's fellow man - to rule by force instead of by intelligence.
(3) The putting service before profit. Without a profit business cannot extend. There is nothing inherently wrong about making profit. Well conducted business enterprise cannot fail to return a profit, but profit must and inevitably will come as a reward for good service. It cannot be the basis - It must be the result of service.
(4) Manufacturing is not buying low and selling high. It is the process of buying materials fairly and, with smallest possible addition of cost, transforming those materials in to a consumable product and giving it to the consumer. Gambling, speculating, and sharp dealing, tend to only to clog this progression.
ನೇರವಾಗಿ ಅಮೇರಿಕಾ ಮತ್ತು ರಷ್ಯ ನಡುವಣ ಹೋಲಿಕೆಯಿಂದ ಶುರುವಾಗುವ ಪುಸ್ತಕ, ಫೋರ್ಡ್ ಅವರು ತಮ್ಮ ಜೀವನದ ಘಟನೆಗಳನ್ನು ಮತ್ತು ತಾವು ಕಂಡ " ರಸ್ತೆಯ ಮೇಲೆ ಮಾನವ ಉಪಯೋಗಿಸ ಬಹುದಾದಂತಹ ಲಘು ವಾಹನದ" ಕನಸು ಓದುಗನಲ್ಲಿ ಕೂತುಹಲ ಹೆಚ್ಚು ವಂತೆ ಮಾಡುತ್ತದೆ. ಪುಸ್ತಕದ ಬಗ್ಗೆ ಹಾಗಿದೆ ಹೀಗಿದೆ ಅಂತ ಹೇಳುವುದಕ್ಕಿಂತ ಪುಸ್ತಕದಲ್ಲಿನ ಒಂದಿಷ್ಟು ಆಯ್ದ ಬರಹಗಳು ಇಲ್ಲಿವೆ. ಖಂಡಿತ ನಿಮಗೆ ಇಷ್ಟವಾಗುತ್ತದೆ. ಇನ್ನು ನೀವುಂಟು ಫೋರ್ಡ್ ಅವರು ಹೇಳಿದ ಮಾತುಗಳುಂಟು!
1. On Farming: "Lack of knowledge of what is going on and lack of knowledge of what the job really is and the best way of doing it are the reasons why farming is thought not to pay. Nothing could pay the way farming is conducted. The farmer follows luck and his forefathers. He does not know hoe economically to produce and he does not know how to market. A manufacturer who knew how neither to produce nor to market would not long stay in business. That the farmer can stay on shows how wonderfully profitable farming can be".
2. On His first job: " i was offered a job with Detroit Electric Company as an engineer and machinist at forty-five dollars a month. I took it because that was more money than the farm was bringing me and i was decided to get away from the farm life anyway. The timber had all been cut. We rented a house on bagley avenue, Detroit. The workshop came along and i set it up in a brick shed at the back of the house. During first several month i was in night shift at the electric-light plant. which gave me very little time for experimenting - but after that i was in day shift and every night and all of every saturday night i worked on the new motor. I cannot say that it was hard work. No work with interest is ever hard. I always am certain of results. They always come if you work hard enough. But it was very great thing to have my wife even more confident than i was. she has always been that way.
3. On prices : " unduly high prices are always a sign of unsound business, because they are always due to some abnormal condition. A healthy patient has a normal temperature; A healthy market has normal prices. High prices come about commonly by reason of speculation following the report of shortage.
4. On Profit: " Profit belong in three places: they belong to the business - to keep it steady, progressive and sound. They belong to the men who helped produce them. And they belong also, in part, to the public. A successful business is profitable to all three of these interests - Planner, Producer and Purchaser"
5. On Business: Principles;
(1) An absence of fear of the future and veneration for the past. One who fears the future, who fears the failure, limits his activities. Failure is only the opportunity more intelligently to begin again. There is no disgrace in honest failure; there is disgrace in fearing to fail. What is past is useful only as it suggests the way and means for progress.
(2) A disregard of competition. Whoever does a thing best ought to be the one to do it. It is criminal to try to get business away from the another man - criminal because one is then trying to lower for personal gain the condition of one's fellow man - to rule by force instead of by intelligence.
(3) The putting service before profit. Without a profit business cannot extend. There is nothing inherently wrong about making profit. Well conducted business enterprise cannot fail to return a profit, but profit must and inevitably will come as a reward for good service. It cannot be the basis - It must be the result of service.
(4) Manufacturing is not buying low and selling high. It is the process of buying materials fairly and, with smallest possible addition of cost, transforming those materials in to a consumable product and giving it to the consumer. Gambling, speculating, and sharp dealing, tend to only to clog this progression.
