HENRY FORD
My heart went out to him now as I walked beside this energetic old man. What an enormous responsibility rested on those slight shoulders. His empire was made up of sixty American, nine Canadian, and twenty overseas manufacturing branches; vast experimental farmlands in Michigan and Georgia; hundreds of thousands of acres of timberlands in Michigan and Kentucky; a fleet of Great lakes steamers, an entire railroad, sixteen coal mines, a glassworks- and on and on. And of course his River Rouge plant, that extraordinary complex where all the raw materials came together and automobiles rolled out the doors – an industrial wonder. Yet, the genius of Henry Ford was his ability to cut through complicated problems. He said to me one day in Florida, “Jimmie, I feel that life is an obstacle course, and what we’re here for is experience. That’s what’s going to count in the end?”The direct approach. He and Firestone shared an ability to “cut through the cackle and…
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