Sometimes with the pace of business we dont take the time to review the thoughts and concepts of the great people of the past. When I read this book I was amazed at his level of thinking. We tend to believe that our generation is always coming up with the great thoughts and ideas. If this is your thinking you need to step back 100 years or so to the life and times of Henry Ford. All we are doing is reinventing what he did.
It was amazing to read that many of the ideas and ideals around the turn of the twentieth century are still used today. Ford goes into great detail describing the origination of the Ford motor company, the labor force, the assembly line, and financial situations of the company. At a time when most of the male workers across the country were working for fifty cents a day, Ford incorporated a minimum wage of from three to five dollars a day. Henry Ford did a good job writing this book as well. There were several examples of sage advice include which are quoted by speakers and writers to this day. He was truly a visionary, business minded genius. The world was certainly improved by his presence.
Henry Ford is the classical writer on management. He stands on a same line with Sun Tzu, Niccolò Machiavelli, Robert Owen, Frederick Taylor and Henri Fayol.
In the book My Life and Work, Henry Ford presents his view on different things: management philosophy, social life, human abilities and capabilities, the role of the bankers in the production, good debt and bad debt, the labor and the speculation, the roots of poverty and the ways to solve it, the role of the government, and other important topics.
This is the foundation of all the management literature, and every modern manager should be aware with his Fords work.
