My Life and Work

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By Listen TheBook Posted on May 30, 2023

In Category - Memoirs, Technology & Engineering

Authors: Henry Ford In Year : 1922

Book Language: English

Audiobook: My Life and Work

Introduction—What Is The Idea?
The Beginning
What I Learned About Business
Starting The Real Business
The Secret Of Manufacturing And Serving
Getting Into Production
Machines And Men
The Terror Of The Machine
Wages
Why Not Always Have Good Business?
How Cheaply Can Things Be Made?
Money And Goods
Money—Master Or Servant?
Why Be Poor?
The Tractor And Power Farming
Why Charity?
The Railroads
Things In General
Democracy And Industry
What We May Expect

Henry Ford profiles the events that shaped his personal philosophy, and the challenges he overcame on the road to founding the Ford Motor Company. Throughout his memoir, he stresses the importance of tangible service and physical production over relative value as judged by profits and money. He measures the worth of a business or government by the service it provides to all, not the profits in dollars it accumulates. He also makes the point that only service can provide for human needs, as opposed to laws or rules which can only prohibit specific actions and do not provide for the necessaries of life. Ford applies his reasoning to the lending system, transportation industry, international trade and interactions between labor and management. For each, he proposes solutions that maximize service and provide goods at the lowest cost and highest quality. He analyzes from a purely material viewpoint, going as far as to argue that the need for a good feeling in work environments may reflect a character flaw or weakness. However, his unflinching focus on the ultimate material products and necessities of life provide clever insights in how he created an efficient and flexible system for providing reliable transportation for the average person. (Summary by LivelyHive)