![]() ![]() He adapted the moving assembly line process for the manufacture of automobiles, which allowed him to manufacture, market and sell the Model T at a significantly lower price than his competition, enabling the creation of a new and rapidly growing market.īut in doing so, Henry Ford froze the design of the Model T. Instead, his initial advantage came from his creation of a virtuous circle that underpinned his vision for the first durable mass-market automobile. Henry Ford’s genius lay not in inventing the assembly line, interchangeable parts, or the automobile (he didn’t invent any of them). However, even if Ford didn’t verbalize his thoughts on customers’ ostensible inability to communicate their unmet needs for innovative products - history indicates that Henry Ford most certainly did think along those lines - and his tone-deafness to customers’ needs (explicit or implicit), had a very costly and negative impact on the Ford Motor Company’s investors, employees, and customers. (My methodology in determining the non-existence of this quote is a footnote to this blog post.) We have no evidence that Ford ever said those words. Let me dispel with the suspense it doesn’t appear that Henry Ford ever actually uttered this famous and polarizing phrase. Having grown weary of both sides of the debate, I was curious did Ford utter those words? And what did they mean for the early days of the Ford Motor Company, and by extension, for entrepreneurs looking to learn about how to innovate? One side vehemently argues the merits of innovating vis-à-vis customer feedback the other argues that true innovation is created by singularly gifted visionaries who ignore customer input and instead manufacture innovation based solely on their prophetic vision for a better future. We’ve all been in conversations on the topics of creativity and innovation when Henry Ford’s most famous adage is (excuse the pun) trotted out, usually accompanied by a knowing smirk and air of self-evidence. ![]() “If I had asked people what they wanted, they would have said faster horses.” ![]()
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