10-07-2010, 05:25 PM
(This post was last modified: 10-07-2010, 05:33 PM by Questioner.)
Have you actually read Ford's book?
How much do you know about him and his business?
In my own personal opinion, this book is one of the greatest devotional books of all time. I believe it is a profound, deeply thought, carefully worded and thoroughly inspiring example of how the individual person can aspire to a greatness of spirit, through serving others in business.
Ford specifically addresses many key points in his book.
He continuously points out that this is an imperfect world, but we can work together to make it better.
He discusses product development as a form of service to others, to help lessen the burdens of this imperfect world.
He discusses manufacturing operations as a form of service to others, further lessening burdens of this imperfect world.
He discusses retail distribution, sales, and service as a form of service to others, with the same purposes.
He discusses financial management as a form of service to others. He is quite outspoken and direct about what is right and wrong for investors to expect or claim from a business.
He discusses the need for ever lower prices so that service can be provided to more people. He rocked the world with his insistence on this point.
He discusses the need for ever higher wages so that service can be provided to more people. He rocked the world here as well.
He discusses the transformation of a luxury for the few idle rich, into a huge relief of a painful burden of life for the masses. He also discusses how his personal vision of reduced pain in farm life may have saved England in WWI. I did not know either of these aspects of his work with tractors until I read his book. Do you already know all about these things?
Of course he made mistakes. Of course he had to learn from others. The moving assembly line came from suggestions of others in his company. His excessive opposition to unions only broke because of what his wife said to him. The important thing here is that he did seriously consider what other people had to say, and at times modified his point of view as he learned new perspectives.
If you're just going to dismiss all of this, we can't have much of a productive conversation.
The key point is the definition of value. I suppose it might be a tenet from Marx and Engels that the value of a good cannot possibly exceed its immediate manufacturing cost. I do not believe Marx and Engels were divinely inspired, infallible, or consistently seeking to be of service to others. I do believe they are less reliable guides to a life of productive service than Ford.
Your claim that profit and wages are inherent forms of slavery are specifically addressed and debunked by Ford's book, and more importantly, by his life's work. I feel that I am inviting you to a dialog, and you're continuing to repeat secondhand opinions of others about what profit, wages, work, and business can really mean in this imperfect world.
I believe that if more businesses were run according to Ford's principles, there would be less minority enslavement possible.
What other people did with Ford's company after his death has nothing to do with the power of his own ideas. Nor do the mistakes of other people, after he died, take away from what I see as a tremendous loving heart of service behind those ideas.
How much do you know about him and his business?
In my own personal opinion, this book is one of the greatest devotional books of all time. I believe it is a profound, deeply thought, carefully worded and thoroughly inspiring example of how the individual person can aspire to a greatness of spirit, through serving others in business.
Ford specifically addresses many key points in his book.
He continuously points out that this is an imperfect world, but we can work together to make it better.
He discusses product development as a form of service to others, to help lessen the burdens of this imperfect world.
He discusses manufacturing operations as a form of service to others, further lessening burdens of this imperfect world.
He discusses retail distribution, sales, and service as a form of service to others, with the same purposes.
He discusses financial management as a form of service to others. He is quite outspoken and direct about what is right and wrong for investors to expect or claim from a business.
He discusses the need for ever lower prices so that service can be provided to more people. He rocked the world with his insistence on this point.
He discusses the need for ever higher wages so that service can be provided to more people. He rocked the world here as well.
He discusses the transformation of a luxury for the few idle rich, into a huge relief of a painful burden of life for the masses. He also discusses how his personal vision of reduced pain in farm life may have saved England in WWI. I did not know either of these aspects of his work with tractors until I read his book. Do you already know all about these things?
Of course he made mistakes. Of course he had to learn from others. The moving assembly line came from suggestions of others in his company. His excessive opposition to unions only broke because of what his wife said to him. The important thing here is that he did seriously consider what other people had to say, and at times modified his point of view as he learned new perspectives.
If you're just going to dismiss all of this, we can't have much of a productive conversation.
The key point is the definition of value. I suppose it might be a tenet from Marx and Engels that the value of a good cannot possibly exceed its immediate manufacturing cost. I do not believe Marx and Engels were divinely inspired, infallible, or consistently seeking to be of service to others. I do believe they are less reliable guides to a life of productive service than Ford.
Your claim that profit and wages are inherent forms of slavery are specifically addressed and debunked by Ford's book, and more importantly, by his life's work. I feel that I am inviting you to a dialog, and you're continuing to repeat secondhand opinions of others about what profit, wages, work, and business can really mean in this imperfect world.
I believe that if more businesses were run according to Ford's principles, there would be less minority enslavement possible.
What other people did with Ford's company after his death has nothing to do with the power of his own ideas. Nor do the mistakes of other people, after he died, take away from what I see as a tremendous loving heart of service behind those ideas.
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