Why Did Henry Ford Fail

When questioned about his long, unsuccessful endeavor to create a lightbulb, Thomas Edison replied, “I have not failed 1,000 times. I have successfully discovered 1,000 ways to not make a light bulb.” A great leader isn’t defined by accomplishments (although it definitely plays a role); they are defined by how they can learn and improve from failure. In truly successful leaders, I noticed that each had learned from past adversities or mistakes. Henry Ford, Fred Smith, and Bill Gates have all faced failure and used it to refine their own identities as leaders.

Henry Ford

Henry Ford is known by many names to praise his accomplishments, from “father of the assembly line”, to “wealthiest man of the age” (History,n.d).To his workers, Ford was known as generous and reasonable by providing five dollars an hour in wages and eight hour work days. However, Ford was not always the generous, wealthy pioneer that the history books describe him as. His first automobile designs, the Quadricycle and the Model A, were inefficient and riddled with problems. While investors began to back out of Ford’s automobile industry, Ford busied himself by sending out his own mechanics to fix the cars and give feedback. (Ostrowsky,2014) After many more failed attempts, Ford’s mechanics gave
Ford’s goal was to create an automobile that was affordable to the common man - a goal that not only involved lowering the price of cars but increasing the wellbeing of the common man. His cheap assembly technique, paired with his high wages ended up increasing automobile sales as more workers could afford cars (History,n.d). Another example of his servant leadership style is the value that he put into his mechanic’s feedback, as he used their recommendations to change his failures into a success