I am not saying my problem with Mr. Romney was that he was a fascist.  I have written I could not trust a person who changes his beliefs regularly.  However, I am smart enough to see how democrats out voting republicans in republican primaries has brought us Traditional Values people and conservatives to the choice of Milt Romney.

The reality is that America is in great danger.  The issue is no longer Mitt Romney.  The issue is the death of America through Socialist fascism. 

Obama does not know better than most of us.  Obama’s accomplishments are his healthcare reform and spending 7 trillion dollars.  Obama and his bureaucrats are using Obama-care to interfere with the religious liberties of religious organizations. Obama-care is an extreme financial burden on individuals, organizations, and companies. The interest on monies Obama borrowed are increasing the American debt everyday

Mr. Mitt Romney is a better leader.  His resume is the resume of a talented proven leader.  He knows how to cut spending (including employees) in order to save a company.  He will be able to downsize government and save tax payers money. 

I have written that the relationship between government and the citizens is a delicate balance between governing and freedom. Mr. Romney understands that it is not governments’ job to manage, orchestrate, or run the American free enterprise system.  Governments exist to administrate government departments and protect the public welfare.

 Threats to the public welfare have to be legitimate not perceived threats.  Capital investment is not a legitimate threat to Americans.  Investments fuel business start-ups, which in turn fuel job growth and economic growth.

For too long the liberal democrats have been brainwashing Americans in to hating the American free enterprise system.  Since Obama took office he has been criticizing chief executive officers, Wall Street, and other symbols of the successful American economy.

Yet all these ingredients are necessary for a prosperous economy and successful people.  We need not give up on ourselves.  Everything that is, was, and will be is still possible.

Freedom fuels the greatness that decent and good people can create.  Even in these troubling times I believe that the majority in any people group are good and decent people.  The average person does not believe that his or her success is invested in how much he or she can take from his or her neighbor.

Only Obama and his kind think in such foolish terms. Who spent the US into great debt?  That would Mr. Barak Hussein Obama.  The rich, successful, and wealthy people of America did not borrow and spend America into the current economic mess.

Furthermore, I have no problem in supporting Mr. Romney.  I had the opportunity of watching Mr. Romney’s speech at Liberty University (my Alma matter) and this morning I saw Mr. Romney’s speech to the Hispanic Economic Coalition.

These were great speeches focusing on the public policy initiatives that will lead America out of this current economic mess.  Low taxes, low government spending, and low government regulation will allow for greater investment in American and Americans.

However, do not be fooled. I have my eyes wide open, looking for any signs of wavering by Mr. Romney.  If I see any wavering on ultra conservative issues, I will report it.  My report will not be to knock Mr. Romney down, but to help him improve as a servant of the people.

I want Mr. Romney to win because America will win.  I am fully aware of the challenge.  Liberals are resorting to all their tricks.  The network news is liberal. These liberals are manufacturing polls to make Obama appear more attractive and to demoralize conservatives.

This is why every voter is going to be necessary.  Traditional Values and conservatives have to vote and help promote and market Mr. Romney.

America was built on the tradition of the potential behind freedom.  I heard Mr. Biden, vice president of the US, retort that liberals dream  and want personal success.  It is apparent liberals want to be the only ones that have their dreams come true.

I am not a slave of Obama.  I was born free and will die a free man.  It is impossible to remain free when Obama wants to take everything I earn.

Let us have a mature and serious conversation on petty envy. My life is not defined by how much more my neighbor has than I have in life. This is Mr. Obama’s campaign in a nutshell.  In this year’s presidential election, Mr. Obama cannot campaign on Iraq, Afghanistan, Guantanamo Bay Cuba, the national debt, tax reform, and illegal immigration reform.

Afghanistan is a mess.  The US has no influence in Iraq.  Egypt, Libya, and all the other Arab nations who went through the Arab spring are now under Muslim extremist’s control, i.e. Iran’s control.  The residents of Gitmo were not giving civilian trials and Gitmo was not closed down. Ninety five percent of Americans did not get their Obama promised tax cut.  Obama did not cut the deficit in half.  He doubled the deficit.  During Mr. Obama’s first two years the democrats were in charge of the Legislative branch and the Executive branch and did not bother to construct one immigration reform bill.  To date Mr. Obama has not issued any immigration reform public policy.

However, there are still people high on the novelty presidency of Obama.  We cannot allow this man to ruin America.  I have set aside my concerns about Romney.  America is more important than my personal held belief system.  In addition, Romney is not a deviant.   Mr. Romney is educated and has excellent experience administrating large systems, such as the Olympics. Mr. Romney is also a person with high moral character.  Any one when compared to Obama has high moral character.

Therefore, please get involved in building a better tomorrow for all Americans.  Vote republican for president and congress. In addition, get involved in the Romney optimistic and positive public relations effort.

A few years ago at one of the Cabinet retreats organized to discuss crucial government policies, the President of Uganda, Mr. Yoweri Museveni visibly angered by the poor implementation of government policies at cabinet level accused his ministers of sleeping instead of making strategic plans for their Ministries. On this occasion, the media appeared to blame the President for washing his dirty linen in public.

Recently when the President was making his last state of the Nation address in the 8th  Ugandan parliament, nearly a third of the Cabinet ministers were dead asleep, with a score of them snoring as saliva oozed out of their mouths. Many sleep experts were even willing to bet that a few of the sleeping ministers could have had a score of dreams. The most distinguished sleeping cabinet ministers were, the then Vice President, Prof. Gilbert Bukenya, the former Prime Minister, Prof Apollo Nsibambi, the then Minister of Health, Dr. Stephen Malinga,  former Minister of Internal Affairs, Kirunda Kevidinda and the current  Minister of Public Service, Henry Kajura.

The pictures of these eminent cabinet ministers snoring away on the front pages of major newspapers in Kampala shocked many Ugandans and generated many debates. The opposition politicians were instead blaming the government for appointing very tired people to run the affairs of the country even when there are young and energetic party members who could have handled the ministries better. There were even some muted complaints from within the ruling National Resistance Movement Party that some members have been Ministers for the last 25 years and that it was time younger people with fresh ideas be appointed by the President.

Other people were however, blaming age for these sleeping tendencies. Most of the sleeping Ministers are 60 years and above, with others like the Minister of Public Service and Internal Affairs in their late 70s. With such advanced age, it was normal to doze off and lose concentration in the hot Kampala afternoon.

When contacted individually, some of the sleeping Ministers admitted to dozing off but they blamed the long speech of the President for their fatigue. They observed that President’s speech was characterized by too many off-the-script explanations, which dragged on for three long hours. 

There were some of the sleeping ministers who however, were in denial saying that what appeared on the daily newspapers was not an accurate representation of the truth. They explained that sometimes when in deep thought, they close their eyes, so they actually were not sleeping as portrayed in the dailies, but were pondering over the President’s speech. Very interesting defence from the sleeping Ministers indeed. Never mind that even those in denial had saliva dripping out of their mouths as they “pondered” over the President’s long speech.

Forms of Tutoring Group there are several kinds. Types of Guidance This group can be used in situations and problems of its own. The counselor should be able to assess and see the state of his client and can use the Service with appropriate guidance and focus groups. Several types of group counseling methods according to the book are:

Home Program Room
The program is carried out at perlajaran with the school or classroom to create conditions at home so as to create conditions for free and fun. Under these conditions the student can express his feelings at home so that the resulting atmosphere of intimacy. The main objective of this program is for teachers to know their students more closely so as to help the efsien.

Field trip
Trips conducted by visiting and take a sighting on objects of interest relating to a particular lesson. They get the information they need. This adjustment will encourage activity, cooperation, responsibility, confidence and develop their talents and aspirations.

Discussion group
Discussion groups are a way in which students have the opportunity to solve problems together. Each student had the opportunity to express their thoughts in solving a problem. In the discussion memlakukan students are given the roles of discussion leader and reporter tertentuseperti and other students become participants or members. Thus will arise a sense of responsibility and self-esteem.

Group activities
Group activities can be a good technique in the guidance, because the group can provide opportunities to individuals (the students) to participate as well. Many specific activities that are more successful when done in groups. Through group activities to develop their talents and distribute certain impulses and students can contribute ideas. Thus comes the responsibility and confidence.

Student organizations
Student organizations, especially in the schools and seminaries can become one of the techniques in group counseling. through the many student organizations student problems that both its individual and group can be solved. Through student organizations, students have the opportunity to know the various aspects of social life. Enable students in student organizations can develop leadership talent and foster a sense of responsibility and self-esteem.

Sociodramatic
Sociodramatic can be used as one way of guidance group. sociodramatic is a way to help students solve problems through drama. Didramakan problems are social problems. This method is done through role play activities. In sociodramatic, the individual will play a particular role of the social problem situation.

Individual problem solving acquired through the appreciation of the role of the situation of his problems. The role of staging and held discussions on ways of solving problems.

Psychodrama
Almost the same as sociodramatic. Psychodrama is problem solving through drama. The difference is that didramakan problem. In sociodramatic issues raised are social problems, but in the psychodrama that is didramakan psychological problems experienced by the individual.

Remedial Teaching
Remedial teaching (remedial teaching) is a form of learning is given to one or several students to assist learning difficulties it faces. Remedial teaching is one of the techniques of guidance that can be done individually or in groups depending on the learning difficulties faced by students.

              Learning to pull your mind apart is an imaginative approach to cracking your mind, the quickest way to leadership is problem solving and the ultimate test is creating things. Every problem has a subtle beginning and dramatic end, understanding its DNA is essential to resolving its inherent code. It is the ingenuity of creativity to attract wealth. First principles assembly and reverse engineering indulge the mind in the fine art of thinking in small steps, you need to create some elbowroom to process your thoughts and steps into your Zen moment of clarity and completeness.

1. Scenario planning: I am going to borrow heavily from Steven D. Levitt and Stephen J. Dubner’s book, Freakonomics: A Rogue Economist Explores the Hidden Side of Everything and says  “dramatic effect often has distant, even subtle causes“. So looking at a picture, frame by frame …first in isolation then collectively bring out a stronger them, strong to catch the eye’s mind. Drawing up your decision tree with strong preference for implication and a coordinated response. A proactive mind enjoys the hypnotic draw of scenario planning, playing out different plans with different endings but with a consistent feel for a quality finish, an expected end and closure. If you knew you had a plan that work, wouldn’t you tag along?

2. Robust risk evaluation: I guess the word risk is overrated and has a lot of negative vigor but if you found a better way to look at risk, wouldn’t you indulge it? let say risk has an imaginary value and is raised  to the power of an imaginary figure, in Euler’s brilliance we going to real number and the stuff is actually  proof able, I kid you not. Now look at risk like the value of something that make it a real asset, more valuable so managing  the risk  in a robust fashion makes  it even more real, something you can sink your teeth  into, and chew  to your heart desire.  

3. Continously investing in models:

Every battle field is different yet related, the elements of war are always  the same, you must chose your battle carefully so by continuously investing  in models reaching out  to the models costumed for  the situation for me, I  use models with an addiction for details  and exclusive  use of command chain. Command and details seem to work in every battle model. Tapping into the unique properties of models, gives you something to lean on and remember. Taking advantage  in constant  investment  in model thought process with strong underlying  theme  to the issue you are trying to solve every successful move has a first  block and revolutionary counter, learn it…Constantly learning to pull your mind apart every time.

4. Constantly compounding your interests:

Never  be satisfied  with just being  number one, consolidate  your position when  you are contend  to stay in a spot without  improving, you just running out slowly .Don’t get caught  with your pants down, keep working  on what you have got… improve, innovate and your  storage space. He drive to constantly compound your interest is a need, desire it. Be smart about the spots you stick to…whatever you concentrate on expands.

Take time to feel your pulse and did you find? Your heart hasn’t  taken a break  from being the best heart  you got and  the quality of exercise  or even diet  pushes  its quality, second  to none. The  collective strategies  of scenario planning ,a robust risk assessment ,continuously investing  in models and constantly compounding  your interest  all help  to expand  your options  and exploration virtue which you need to pull your mind  apart in a  slow helpful grind, practice make eternal.

Brings us to the psychological aspects of human factors and human interaction. Understanding of the psychological aspects and the factors needed help from psychology as a science which studies human behavior in interaction. Introduction to the man became very important in the understanding of leadership. Behavior of leaders and followers based on personality factors that underlie a person’s predisposition include motivation (associated with motif), trait (nature), temperament, belief (confidence), cognitive style and flair.

In general, motivation is defined as a variable (which had intervened) which is used to create certain factors within the organism, which generate, manage, maintain and integrate behavior toward one goal. In the context of leadership, motivation relevant species are social motives. For example, a leader who has the trait of order tends to always work on a regular basis and requires followers to regularly anyway and do not like the situation of the group without hierarchies. Leaders who have the trait ‘gamblers’ tend to be willing to take a big-risk and speculative actions.

Temperament refers to the disposition closely related to the determinants of biological or physiological. Temperament determines a person’s emotional response to stimuli from the outside. Temperament also affects the formation of a person’s character. Wund (in Allport, 1937) demonstrated the suitability of four types of temperaments of Hippocrates, sanguine, melancholic, choleric, phlegmatic, with dimensions of human emotions. Wund classify the types of people using the four temperaments of Hippocrates classification based on: (a) speed of onset and intensity of emotional response, (b) the width and depth of emotion, and (c) in terms of kinetic and affective atmosphere. For example, people who type respons will tend to warm towards others, though not deep. While people tend to respond choleric type cold to others, but try to explore all those who knew deeply and quickly take the necessary action.

Belief (faith) to be part of one’s personality is revealed and put motivational biases as a matter of equal and continuous with the assessment of reality. Someone will use the belief in judgment and tend to follow what he believed even if the facts indicate different things. The biases of his conduct based on trust, even if unconsciously, regarded as being equivalent to the facts, in fact rarely considered truer than fact. There is a belief that the trust will take him to a better outcome than if he did not follow what he believed. Although the formation of trust is strongly influenced by the experience but in the end the experience beyond belief, beyond the empirical facts. People who believe in the existence of supernatural powers, for example, will include the possibilities that power involvement in decision-making process. People who believe that nature has arranged things tend to not want to make changes in the nature.

. Leaders and leadership behavior is strongly influenced by cognitive style. Leaders who tend to accept a lot of information capable of using multiple points of view in solving the problem and strive to understand comprehensively the various aspects before taking decisions. While the leaders are not open to a lot of information will make decisions based on the belief of the present without other considerations.

Talent, though not a major factor, an important factor in leadership. Talent is defined as a predisposition (tendency in a person) that support and make it easier to learn and master a skill. People who have the leadership talent is easier to learn and practice leadership behaviors. Intelligence, emotional sensitivity and social awareness, agility and dexterity in act, as well as a willingness to be involved in the problems of many people into the capital for the development of one’s leadership abilities.

Personality factors shaping the character and leadership as well as determining the pattern of one’s leadership style. Factors combined with the knowledge and skills which later developed into skills (ability to a certain degree of expertise), personality factors will shape the psychological qualities of leadership. Personality factors, knowledge, abilities and skills become the basis for the interaction of a human being with another man. With high ability who have a need for achievement can achieve high performance. Meanwhile, people who have a need for power will be ruler who could maintain and develop his power.

After understanding the psychological aspects, the understanding of aspects of the sociological, cultural, political, historical, geographical, technical and economical to be the next requirement for the understanding of leadership. In the context of covering all aspects of leadership were born, grow and make an impact. Specific leadership behaviors that lead to improvements in a community may not provide benefits in other communities. Certain political conditions, such as critical condition, would make the action decisive and authoritarian leadership is useful for solving many problems, while in a stable condition that the action actually caused the stagnation of society.

Cultural aspects of determining whether an act of leadership judged good or bad. Assessment is generally based on considerations of social and geographical aspects of the practice is closely related to the technical and economical aspects. How to achieve common goals effectively and efficiently into consideration the basic technical and economic aspects. How to enable people to achieve prosperity, to achieve the most noble purpose in life, that’s the main issue of leadership.

Leadership is born and develops in the human interaction to achieve a common goal was always concerned with the synergy of various aspects of the condition. In practice all aspects and factors that intertwined to form the style, pattern and structure of leadership. Therefore, the leadership becomes very complex and cannot be taken out of context.

In addition to the secretary in charge of the work there are other responsibilities that must be implemented are:

1. Personal Responsibility (Responsibility of Individuals)

The Secretary is responsible for the performance of self and development efforts toward a better quality. By “managing” oneself in order to come up with excellent performance in the implementation of the basic tasks of everyday life, such as:

a. Simplify and expedite the work led by the timing and distribution of the information efficiently.

b. Distribute information from the head office in a clear and accurate.

c. Support a smooth workflow between the boss’s office with the other parts.

d. Provide opportunities for leaders to focus more on strategic matters and has a long-term impact.

e. Provide positive feedback and improvement initiatives for the company.

2. Internal Responsibility (Responsibility In)

The Secretary is responsible for achieving superior performance of the office and its effect on corporate performance. This responsibility is manifested through the activity:

a. Manage resources including finance office.

b. Create an atmosphere (physical and mental) that support the smooth working.

c. Support the creation of a positive work culture.

d. Help create a “positive informal group” in a corporate environment.

e. Managing subordinates to improve the effectiveness and efficiency in the office.

3. Networking Responsibility (Responsibility of Agencies)

Responsibilities of the secretary to broaden horizons and fabric of the company with the aim of increasing competitiveness. Its realization is through efforts to expand the company network, organize and supervise the implementation of formal events and informal organized by the office in connection with efforts to maintain and participate in developing the company’s image.

4. Responsibility for the success of the company.

In its active role to help smooth the leadership tasks so as to achieve the goals set.

5. Legal responsibilities of a secretary.

One important aspect of the office secretary, although most likely not listed in the written rules, is the responsibility of the leadership of the ruling as an intermediary in the transaction. As an intermediary, means the secretary of the act became deputy leader in business dealings with third parties, because the secretary has this authority. So the secretary must act carefully and responsibly.

Cover of My Life and Work

Executive Summary

Henry Ford was a man who changed our world to what it is today by his determination and positive outlook on his inventions. He was born to be successful with his drive to be nothing less but extraordinary. His book teaches us the importance of overcoming fear and to always have good faith in your work and to not be discouraged in what you do just because at that time there is no demand for your product, because there never is for new developments. You have to be self reliant and to not hold back your ideas.

Portrait of Henry Ford (ca. 1919) (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

At a young age he took a great interest in mechanics. Being inspired to do well in mechanics first begun when he laid eyes upon a road engine which ran by steam that farmers used to run equipment from farm to farm. Fifteen year old Henry could fix just about any watch, and seriously considered going into that industry. He just could not get the idea of the steam engine out of his mind. The thought of having a horseless carriage intrigued Henry. While his father did not approve of this idea, Henry began his first experiment of attempting to build a horseless carriage. Lacking the necessary funds needed to support his experiment, Henry went to work for a machinist as an apprentice. Excelling well as a machinist was his confirmation that he could actually accomplish this horseless carriage for the benefit of the community. Working for the Edison Company at the time, Henry attended a meeting in which he briefly met and spoke to Edison himself and described his plan to create a gas powered vehicle. Edison an electric man did not discourage him, but encouraged him to go with his plan and stick to it; for he was bound to be successful.

A photograph of Henry Ford, Thomas Alva Edison, and Harvey Samuel Firestone- the fathers of modernity. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

    After being offered a higher position in the company with the exception that he give up his obsession; Henry gave up his job and joined the automobile industry where he joined a group of investors later formed Detroit Automobile Company. However, these investors were not quite as passionate about the quality and success of this, but more so on the money they would earn from it. Tired of listening to the orders of others, he set a goal that he was no longer going to be an inventor under any management but his own. Four years later, the Ford Motor Company was established and Henry was the head man of the organization.
    The new company started off slow, but quickly moved its way up the ranks. Henry’s goal was to make the best quality he could design at a price all could afford. It took his company various styles and models before he was satisfied with his product. The model T was his most popular vehicle, particularly after he announced that this model was the only model that he was going to offer and only in black. After talk that his crazy move was going to land him without sales, just the opposite occurred. Soon after Henry’s demand was growing rapidly and needed to meet the consumer wants quicker. The assembly line was introduced, and was a huge success. As business grew from the assembly line, so did his worker wages. He felt the better a man was paid for their job, the harder they were willing to work for that pay. Service was their number one objective, work being second. The trust he built up with customers based off of his service was precious to him, and he was very good at achieve this.

From The Truth About Henry Ford by Sarah T. Bushnell: Mr. and Mrs. Ford in his first car, which he sold but afterwards bought back. It is now his most prized possession. Notice the old-fashioned bicycle wheels, and the bell on dash. Note:This appears to be the Ford Quadricycle (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

     Business to Henry was not anything he felt like he could not achieve. He stresses the importance of following through with creative ideas and to not give up. Along his road to success he faced many challenges that without his determination and enthusiasm about his work, he would have never overcome. Focusing on work and the quality and service instead of the money aspect, there will be no need to worry because your product will speak for itself and the revenue will come naturally.

The Ten Things Managers Need to Know from My Life and Work

   
1.    Find what you are good at. Henry learned at a young age that he was good at mechanics. Being able to work on watches at the age of fifteen was just a step towards realizing his max potential. Moving up from mechanics to machinist, Henry revealed not only was he good at mechanics but he was even better at working on machines.

2.    Determination is everything. Henry Ford’s determination and his passion towards mechanics and machines was his first step towards his success. Not being discouraged by his surroundings, he was able to achieve his goal of being a successful business man. Without the determination of succeeding your goals you would not be motivated enough to follow through those plans, and would just be wasting your time.

3.    Get inspired. Originally being inspired by a steam engine, the thought of designing a gas powered horseless carriage interested him as many people at the time felt that electric was the future, Henry continued to tinker with his experiments. Actually meeting with Thomas Edison, Henry explained his thoughts of designing his gas powered machine. Edison was impressed by his thoughts and encouraged him to not let it go to waste, because if he continued down this road he was bound to find success. This coming from the man in the electric industry inspired Henry that he not only had a good idea but someone that inspired him pushed him past all the odds against him and made him even more passionate towards reaching that ultimate goal.

4.    Failure is not an option. If at first you don’t succeed, get back up and try again. With many attempts in creating a gas powered horseless carriage, Henry never let his damper his idea. Learning from your mistakes and having an open mind towards new ideas will help you evolve your product.

5.    Customer Service is essential. Henry would say that service comes first, and then work. He felt that the business with a customer did not end with a sale of his vehicle. Customers deserved the best quality and service available for their purchase. He would make sure that they were satisfied with their purchase and could rely on his work to be of the best quality so they should never have to worry about any troubles that could occur. This was his best feature, and because of it he became well known from it.

6.    Work efficiently. Working in any business you should have established goals and plan your steps to accomplish those goals as efficiently as possible. Henry recognized his goals as being the best quality and affordability he can make with the best service provided. In doing so, the assembly line was his most efficient way of work. He was able to assemble more cars a day using an assembly line to meet to demand for his product at a lower cost than competitors.

7.     Fair wages and work. From his assembly line production, Henry needed more workers to work at a station doing the same thing for hours. This thought made Henry think how it would drive him mad doing the same thing repetitively. Thus the fair wages came into effect. Henry would pay his workers, of all kinds, a high pay of five dollars to work in his company. This was a decision made off of his thought that if workers get paid well, it will give them incentive to do well.

8.     Manufacturing at the lowest cost. As one of Henry’s goals, this was important for a starting company. The way of business is not by producing at a low cost and selling high. Being able to put a new product out on the market, consumers will be skeptical to buy it if it is priced too high. He succeeded at making the best quality vehicle at the lowest possible cost and selling to the public as just that, a low cost. His objective was to give more to the community than they had to give up. As a result, this made his business increase because people with decent paying jobs were able to afford them.

9.    Money is not everything. People become so consumed in the quick payoff that they quickly forget what their initial intention was. Money is not useful unless it is benefiting the forward production of your business. The more you put your heart into a product to make it the best it can be, you should not have to worry about the ending revenue, and your product will speak for itself. Money comes naturally as a result of hard work and good service, and nothing less.

10.    What we may expect. Success comes from hard yet intelligent work. By overcoming fears of failure and the future, you can learn from the economy that evolves everyday and use that as a tool for improvement.  Not letting the money get in your way of the clear established goals, one can expect to end on top of the industry. It is not an easy journey, but if you truly desire the ultimate goal and are willing to make the sacrifices in order to attain those objectives, it will be worth it in the end.

Full Summary of My Life and Work

Henry Ford’s “My Life and Work” was a biography of his life. This book gives us insight on the brilliant minded Henry Ford. His dedication to his work, and belief in himself, changed the world for the better. As his mother says, he was a born mechanic, he truly was. Henry found himself as a young man tinkering with watches discovering that he was quite good at fixing them up. At the age 15 he could do almost anything in watch repairing and even considered going into the watch manufacturing business. However, his father did not approve of his mechanic doings; he felt that Henry should be a farmer instead. Henry did not care, and continued to work towards his passion of mechanics. At the age 17, he left school to become an apprentice in a machine shop and worked nights at a jewelry shop repairing damaged watches. At this time the standard railroad time was being arranged, formerly being on sun time, just as in present day daylight savings. Henry succeeded in designing a watch that kept both times, which was a big hit in his neighborhood.

In 1879, Henry managed to get a chance to run a Nichols-Shepard machine with his apprenticeship, and when it ended he began working with a local representative of the Westinghouse Company of Schenectady as an expert in setting up and repairing their road engines. In working with this Ford experienced the pros and cons of this engine. He could not help himself to wonder about the weight and cost of these engines. He felt that they were far too expensive to be owned by other than a farmer with a great deal of land. Because they were sometimes used as tractors to pull heavy loads, or if the farmer was in the threshing business he would put his threshing machines on the engine and transported it from farm to farm. This brought the thought of making a form of a light steam car that would take the places of horses, as a tractor to do the excessive hard labor of farm work such as plowing.

This idea of a light steam car kept rolling around in his mind. The thought of a horseless carriage was a common idea, which at first did not appeal so much to him due to the poor road conditions. However, being the well rounded mechanist he was, it did not take him long to build his first steam wagon, or tractor. In building this, the idea of it possibly being used on road would be of use, because horses were just not worth their keep with all the attending to, feeding and expenses. Thus began his road to manufacturing cars. On this path of manufacturing he discovered that more people were becoming more and more interested in this invention of road cars and less interested on inventions for farm work. The first car he built was a steam car, it had a kerosene-heated boiler and had plenty of power, but the boiler was dangerous. To make it safe it required an excess of weight. Two years Henry worked on his experiment of developing a safer road car, however he did not give up the idea of a horseless carriage.

As Henry Ford was not discouraged at his efforts to make a road car was not going anywhere. He began looking into a new direction. He recalls reading in an English magazine about a “silent gas engine”. It ran on illuminating gas. As far as weight was concerned, it was nothing like the steam engine, and the use of gas seemed to interest Henry. This concept was by no means new to the world, but it was the first time a serious effort was made to put them on the market. Henry followed this concept to about 1885-1886 when the steam engine was no longer and interest to power for the carriage. In 1887 Henry Ford built a new engine first hand on the Otto four-cycle model. Which meant it was an engine with four cycles, the piston traverse the cylinder four times to get one power impulse. The model worked well, while it did not make much power, it was slightly lighter in proportion compared to other engines being offered. Later giving his engine to a man who wanted it. This was the beginning of the combustion engines.

After his attempts to create his road car, Henry decided it was time for him to return to the farm, not because he wished to fulfill his father’s wishes of becoming a farmer, but more so to experiment in the shop he built on the property. His father again disapproving of his mechanist ways offered him a bribe. A bribe that entailed Henry to forty acres of land provided that he give up being a machinist. He agreed. Henry at the time began cutting timber on this land, which gave him a chance to marry. The timber he cut was used to build his house which was added to his workshop. When he was not cutting, he was spending his time in the shop working on the gas engines learning everything he could from them. It was then in 1890 that he began building a double-cylinder engine. After time spent working on his newest idea, it became apparent that it would not work out due to the weight.

Another failed attempt down the drain, Henry was optimistic that he would one day get it right. Henry was then offered a job with the Detroit Electric Company as an engineer and machinist at forty-five dollars a month. Quickly, he accepted the job. Wanting to get away from the farm live anyways they moved to Detroit where he would make more money. After settling in, and building a new shed for him to work in, he began tinkering with a new motor. In 1892, he completed his first motor car. The appearance of the vehicle resembled a buggy, and could hold two people. It functioned by two speeds, low speed (ten miles per hour), and high speed (twenty miles per hour); and contained no reverse. In order to start the vehicle it was necessary to turn the motor over by hand; and stopped by releasing the clutch and pressing a brake. The machine all together weighed five hundred pounds with a gas tank holding of three gallons located under the seats. In spring of 1893, it ran to his satisfaction becoming the first and for a long time the only automobile in Detroit.

Henry Ford became a huge hit with his “gasoline buggy”. He soon found that he was encountering problems of nuisance. This brought light to how many people were interested in it. When he would go to town, he would have to start bringing a chain with him to chain his buggy to a pole, because people would try and mess with his buggy and attempt to run it. Henry ran that machine about one thousand miles in one year, and then sold it to a man named Charles Ainsley of Detroit for about two hundred dollars. This was his first sale, and he wanted to start another. It was not Henry’s idea of making cars, he was into production, and it did not hurt that he could use the money.

In 1896, the second car began being produced. Ford produced three cars from his house that ran for years in Detroit; also buying back his very first car from Mr. Ainsley for a hundred dollars. During this time he kept moving up in rank at the electricity company. The president of the company continued to pursue Henry into making only electric engines because it was the coming thing. Years later, the Detroit Edison Company offered him the general superintendence position, but only on one condition- He would have to give up the gas powered engine theory and devote himself to something they saw “useful”. He chose to give up the job on August 15, 1899 and went into the automobile business; for he already knew his car was bound to be a success.

In March 1902, he resigned from the Detroit Automobile Company determined to never be under other’s orders again; in which the company later on became Cadillac. From there he rented a shop to continue his experiments. In his little shop he worked on developing a four-cylinder motor. With his little money he tried to find out what business really was. From the time he worked at the Detroit Automobile Company to his present company, Henry had built about twenty-five cars. Henry met Alexander Winton of Cleveland, the founder of the Winton car, was at the time track champion and willing to meet all comers. Henry saw this as an opportunity and met with Winton for a race. He won. This became his first form of advertisement for his four-cylinder car, because at the time, all people raved about was its speed. This gave him the attention he needed to finance his service. This seemed to be the reversing the natural process which money comes as a result of work and not before.  His idea was that if a man did his work well, the price he would get from his product and finances would care for themselves, and that a business should start small and work its way up with its earnings. If one does not make his way up in earnings, it signals that the business owner is wasting their time, and does not belong in that business.

“A good business was not one that did good work and earned a fair profit. A good business was one that would give the opportunity for the floating of a large amount of stocks and bonds at high prices” (Ford & Crowther, 1922). Ford felt that the bonds were the most important thing and the work came second.  At this time in Ford’s life he began to plan that his business should start off with the largest possible capitalization and then sell all the stock and bonds. Whatever was left over from paying expenses went towards the business. He found that business that used financing were used was no place he wanted his company to be. He expressed that he saw what was going on all around him with other businesses and stated that it was a money making game and was certainly no place for a man such as himself to accomplish anything, because the true foundation to business  is service.

With Henry’s business mission being complete service, he felt that just because the car was sold, the manufacture was not through with its customer. The price and quality of the car would make the market large, he went further to making sure that his customer’s were always satisfied and served as their sole duty to make sure the car ran and was continuously put into the shape it needed to be. With this type of customer service, Ford became well recognized as an outstanding service provider, along with price and quality of his products. The man who has the largest capacity for work is bound to succeed.  During this year he came to the conclusions that:

“Finance is given a place ahead of work and therefore tends to kill the work and destroy the fundamental of service.
That thinking first of money instead of work brings on fear of failure and this fear blocks every avenue of business – it makes a man afraid of competition, of changing his methods, or of doing anything which might change his condition.
That the way is clear for anyone who thinks first of service- of doing the work in the best possible way” (Ford & Crowther, 1922).

In 1903, Henry Ford teamed up with Tom Cooper, in which they built cars designed for speed. Creating one of the fast cars, at that time, the “999” was definitely designed for speed. Neither Ford nor Cooper lined up to test drive this car, instead Cooper suggested Barney Oldfield, a professional bicycle rider to test it instead. After teaching Oldfield how to drive, he took off. The “999” did exactly what it was supposed to; it showed the world that he indeed could, build the fastest car. A week after the test race, Henry Ford formed the Ford Motor Company. Thus under no other order Ford became the vice-president, designer, master mechanic, superintendent and general manager. He started off with owning twenty-five and a half percent, about twenty-eight thousand dollars. In 1906, Henry began buying stock to raise his holdings to fifty-one percent, which would pay out about seventy-five million dollars.

    In their first year of Ford Motor Company, they built “Model A” cars selling for about eight hundred fifty dollars. The business was going smoothly and was gaining a reputation for “standing up”, tough yet simple. In the second year they developed three models: Model B, Model C, and Model F. Ranging in prices they sold fewer cars than the first year, sales were at 1,695 cars. Henry decided to begin advertising the Model B more, because it was the four-cylinder car for general road use and fixed up the twin of “999” to be advertised however no stunt will sell for any length of time. Ford changed his policy the next year making his cheapest car six hundred dollars and the most expensive being seven hundred fifty dollars, which demonstrated what price meant to them. That change increased his sales by five times the amount from the previous year. Cars were beginning to be sold globally and business began booming.

    In 1908 Ford had sold over ten thousand cars, and yet there was still a rave about expanding, new styles and models. Already creating eight different models, Ford announces in 1909 without warning that in the future, he was only creating one model, the Model T. He stated,” Any customer can have a car painted any color that he wants so long as it is black” (Ford & Crowther, 1922). He stated he would build a vehicle large enough for a family, but small enough for just an individual to tend to. Using only the best materials and lowest price, no man making a good salary will be unable to own one. The people did not like his new plan and felt that his business was sure to fail within six months of his announcement. From this year to the year 1911, their business still continued to skyrocket.

Around the beginning of 1913, Henry Ford began an assembly line in his company. A Ford car contained five thousand parts, and the assembly line made this process a much quicker production and helped cut down the time spent on assembling one car. However, Henry feared that the repetitive work would drive a man wild; having to do the same thing continuously terrified him. Ford had a theory about wages he paid his workers. He felt that when you pay men at a high rate, they do good work. This was because they will work hard to continue to work for that pay and would not have to worry about not being able to provide for their family. He paid his workers five dollars a day for eight hours work, which was a large pay at that period. Ford’s workers were of all different kinds, he never turned a man down from work because of education or a disability they may have. He felt that the workers that were not smart worked harder than the ones that were quite intelligent. In his mind, workers that were not knowledgeable about machines were hard labor workers because they had to learn their job from him and his ways of work, where as workers who were educated about machines would try and change the way of things or find things wrong in his production. Men who had disabilities such as missing appendages, blind, or deaf were not turned away either, they were willing to work to support their families and Henry was not going to stop them from achieving just that. This work ethic and wage motive was a huge desire for all of the workers in his company, and out. By the year 1918, America was getting filled with cars, half of them being Model Ts. His production of Model Ts, the use of a moving assembly, and having low cost made his company the largest automobile manufacturer in the world.

In 1917, World War I was still occurring in America. Ford proclaimed he did not understand why we would go to war. He learned that people were anxious for a peace settlement across the nations and decided to finance a mission to Stockholm later called the “Peace Ship”. However his attempt for peace failed, Henry felt he got a valuable experience out of the journey. From that moment until late 1918 his company was dedicated to the United States government making cars, parts, ambulances, delivery trucks, listening devices, steel helmets, boats, armor, whatever they needed. Ford’s production principles were put to a new product, a three hundred fifty foot wide, one hundred feet tall and a third mile long boat. After this boat was designed and ran the Armistice was put in effect, and there was no longer war, America was in peace again.

In the final chapter of the book, Ford states, “all that I have done- is to endeavour to evidence by works that service comes before profit and that the sort of business which makes the world better for its presence is a noble profession” (Ford & Crowther, 1922). He describes to the readers not to give up, for his theories and methods were at one time taken for granted; but that was because they were not understood. Money is useful only as it serves the company to better itself. It should not take away from the community more than the benefits it gives. Poverty is not a something one can avoid by doing nothing; it is diminished by hard yet intelligent work. “Everything is possible… faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen” (Ford & Crowther, 1922)

The Video Lounge

    This video displays Henry Ford’s models of gas powered horseless carriages, the cars. As you watch this video you get to see a glimpse of Henry Ford’s life, the Ford Motor Company. As each vehicle evolves over the years, you see the differences he made to each car as they varied in what they were capable of. Also it demonstrates the number models he went through in developing his greatest one, the Model T.

Personal Insights

Why I think:

• The author is one of the most brilliant people around…or is full of $%&#, because:

I think the author was one of the most brilliant people around, at that time period, because he was so intelligent, and thought things through about how he needed to get where he needed to be. He was never discouraged by failed attempts which demonstrate his optimism towards life. Nothing was out of his reach as long as he set his mind to it. No one could stop him or bring him down, not family, not the economy or market, and not himself. You just cannot help but get consumed in his life story and achievements; it is quite inspiring from how he came about.

• If I were the author of the book, I would have done these three things differently:

1.    It is a wonderful book and story; however I would have done things a little different by sticking to the timeline of the story. He jumped around the book with times and dates of things he did or accomplished. It was a little difficult at first to follow along with the chronology of events.

2.    I was so intrigued at his attempt in his “Peace ship”. It was disappointing to see that there was no more to the story than he just set sail because of what he had learned about the nations crave for peace. He mentioned that his sail was a failure, but he did not regret it because of what he learned on his journey. I would have loved to read more about his adventure on the ship and what exactly he learned from it.

3.    I wish he would have elaborated more about his wife and son. We learned that his son eventually took over his company, but not how he did at running the company. With little talk of his wife and son, I wish to have read more about his family’s involvement and thoughts of his struggle to success.

• Reading this book made me think differently about the topic in these ways:

1.    How often things are taken for granted. Everyday people, objects, ideas, and leisure items are taken for granted. Henry Ford told us in the book that at the beginning of his career he was taken for granted. His ideas were merely a joke when electricity was coming about. He states that he knew his plan was going to benefit all; he just needed the chance to create it and prove that they would indeed benefit from it. His ideas were merely misunderstood and that once they discovered the luxury of having his vehicle, they wanted to change it (i.e. such as styles, colors, and uses of his products), when in the beginning they never gave it time to come about.

2.    Value your workers. Your business is not only about your product. Your workers play a valuable role in your success. If Henry did not pay his workers well to give them incentive to do well, who is to say that they would not slack off or pay less attention to their jobs? This could have caused a major problem when assembling vehicles, and for Ford Motor. Not just that but your workers are those who make your products. Regardless if they are bad or good products, it still reflects your company. Take time to value your workers in the work they do, and in return your products will reflect that.

3.    Work efficiency. The best way to get something done is to do it fast and efficiently. Discovering new ways for things to be done at a faster pace without pulling you under financially is essential. For example, if I have to wash 10 loads of clothes on a time frame, it would be better for me to go to a laundry mat. That way instead of waiting 20 hours ( an hour to wash and dry) and running up my electric bill, I could spend twenty dollars (a dollar per load washing and drying) and use 10 machines at once and get my laundry done in as little as two hours. Every situation varies, but that is why it is important to discover the best work efficiency that suits your company.

• I’ll apply what I’ve learned in this book in my career by:

1.    I will not let anything get in my way of achieving my ultimate goal. Letting no one get in my way towards achieving my utmost best I can be, I will be at the top of my market and unstoppable. I am the decider of my future and I will not stop until I achieve my goals.

2.    Determination and hard work pay off in the end. You cannot sit around and do nothing and expect something. When it comes to business, you cannot slack with the evolving markets. Staying on top of my job requires the utmost awareness of what is going on around me and how my product can continuously have a competitive advantage over other rivals.

3.    Money is not everything. I will not be so consumed in money that I cannot do my job to it finest. When you put forth your best work and achieve the maximum efficiency of your work, the money will come naturally. It is not something that can be forced or received by doing nothing; it comes from good work and service.

• Here is a sampling of what others have said about the book and its author:

“What others have said about the book and its author?”
    “A fun, easy to read book by a man with common sense and tremendous insight. It is written during a “simpler” time when America was becoming an industrial powerhouse. Ford is a very intelligent and practical man, a man you wish you could have a conversation with. Two reasons I didn’t give this 5 stars; is because it becomes superfluous in describing day to day operations at the Ford factory. Also, I thought I would find more principles that could be applied to today. Overall, an enjoyable read!” (”Amazon,” 2012).
    “Anyone who has read “My Life and Work” will understand exactly what is wrong with our country today. There are three ways to create wealth–grow it, mine it, or make it–and activities like flipping houses or trading carbon credits do not qualify. Ford developed what is now known as the Toyota production system, and readers will see a very explicit description of just in time manufacturing (and its benefits) in “My Life and Work.” Ford also summarized effective labor relations in one sentence: “It ought to be the employer’s ambition, as leader, to pay better wages than any similar line of business, and it ought to be the workman’s ambition to make this possible.” (“Amazon,” 2012).
    These are just a few of the many people raving about Henry Ford’s life and how he has greatly impacted our world today with his determination then. We will forever be grateful for his ideas that he brought to life and evolved to what they are today. As the book may be dated, it still opens our eye to how far we have come from that time and the wonders he established for us today.

Bibliography

Amazon (2012). Retrieved from http://www.amazon.com/My-Life-Work-Autobiography-Henry/product-reviews/146352546X

Ford, H., & Crowther, S. (1922). My life and work. Garden City, NY: Doubleday, Page &

Company.

(2011). Henry ford: On mens desire for corporate advancement. Retrieved from http://frrl.wordpress.com/2011/09/13/Henry-ford-on-mens-desire-for-corporate-advancement/

Oak, M. (2011, August 26). Buzzle.com. Retrieved from http://www.buzzle.com/articles/Henry-ford-timeline.html

The life of Henry ford. (2003). Retrieved from http://www.hfmgv.org/exhibits/hf/default.asp

Yihan, L. (2011). Leadership With You. Retrieved from http://www.leadership-with-you.com/Henry-ford-leadership.html

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Contact Info

To contact the author of this article, “A Management in a Minute Book Overview of My Life and Work by Henry Ford for Practicing and Aspiring Managers” please email Jenna.Gindro@selu.edu.

About the Publisher  

David C. Wyld (dwyld.kwu@gmail.com) is the Robert Maurin Professor of Management at Southeastern Louisiana University in Hammond, Louisiana. He is a management consultant, researcher/writer, and executive educator. His blog, Wyld About Business, can be viewed at http://wyld-business.blogspot.com/. He also serves as the Director of the Reverse Auction Research Center (http://reverseauctionresearch.com/), a hub of research and news in the expanding world of competitive bidding. Dr. Wyld also maintains compilations of his student’s publications regarding:

• management concepts (http://toptenmanagement.blogspot.com/)
• book reviews (http://wyld-about-books.blogspot.com/) and
• international foods  (http://wyldaboutinternationalfoods.blogspot.com/)                                             

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In the current era of reform are seeking a leader who is right is not easy. This is due to supply most of the professionals that are available tend to be less ready to become a mature leader. Most of our professionals, even if a higher education is unfortunately not supported by sufficient experience. Or a lot of experience but less education and are supported by extensive knowledge. Imbalances are a leader company / organization has a very significant impact on the harmony and the performance of the company / organization.
  
Many leaders of instant results collusion and nepotism in Indonesia companies are minimal readiness but still used for political interests of the company. As a result, as seen in this country many, many leaders who actually brought the company into bankruptcy with the collapse and considerable loss of material and even people. Even so, still they enrich themselves (without guilt) to the company’s assets and even bank loans that should be used to make healthy companies.
 
The phenomenon of what happens on the leaders or professionals we? What is lacking or have not owned by the leaders of our company or any organization today? What is the secret of successful leaders in the real sense?
  
Emotional Intelligence
There is a very interesting sentence proposed by Patricia Patton, a professional consultant and author, as follows:
It took a heart, soul and brains to lead a people …..
Of the sentence above shows clearly that a leader must have the feeling, spirit and integrity of intellectual ability. In other words, “capital” to be possessed by a leader not only intektualitas alone, but must be supported by emotional intelligence (emotional intelligence), personal commitment and integrity that is needed to overcome the challenges. Often failure is emotionally experienced as a leader unwilling or unable to understand oneself and others. So the decision taken is not a heartfelt decision, which considers human dignity and benefit the company, but rather tend to selfish, self-centered self-interest oriented and group / faction so the result is as experienced by most companies in Indonesia are high profile but low profit !
Patton once again expressed the opinion that in the present company not only requires a leader with intellectual capacity. Because, that makes a successful company or organization is a leader who can get a commitment from employees, customers and management. Such leaders are those who understand their employees and can wholeheartedly encourage employees to meet global competition. In short, leaders who have the intellectual and emotional intelligence.
   Type of Leadership
  Daniel Goleman, EQ expert in the field, doing research on the types of leadership and found there were 6 (six) types of leadership. Study proves the influence of each type of work climate the company, group, divisional and corporate financial performance. But the results also showed that the best leadership that does not result from a range of types. It is best if a leader is able to combine several types of flexible within a certain time and in accordance with the business being run
  
Indeed, only a small number of leaders who have the six types within them. Generally only have 2 (two) or a few. A study of these leaders also generate data, that the most outstanding leaders were judging themselves to have lower emotional intelligence than they really are. In general, they considered that he had only one or two skills of emotional intelligence. However, the most terrible irony is that the leader would assess themselves as “more” exaggerated by assuming that they have 4 (four) or more emotional intelligence capabilities.
 What to Do?
  Therefore, the suggestion for those of you who currently has a subordinate leader or at least try to learn as to what type of leadership you. Also try to open yourself to want to learn the types of other leadership. But before that, you must first understand your strengths and weaknesses with respect to the style or type of leadership that you will apply.
  Do not boast in advance that you are a good leader. Open your eyes wide open your heart to listen to ideas, suggestions, complaints or compliments from employees, customers and the management, so that whatever decision you take will be understood by all parties and is objective. Also do your own assessment of performance, whether the judgment against you it’s really the objective? To further investigate the objectivity, ask the men who are not “golden boy” you. Ok … 

The many difficulties faced by a leader is how to make others respect and follow the leadership of the Leader. How can people support the Leader of the target task, how to keep their subordinates comply with the leadership Leader.

Here are some practical tips on how to get others to support your leadership, and sustain its burden of your job target:

1.  ASK & HEAR

There should be a balance between talking and listening. When you give time to listen to complaints, problems and difficulties of employees, in fact you are “investing” the respect of employees on yourself.
When you “Ask”, you’re actually meet the “internal-needs” them. You also are building a relationship and they will feel very rewarded by the attention of superiors. When you make time to listen to problems, ideas and suggestions, you’re actually “appreciate” his thoughts and raise their self-actualization.
Tips: Every day, in shifts, the employee approached you (more to do 0NE-on-one, to make it more personal) and listen to “Fill the mind” it. Take time less than 15 minutes per person. If the problem is severe enough to handle, reset the next meeting.

2. Respond
The employee needs your attention, the way you hear the contents of their minds. Not just to hear it, you are also expected to respond to their needs and questions. By giving a precise and rapid response, will boost your leadership qualities in the eyes of the employees
Tips:
Employees respond to a variety of ways:
a. Take a quick decision and attitude, do not delay. When you need approval again from the other side, always explain to the employee, how long and when you can respond to their needs
b. If you have to respond to employees with less news “good” and tend not to be expected of employees, then you have to say honestly, and explain the reasons
c. Do not give promises that are uncertain.
d. Do not hang a problem to drag on performance at the cost of your employees

3. GIVE EXAMPLE
Not enough to just listen and respond to it. The other thing is if you give an example and an example of what you say? When you apply discipline to work hours, whether you are the people who run these disciplines as well? When you create a rule should not use the office internet for personal use, whether you practice it? Keep in mind, every action of a Leader, will be highlighted out by the employees. They will be watching your example.
Tips:
At a minimum, you must set an example in these things or this area:
A. Discipline hours and hours of work go in after lunch
2.  in the use of office facilities such as internet, stationery, laptops, corporate money, and other office facilities
3. The accuracy of the promise of giving a decision on time
4. The accuracy of the promise in answering many questions that still hang
5. Not gossiping and vilify employers, company policies, company facilities in front of the employees
6. Defend and support your subordinates in the positive

4. SOLVE A PROBLEM WITH
Will be given the greatest respect for men of a superior is when he’s having problems, after he tried in every way and is unsuccessful, then the employer reached out to both solve the problem to see the solution.
Respected leader who is leader of men who showed his language of “WE” instead of “I”.So if there are difficulties, these are our problems and difficulties (Tops & Son fruit).Means, if a subordinate can not be overcome, is the responsibility of superiors alike coming down looking for a way out (not to be having none of it and just want to thank right only)
Tips:

A. Train your people to be able to solve the kinds of problems that are routine and predictable (the problem happened “is-again-that-again”)
2. Train your men as well, when after a few hours (expt after 2 hours), the problem is not solved as well, then he should immediately contact you, to be able to handle the problems that occurred immediately
3. Prepare a time to find a solution type of problems that are not routine (type of problem that has never happened before). For this type of problem, a leader can not simply hands-off

5. BUILD TWO-WAY COMMUNICATION

People will care about you rather than what you say, but of how much you care for others.The main principle to boost the respect for you is “Treat others as you would like to be treated”. Often a Leader to communicate in one direction only.

Leader traits that one-way communication style:
a. Always wants someone else to use the ideas and how it works. Rarely or never asked his subordinates did not set a variety of ideas and input
b. Even if there are ideas and input from subordinates, superiors have never used their ideas (especially to thank you for the idea)
c. When chairing a meeting, 100% of the talks will be dominated by the Leader, the meeting participants behave like spectators who witnessed the boss was “konser stage”. There was no involvement of employees
d. Throughout the working day, employers rarely stop by for informal communication. If stopped by, at most, his words were, “His job is to where?”
Well, this kind of communication style that will increasingly make employees “away from” the boss.
Tips:

1.  Time to yourself every morning to do a short briefing with all your employees (maximum 15 minutes). The goal is to build intimacy with employees and the perception of the various activities of the day
2. Encourage every employee to give ideas and suggestions. Then appreciate any input that is (though inferior). Encourage them to as much as possible involved in providing input
3. Try to choose the ideas of employees that can be used. You need not demand a perfect idea for bias praktek advance. Origin makes sense, “stuck-stuck” 60% only, the idea was already biased adopts plus a little refinement. (Employees will appreciate your efforts this!)

Practice the five tips above consistently diligently EVERY DAY. You do not need too many tips that splashy-splashy. The most important is not how much you learn new ideas, but most importantly HOW MANY CHANGES YOU HAVE practice. Start now, your employees are looking forward to CHANGE from you!

Cover via Amazon

Executive Summary

Lords of Finance tells the interesting stories of the characters that were in arguable the most powerful position at the time leading into the Great Depression. The book is very meticulous in the detail of the lives of the heads of the Federal Reserve, the Banque de France, The Reichbank, and the Bank of England. The story starts at the time where all nations are very prosperous, the time before the First World War. The economies of the world were so intertwined the majority of important people were sure there would never be another great war. This was a time before the United States even had a private Central Bank. The books tells the tell of how bankers met in secret on Jeckel Isle to form the Federal Reserve System which we know today. World War I was a very interesting war in that it started for almost no real reason and ended having solved almost nothing, but by the end, most nations had destroyed themselves. The book hints at a few speculator reasons, but we will never really know why the war was happened especially at the magnitude which it occurred. The post-World War I period is where the book gets really interesting. This part of the book is where the main characters are in their greatest positions of power from Benjamin Strong at the Federal Reserve to Montague Norman of the Bank of England also Emile Moreau of the Banque de France and Hjalmer Schmidt of the Reichbank. These were the days of great mistakes where no one really knew what they were doing and they just kept having one brilliant idea after the next. All countries had spent themselves into massive debt and inflated their country to the point of monetary apocalypse. It was a time of massive dick measuring contest of world monetary system. Everything was on the table: pride, envy, jealousy, greed, and altruism. France wanted to destroy Germany with extreme reparations for the damages caused by WWI and the UK needed France to pay back its extraordinary loans taken on to finance the war while America needed all countries to pay back the loans they took out during WWI. Ration and reason left for jealousy and greed. The very decisions made in these years led to the Great collapse of all time, and it looks very eerie to the financial situation we are facing today. Do the powers at be understand the markets any more than the men who proceeded them, or are they just as illogical?

The Ten Things Managers Need to Know from Lords of Finance

1.    They need to understand the mistakes made before the Great Depression and how those same mistakes are being made today. People were made millionaires during the Great Depression, and businesses that see a crash coming are much more prepared to profit from the disaster.

2.    When one man makes a mistake, it is time for another man to conquer. The book is full of examples of how when someone didn’t do their job, someone younger and with greater ambition took their job from them.

3.    See everything as an opportunity. There are never a negative sum game only neutral games or positive. Anticipate others mistakes and don’t make the same ones.

4.    Managers need to understand how fragile the system really is. A few people are playing God, and the book shows how they tried to lie and bluff where the public didn’t lose confidence in them. Understanding this might be the most important take from the book.

5.    How Keynesian economics is a fallacy. The book spends a lot of time of ole Maynard, but for all his intelligence, he was really an imbecile. He told politicians what they wanted to hear, and he sold his countrymen out completely.

6.    Central Bankers don’t really have your best interest at heart. When a country has a central bank, they are almost ruled by the entity. Therefore, we should always demand transparency as to what they are doing in secret.

7.    The opportunities in the markets for those who can predict when they will raise or drop interest rates. This isn’t something they will tell you. Being able to see past their speech and understand what is really going to happen is the difference between success and failure.

8.    How much diversification can save you in times of crisis. Alleviating you from your specialty that may be high risk and taking on more things that are less risky. Investing in other countries can alleviate you from the severe credit crisis of the single currency that is in your domestic country.

9.    Never trust too much power in the hands of a few. The fewer people at the top will lead to more volatility which happens as a result. Low upsides and low downsides is the key. You will be eliminating your risk of failure in every way foreseeable.

10.    Persistence is the key. No matter what happens of what your circumstances are always stay after the goal, and if you fail, you fail so big that you are too big to fail. This is true success. Fake it until you make it.

Full Summary of Lords of Finance

Prologue

There hadn’t been a great war in over 40 years, and the world believed there would not be such a war unless someone really screwed up. Even through 1910, no one believed there would be anything the likes of WWI. The economies were healthy and the people joyful. Britain was on top of the world, but Germany was raising into superstar status much to the grim of the old powers not looking forward to the new order. America was not a world player and anything but a mover and a shaker. The U.S. stayed out of the entangling alliances which had slowed down European progress for a millennia.

A Strange and Lonely Man

Montagu Norman was the head of the Bank of London for quite some time. He was a man of great influence, but he was unusually secretive. He tried to keep to himself as much as possible. At the age of 32 he was still unmarried, he was very focused on his work and that is how he found his joy. He may be the most interesting of the four main characters in this book. He never saw the war coming and pleaded against the war. Even after the war, he tried to stop the coming financial collapse, but he was not successful as history shows.

The Young Wizard

Schacht would eventually become the head of the Reichbank, but would not inherit this position until sometime after the war. He is my favorite character of the book because he was a very principled man who had character. He viewed the war as extremely detrimental to the economic miracle that was the imperial Germany. He had little power before the German revolution which would leave position unfilled. If Germany would not have fallen apart, he would never have been able to climb the ranks because he was not a noble or someone of great importance as classes were very important in that day and age.

Safe Pair of Hands

Benjamin Strong was a man who endured great misfortune in his life and was actually almost forced into the position of Chairman of the New York Fed. He was not an extremely power hungry man, but he did the bidding of the bankers who put him in the position after the Fed was created in 1914. He was a man who lost his first wife and son, and he was later left by his second wife after taking the job as the Fed Chairman. Later he developed a very close relationship with Montague; the two had a great deal of influence as to the direction of their countries.

L’inspecteur des Finances

Emile Moreau is the last of these four horsemen of finance. He was from France and was inherently supposed to hate Germany, but he didn’t necessarily believe in this philosophy. He was a smart man who understood how dependent France was on the survival and thriving of the German economy. Like the other three before him, he tried to stop a lot of things before it was too late, but nothing could stop what was going to come.

Money Generals (1914-1919)

Contrary to popular belief the war started. All analysts said it would last a few months not years. One general was proclaiming victory after the next. All countries were convinced that whoever had the largest gold deposits would win the war which was an idea that should have been long lost by this time of modern finance. Fractional reserve banking had been used for a very long time by this point, but rationality didn’t get them into war why should it be the major factory in military strategy. All countries built massive gold reserves in preparation for war and had a bank holiday to steal all the gold and remove the gold standard for an unlimited time period. Germany mobilized for war and every nation began preparing for military action. Germany even dropped a few bombs on the Bank of England, but the gold was secretly moved across the countryside weeks prior. America stayed out of the war as long as it could, and for good reason, it had no place in this war. It was doing the right thing and minding its own business. Eventually, it sends civilians into German waters to get gunned down to go ahead and enter the conflict and save Europe. Every nation printed money and borrowed like there was no tomorrow. Britain doubled its money supply, France tripled its, and Germany, the worst offender, quadrupled its paper money which would be its undoing after the war. Germany looked to march on Paris and end the war, but they ran into more resistance and public opinion turned. The German people revolted and the normal much disciplined German people overthrew the government and established their Republic. The war ended just like it began, weirdly.

Demented Inspirations

Germany had lost the war and now would be forced to pay reparations. The question would be how much and this was long debated from those in France who wanted to destroy them to the more reasonable who understood the danger of this. Germany was smart and played the waiting game knowing they were in power because they could always give France the “bird”. The misguided anger taken out on Germany during their reparations and their isolation caused by the loss of the war would lead to many unnecessary future events. This was a very interesting time in world history that doesn’t get its credit in causing the inevitable rise of Hitler.

Uncle Shylock

America was viewed as a great evil because they actually expected people to pay back the loans they took out during the war. What a crazy idea? The hippy socialist in Europe would not stand for this. They were very altruistic and wanted people to feel sorry for them, but America told them to take their socialist nonsense and shove it. America’s name was put down around the world for being greedy capitalist pigs that weren’t civilized like the Europeans. We were also criticized for waiting until Europe had destroyed itself before entering the war, a brilliant move by the way.

Barbous Relic

The Gold Standard was still suspended, so the question was, when do we bring it back? At what price should we bring it back? Should we devalue or deflate the currency. Which course of action will be the least painful for the struggling economies? The devaluation approach would have been the smartest approach and the most logical. If you double the amount of money in the money supply, gold price should be twice as much if the gold amount stays constant. This was almost sac religious and may have awoken people to the Ponzi scheme that is currencies, so most went the route of least resistance and deflated their currency.

Bridge between Chaos and Hope

This is the first chapter to make mention of Adolf Hitler seeking for power. This is the first chapter where we really see prices soaring in every country not just Europe. We start to get indication that maybe something is wrong, but we disregard it. This was a serious mistake, and we should have let interest rates rise to offset the inflation. We really see Keynes as a figure head behind this type of policy. There are more and more questions about the relevance of the gold standard.

La Bataille

We start to see France having serious problems and demanding Germany pay its reparations while Germany has gone completely bankrupt and is saying, “Enough is enough”. All gold has left Germany; all with money have left Germany, but somehow Schacht pulls it together and keeps it afloat. This is a testament to his intellect and willingness to succeed.

Un Petit Coup de Whisky

The time period is the mid to late 20s, and all the central bankers know there are multiple bubble they have caused forming all around them. None knew the true size and scope of the disaster coming, but all knew it wasn’t going to be good. They knew it was inevitable, and hoped it wouldn’t be that bad. They were wrong.

Into the Vortex

The stock market has risen over the last 10 years and people had serious confidence in the market which led to over-investing in the market. The artificially low interest rates kept the money pumping as people felt it was a risk free bet. They over-leveraged themselves with cheap money from the banks. This set up the perfect storm when banks started getting loans called in and needed the money back immediately. The whirlwind had caught them all by surprise. The fear and panic that usually guides the market had been turned upside down and everything spiraled out of control. Banks were failing, and interest rates were rising by law because of the gold leaving the country. There couldn’t have been a more fragile time for the collapse to occur; it was as though it was meticulously planned and carefully executed.

Magneto Trouble

This is where Keynesian economics was tried and failed miserably. He always called for more government spending and more Fed spending. He believed the economy was like a stalled car; it needed a spark. It was never enough; they always had to spend more and more. He was very similar to a money junky just fawning for that next hit. It didn’t work and prolonged the Great Depression, but the history books still give him credit.

Gold Fetters

This is where the powers at be (instead of taking the blame) blame all the problems on that pesky gold standard and start looking for ways around it. The Great Depression is in the last few years as WWII is coming to an end and the troops will come home soon which officially ends the Great Depression. Now, the mission is to get rid of the gold that tied their hands and kept them from really screwing up the system.

Gold Standard on the Booze

Talks of something similar to a Britten Woods Agreement are in the making, and the fundamental idea of fiat currencies start to emerge. A currency backed by nothing without any real value that will be a great idea. It takes decades to full implement, but their ideas eventually succeed in 1971 under Nixon years after their death. The plans talked about in those rooms with those bankers are the very ideas that run this world today. The situations are eerily similar; the people in charge are still incompetent. The difference being that this time there isn’t a gold standard to hold them back, so they can completely screw up and there could never be a recovery. Infinite debt has only one result and that is complete collapse.

The Video Lounge

This is an interview with the author of Lords of Finance, and although he is a great writer, he has his economic philosophy upside down. That is not what caused the Great Depression although it is a very mainstream view point of Keynesian economics.

Personal Insights

Why I think:

• The author is one of the most brilliant people around…or is full of $%&#, because:

He was brilliant in his way of portraying these men of great power as everyday people who had desires of everyday people. He brought the characters to life in a way which few writes can match. His story telling ability is amazing.

• If I were the author of the book, I would have done these three things differently:

1.    I would have spent less time trying to glorify these men, and would have spent more time trying to question their motives and where their allegiance lied. I would have refuted the ridiculous arguments made by Keynes and how dumb the bankers were to believe him.

2.    I would have shown how each one of these character relate to someone today in certain ways. Whether it’s how Strong relates to Ben Bernanke or something similar to that to convey to the less intelligent reader.

3.    I would challenge other view of economics to show how some of the ways he claimed they helped the economy actually hurt the economy. I would have looked at it from an Austrian perspective not a Keynesian or a Marxist.

• Reading this book made me think differently about the topic in these ways:

1.    It gave me a greater understanding of what goes on inside the head of central bankers and a better understanding of their logic. It is now easier to see past the bullshit.

2.    It made me understand that there is not a role for central bankers to play. They magnified the losses. The world would have thrived without their role in affairs.

3.    Helped me understand some real causes of the Great Depression.  I feel I can better articulate causes for said event.

• I’ll apply what I’ve learned in this book in my career by:

1.    This was a book read for intellectual reason not to help with my career. How is a book going to help me with my career? I wanted the knowledge for gathering intelligence.

2.    Books can’t further your career even the ones that call themselves self-help books. If you want to further your career, go get a job.

3.    It will make me awesome at talking about the Great Depression. Awesomeness is always an attribute.

• Here is a sampling of what others have said about the book and its author:

“What others (scholarly and magazine reviews – along with on-line reviews – not simply reviews off the back of the book) have said about the book and its author?” I shuddered when I read this quotation in “Lords of Finance,” a magisterial work by Liaquat Aha-med, a veteran hedge fund manager and Brookings Institution trustee. A grand, sweeping narrative of immense scope and power, the book describes a world that long ago receded from memory: the West after World War I, a time of economic fragility, of bubbles followed by busts and of for the Germans to afford. But worse, France and England relied on those repayments so that they could repay America on their loans. That made the squabble over reparations far worse. Much of Lords of Finance is biographical. Four bankers are at its center: Montagu Norman at the Bank of England, Heakal Schacht at the Currency Commission and then the Reichbank, Benjamin Strong, at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York until his death in 1928, and Emile Moreau at the Banque de France. Maynard Keynes serves as something of a foil to those, and there are brief sketches of many other figures as well. This biographical material helps us understand the motivations of the key actors and their interactions, with one another and with their governments, but there is often more detail than seems helpful.

Somehow Mr. Aha-med has been able to peg a many-faceted international economic story to the outsize personalities — one each from the United States, France, Britain and Germany — who made up that rescue team. And he succeeds so well that the potential opacity of his material is easily penetrated.

Bibliography

Ahamed, L. (2009). Lords of finance. (p. 500). New York: Penguin Group.

Nocera, J. (2009). Flying blind. New York : New York Times. Retrieved from http://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/15/books/review/Nocera-t.html?_r=1

(2011). Aleph blog. Retrieved from http://alephblog.com/2011/07/23/book-review-lords-of-finance/

yee, D. (2010). Danny yee’s book review. Retrieved from http://dannyreviews.com/h/Lords_Finance.html

Maslin, J. (2009). A monetary horror story that looks like toda’ys. New York : New York Times. Retrieved from http://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/15/books/15masl.html?pagewanted=all

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Contact Info

To contact the author of this article, “A Management in a Minute Book Overview of Lords of Finance by Liaquat Ahamed for Practicing and Aspiring Managers” please email me Preston.Roberts@selu.edu.

About the Publisher  

David C. Wyld (dwyld.kwu@gmail.com) is the Robert Maurin Professor of Management at Southeastern Louisiana University in Hammond, Louisiana. He is a management consultant, researcher/writer, and executive educator. His blog, Wyld About Business, can be viewed at http://wyld-business.blogspot.com/. He also serves as the Director of the Reverse Auction Research Center (http://reverseauctionresearch.com/), a hub of research and news in the expanding world of competitive bidding. Dr. Wyld also maintains compilations of his student’s publications regarding:

• management concepts (http://toptenmanagement.blogspot.com/)
• book reviews (http://wyld-about-books.blogspot.com/) and
• international foods  (http://wyldaboutinternationalfoods.blogspot.com/)                                             

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