Henry Ford Leadership Career

Henry Ford is one of the greatest leaders who inspire me in my life. Ford was a great transformational leader and a genius who shaped the world of business in various ways. He is amongst the leading American business leaders of all times because of the innovative ideas that introduced that resulted in the revolutionizing the automobile industry (Zarbo et al., 2015). His contribution to the technological advancements including infrastructural development significantly shaped the industrial economy of USA.

Henry Ford was the only child of William Ford and Mary Ford a couple that had moved to Michigan and started working (Ford, 2007).

Ford showed interest in engineering at early life long before starting advanced education. At the age of 13, he was left with his father as the only parent after his mother died. Ford did not show interest in farming as expected but prefer mechanic work. He started as a watch repair in which his prowess made his reputation to spread across the neighborhood.

His passion for machine work eventually opened the doors to advance his career as a machinist in a shipbuilding firm in Detroit. At the company, he learned shipbuilding and operation of the steam engines. He also acquired accounting and booking keeping skills at the company (Ford, 2007). He later married his fiancé, Clara Bryan who he wedded in 1888 after which the couple sired a son- Edsel Ford in 1893.

as one of the most successful business leaders in the history of industrial development. Firstly, Ford valued human capital and believed that they the essential assets of an organization (Vicino, 2015).

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In his view, business leaders must treat the human capital effectiveness. For instance, offering fairness wages motivating them is crucial for performance and the ultimate success of the company. Ford believed that proper treatment of the employees including strengthening their engagement is necessary to retention and attraction of top talents. Some of the incidences of excellent treatment include setting achievable goals and avoiding overworking the people. As a leader, he also led by example to show direction and serve as a role model to the team (Kienker, 2014). As a result, this was a critical factor in building a cordial working relationship with the team. Such emphasis on valuing the human capital made Henry Ford admired and accepted by his subordinates.

Embracing equity in the workplace is another critical competence that characterized Henry Ford. Ford was a firm believer in the equality and fairness of all people regardless of diversity. Ford overcomes all odds at the time America was a racist society by embracing diversity in the workplace (Vicino, 2015). He did not discriminate anybody including offering opportunities to all despite the adverse social structure at the time, For example, he provided jobs to the Blacks, disabled and women provided that they could manage to perform duties. During his tenure as the CEO of Ford Motors, the composition of the team involved people with a background of at least 62 nationalities. Such diversity was a great strength that enabled Ford to innovate because of thе sharing of diverse ideas.

He also exhibited exceptional emotional intelligence. Ford showed all the feature of emotional intelligence as a leader of the Ford Company. He understood the need to empower the key stakeholders such as the team and the clients (Vicino, 2015). For instance, he understood that making customers and employees happy was his role as a leader. One way to make customers happy is to meet or exceed the desires of the clients including charging fair prices. The great quality to understand the people needs to enable him to develop critical ways to satisfy them.

As a transformative leader, inspiration was one of the high power of Henry Ford. He inspired his team by leading by example, motivating them to aim higher, and building their abilities. Ford understood the need for incorporating training and development programs in the organization strategy. Such programs enabled employees to acquire skills and competencies, which resulted in the personal and career development (Kienker, 2014). As a result, this allowed them to perform tasks effectively, which helped to improve the performance of the organization.

Ford was also a visionary leader who envisioned the transformation of the automobile industry. The transformation of the assembly-production lines and invention of TQM principles made Ford to substantially reduce operating costs, grow production, and improve the quality of the products (Vicino, 2015). Such gradually was adopted by other automakers such as Toyota, GM, and Volkswagen.

Henry Ford was also a highly charismatic leader. His strong charisma allowed him to rally people behind and show them directions on the way forward. Such charismatic qualities made him attract followership in which the team admired him greatly (Kienker, 2014). The importance of such quality is that it mitigates resistance and increases the legitimacy and acceptability of a leader.

Although a person can be a great leader, no one lack some weaknesses that impede success. As a visionary and transformation leader, Ford sometimes struggled with detail orientation. A leader with such attribute requires having people around him/her who are strongly detailed-oriented to improve the organizing function of management (Zarbo et al., 2015). Importantly, this helps such people to create and maintain transaction focus that enables the leaders to move the company towards the right direction for achievement of the vision.

Significant flexibility in the management of the operations of the company was one of the weaknesses of Henry Ford. Such quality is a significant impediment to instill discipline in the corporate operations. For instance, it impedes the development of a structured and disciplined budget for an organization. The leaders require recognizing the importance of making bond decisions although they may dissatisfy some people in the organization.

The introduction of Model T and the new production processes are some of the most important contributions of Henry Ford (Ford, 2007). He is among the most important engineers and leaders of the business world because of the invention of an effective industrial production system that allowed a significant reduction of production costs and improvement of quality.

One of the great thing why I admire Henry Ford is that he was a great philanthropist. In his life, Ford gave to the charity to support the vulnerable people in the society. His commitment to philanthropic activities made Ford is at odds with United States Government during WW1.

He supported peace and opposed the war, which saw him donating a peace ship to Europe (Kienker, 2014). Such commitment suggests those materialistic possessions less drove Ford but serving people and transforming the world for a better future.