Henry Ford was laughed at when he suggested his world-changing plans to build the automobile using the assembly line.
“What a nut!”
“Sure, good luck with that Henry”
In the Windsor area, where I live, folks jump for joy when a new call-centre decides to open up in town. You can’t blame them, jobs are good, and we certainly need them here. The problem is we’re officially replacing factory work with more factory work and the new factories pay less.
Of course, this is merely a stall-tactic as we’d be fooling ourselves if we believed these new factories will offer the same long 30-40 year careers our parents had.
Yet, we’ve decided it’s easier to take the factory work than it is to start something new. I’m starting to wonder what we can do to get over that hurdle, because I’m not sure we can stall that much longer. So what needs to be done? Who needs to speak up?
Do I? Maybe I do. Can you hear me???
We need to find our pokers. We need to find the folks willing to cause a ruckus. We need to find the ones willing to initiate and start stuff, because poking is infectious.
What we really need are people who are not afraid to be laughed at.
I’m not afraid of being laughed anymore, but I’ve certainly done my share of hiding. I’ve procrastinated and avoided starting something when I should have. I’ve left projects in the dust because I chickened out. I’ve spent time writing but didn’t hit the publish button because I was afraid of being laughed at. That’s normal folks. We’re all a bit afraid.
But the real magic happens when you suppress the fear long enough to get something out the door. I started a new business last year that was exposed to an audience of well over ten million people in its first 60 days of operation.
We need to be more like Henry.
