#9 I Invented the Modern Age: The Rise of Henry Ford

**David Senra** (0:00)
I want to tell you about a one time only limited event that I don't think you're going to want to miss. I am doing a live show with Patrick O'Shaughnessy from the Invest Like the Best podcast in New York City on October 19th. Patrick has interviewed over 300 of the world's best investors and founders for his podcast. I've read over 300 biographies of history's greatest entrepreneurs for my podcast. We'll be talking about what we learned from seven years of podcasting, sharing our favorite ideas and stories, and doing a live Q&A. There will also be special event-only swag. If you live in New York City, I think it's a no-brainer. But if not, I think it's a great excuse to fly in. I've already heard from a bunch of people that bought tickets, they're flying in from other cities. Some people are flying in from other countries. That's setting the bar really high, so I will have at least four shots of espresso or four energy drinks before or during the show so we can make it a night that you'll never forget. If you're interested in attending this unique live event, I will leave a link down below. I highly recommend you get your tickets today, and I hope I get to see you in New York on October 19th.
Every century or so, our republic has been remade by a new technology. 170 years ago is the railroad. In our time, it's the microprocessor. These technologies do more than change our habits. They change the way we think. Henry David Thoreau, hearing the trains passing, once wrote, have not men improved somewhat in punctuality since the railroad was invented? Do they not talk and think faster in the depot than they did in the stage office? And of course, anyone knows what computers in the internet are doing to us now.
In between the steam locomotive and the Apple came Henry Ford's Model T.
One day, toward the end of his life, its maker was talking with a local high school boy, and they got on to the subject of education. Ford spoke of the virtues of the McGuffey's reader era. Those were textbooks that he used to educate himself. And this sounded pretty futsy to the boy. But sir, he protested, these are different times. This is the modern age and young man, Ford snapped. I invented the modern age. The claim is as preposterous as it is megalomaniacal. It is also largely true.
My name is David Senra and you're listening to Founders, my podcast about history's greatest entrepreneurs.
This episode is about Henry Ford. I've mentioned on past podcasts that I've been reading the fantastic blog by Tim Urban called Wait But Why.
And specifically, I found it after going through his multi-part series on Elon Musk.
And I was reading the post titled Why Tesla Will Change the World. Well, first of all, I really shouldn't call it a post.
The series that he's doing is like 30,000 words, so they're almost like small books. But I was reading the one that says Why Tesla Will Change the World, and I came across this quote, and this is directly from the blog. I asked Musk about his opinion on Henry Ford. He said, Ford was the kind of guy that when something was in the way, he found a way around it. He just got it done. He was really focused on what the customer needed, even when the customer didn't know what they needed.
So obviously, you can't really do a podcast about history's greatest entrepreneurs and not cover Henry Ford. There's a great line in the book. It talks about Ford had the impact in the 20th century that Thomas Edison had in the 19th century, and I definitely would agree with that. So two quick notes before we get into this book.
First of all, I apologize it's taking me so long to get this out. That was not my intention. This is actually my third attempt at recording this podcast. The first one I did a couple days ago, and it was just way too long. And when I listened to it back, I didn't think I did a good job. I think I included too much stuff that wasn't that interesting when I was hearing myself talk. So I scrapped that, and I started over and recorded another one the next day.
The second one was good, but I accidentally recorded it with my gain on my microphone turned all the way up, and the audio quality was just terrible. And I wouldn't dare subject you to that. So I'm doing this again, hopefully third time's the charm. And I'm telling you all this is because in case you aren't already subscribed, make sure you subscribe so when the new episodes are released, new podcasts are released, your podcast player alerts you. I don't really have a schedule. I'm doing them as fast as I can. And because every single podcast is based on a different book, sometimes I can read the book and get a podcast done in a few days. And sometimes the book is just longer or the outline takes longer and it takes me more than a week. So I am releasing them as fast as I can get them done. That brings me to my second note before we get into the book. And just a reminder, this podcast is independent ad free due to patron support. So patrons get every podcast first. So if you want them as fast as possible, make sure you become a patron.