亨利·福特/Henry Ford
Take competition; I found that competition was supposed to be a menace and that a good manager circumvented his competitors by getting a monopoly through artificial means. The idea was that there were only a certain number of people who could buy and that it was necessary to get their trade ahead of someone else.
Some will remember that later many of the automobile manufacturers entered into an association under the Selden Patent just so that it might be legally possible to control the price and the output of automobiles. They had the same idea that so many trades unions have—the ridiculous notion that more profit can be had doing less work than more. The plan, I believe, is a very antiquated one. I could not see then and am still unable to see that there is not always enough for the man who does his work; time spent in fighting competition is wasted; it had better be spent in doing the work.
There are always enough people ready and anxious to buy, provided you supply what they want and at the proper price—and this applies to personal services as well as to goods.
During this time of reflection I was far from idle. We were going ahead with a four-cylinder motor and the building of a pair of big racing cars. I had plenty of time, for I never left my business. I do not believe a man can ever leave his business. He ought to think of it by day and dream of it by night. It is nice to plan to do one's work in office hours, to take up the work in the morning, to drop it in the evening—andnot have a care until the next morning. It is perfectly possible to do that if one is so constituted as to be willing through all of his life to accept direction, to be an employee, possibly a responsible employee, but not a director or manager of anything.
A manual labourer must have a limit on his hours, otherwise he will wear himself out. If he intends to remain always a manual labourer, then he should forget about his work when the whistle blows, but if he intends to go forward and do anything, the whistle is only a signal to start thinking over the day's work in order to discover how it might be done better.
The man who has the largest capacity for work and thought is the man who is bound to succeed. I cannot pretend to say, because I do not know, whether the man who works always, who never leaves his business, who is absolutely intent upon getting ahead, and who therefore does get ahead—is happier than the man who keeps office hours, both for his brain and his hands. It is not necessary for any one to decide the question. A ten-horsepower engine will not pull as much as a twenty. The man who keeps brain office hours limits his horsepower. If he is satisfied to pull only the load that he has, well and good, that is his affair—but he must not complain if another who has increased his horsepower pulls more than he does. Leisure and work bring different results. If a man wants leisure and gets it—then he has no cause to complain. But he cannot have both leisure and the results of work.
Concretely, what I most realized about business in that year—and I have been learning more each year without finding it necessary to change my first conclusions—is this:
1.That finance is given a place ahead of work and therefore tends to kill the work and destroy the fundamental of service.
2.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.
3.That the way is clear for any one who thinks first of service—of doing the work in the best possible way.
讓我們來說說競爭。我發現競爭常常被人們視為一種威脅。競爭是一位出色的管理者憑借實力對某一個行業的壟斷。這種觀念源於這樣一種想法：購買人群畢竟有限，因此做生意一定要搶奪先機。
有人也許還記得，許多汽車廠商聯合簽訂了“塞爾登專利法”——一項利用合法手段來控製汽車價格和產量的立法。他們的想法與其他許多想聯合的企業的願望相同——以為有了法律屏障，提供少量服務也能獲得更多的利潤。多麽荒謬啊！我相信，這種想法相當過時。我現在不明白，將來也不會明白，為什麽人們不肯埋頭苦幹，卻作無謂的競爭。
隻要你能夠給顧客提供一個價格合理的必需品，就總會有一些人準備或急於購買你的商品，這種方法幾乎在所有服務行業都行得通。
在思考商界現狀的那段日子裏，我並非無所事事。我們研發了一台四缸發動機和兩輛大型賽車。我有充裕的時間，因為我從沒有放棄我的事業。我不相信有人會對他的事業置之不理。無論白天黑夜，我們應該對工作多一分關注，不應停止思考。在工作時間內合理規劃工作內容，是一件令人愉悅的事情。每天早上，我們開始工作，晚上停止工作，並於此間不加思考，直到第二天早上。如果你認為接受他人的指導是最好的選擇，那麽你可以成為一個好員工，或一名優秀的雇員，但你絕不會成為主管或經理。
體力勞動後一定要有休息的時間，否則就會疲憊不堪。如果一個人僅僅想當體力勞動者，那麽隻要收工號吹響，他就應該將工作拋至腦後。相反，如果他想有所改進，有所成就，那麽號聲就成了他積極思考的信號，思考剛剛過去的一整天的工作，思考如何才能更加出色。
擁有強大的工作能力以及思考能力的人必定會取得成功。我不能妄下結論，因為我不知道是否那些一心想超越他人，並達到目標的人，一定會比在精神上與身體上都隻在工作時間開動腦筋的人更幸福。無須回答。正如10馬力的發動機與20馬力的發動機的作用是無法相比的。那麽隻在工作時間開動腦筋的人，限製了自己的能力。如果他們對自己所承擔的工作十分滿意，那完全是他自己的事情。如果別人承擔了比他更艱巨的工作而提升了能力，他連抱怨的資格都沒有。賦閑與工作會讓人得到截然相反的結果。如果一個人喜歡悠閑的生活，並過上了這樣的生活，他便沒有任何借口抱怨了。不過，悠閑的生活與豐厚的勞動成果是不可能同時擁有的。
以後的每一年裏，我都能學到許多商業知識。我最為重視的幾點商界知識是永遠不會改變的。具體如下：
第一，沒工作前就考慮金錢，就等於毀掉了你的事業，甚至毀掉了服務的基礎。
第二，認為金錢至上，而不考慮工作帶來失敗的恐懼。而這種恐懼會阻礙企業向前發展的可行之路——它懼怕與人競爭，拒絕創新，甚至懼怕麵對任何環境的變遷。
第三，服務至上的人所擁有的至理名言——不惜一切代價把工作做到最好！
競爭是人類的天性，但是隨著社會的發展，競爭逐漸變得扭曲。競爭本該是激勵人們努力上進的積極因素，而有些人卻企圖通過競爭壟斷整個行業，達到一勞永逸的結果。真正的成功隻屬於那些對工作兢兢業業、腳踏實地、堅持不懈的人。
menace[?men?s]n.威脅；脅迫；危險
Monkeys in this national park are a menace to visitors.
這個國家公園內的猴子對遊客是一大威脅。
circumvent[?s?:k?m?vent]v.設法克服或避免（某事物）；回避
I am going to show you one way to circumvent that problem.
我會給大家展示一個能避免這種問題的方法。
ridiculous[ri?dikjul?s]adj.可笑的；荒謬的；愚蠢的；荒唐的
This kind of logic is quite ridiculous.
這種邏輯是十分荒謬的。
antiquated[??nti?kweitid]adj.過時的；陳舊的；老式的
Her uncle is antiquated in ideas.
她叔父的思想陳舊保守。
在工作時間內合理規劃工作內容，是一件令人愉悅的事情。
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悠閑的生活與豐厚的勞動成果是不可能同時擁有的。
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沒工作前就考慮金錢，就等於毀掉了你的事業，甚至毀掉了服務的基礎。
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It is nice to plan to do one's work in office hours, to take up the work in the morning...
take up：開始從事
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...but if he intends to go forward and do anything...
intend to：打算做……；想要……
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