One day - as the story goes - Henry was giving some business associates a tour of his factory. When the group arrived at the production line, men were hard at work ... all except one who was sitting back in a comfortable chair, smoking his pipe and watching the activity. One of Henry's associates commented about the man just sitting in the chair while others were hard at work. Henry's reply was simply "Oh, that's old Bill".
About two hours later - when the group was leaving - they again passed by the same area where "old Bill" was still sitting back smoking his pipe. Another associate mentioned that old Bill must be a production foreman to be sitting back watching while others were working. Henry replied "No, old Bill isn't a foreman, but he is one of my most valuable workers. In fact, my other workers get paid $5.00 per day and I pay old Bill $10.00 per day ... about $2,500. per year". One of the group asked Henry "when does he do any work"? Henry replied "he's working right now". "You see, I pay old Bill TO THINK. And over the last few years old Bill has suggested ways to reduce our production costs a few cents here, a few cents there. In fact, his suggestions have saved us as much as $2.00 per car and because we sell over one million cars per year old Bill has saved us over TWO MILLION DOLLARS per year. That's why I pay old Bill twice as much as the other workers ($2,500. per year)."
What do you think? (no pun intended) Did Henry Ford get a good return on his investment in old Bill. Maybe, you don't sell a million of anything per year, however, you most certainly will profit from regularly taking the time to do some focused thinking.
