A Review of "Pioneer in Industrial Welfare"
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Date Published: June 24, 2021
Date Modified: August 3, 2024 |
Samuel Crowther (select link for Samuel Crowther home page on this website) does a fabulous job capturing the essence of Mr. Patterson in this book. His skill is on display in his other biographies on a multitude of America's greatest twentieth-century industrialists: Harvey S. Firestone (Men and Rubber: The Story of Business), Henry Ford (My Life and Work, Today and Tomorrow, and Moving Forward), and A. B. Farquhar (An Autobiography of A. B. Farquhar).
My favorite quote of John H. Patterson from this book: "Of course if you do not care for ideas that is another matter, and in such case it might not be a bad scheme to quit business and go bury yourself."
My favorite quote of John H. Patterson from this book: "Of course if you do not care for ideas that is another matter, and in such case it might not be a bad scheme to quit business and go bury yourself."
A Review of "John H. Patterson: Pioneer in Industrial Welfare" by Samuel Crowther
- Reviews of the Day: 1923
- Selected Quotes from "John H. Patterson: Pioneer"
- This Author’s Thoughts and Perceptions
Reviews of the Day: 1923
"There has just been published an intensely inspiring volume 'John H. Patterson: Pioneer in Industrial Welfare.' . . .
"America would be a better country for wage-earners and for all of us if more employers were men and of the stamp of John H. Patterson."
"America would be a better country for wage-earners and for all of us if more employers were men and of the stamp of John H. Patterson."
B. C. Forbes, The Philadelphia Inquirer, January 24, 1924
Selected Quotes and Insights from "John H. Patterson: Pioneer"
- An insight into Patterson's handling of top management.
" 'When we get to the point where all depends on one man, let's fire him.'
"And that is exactly what he [Patterson] did, and that is one reason why the alumni of the National Cash Register Company have so generally made good, for he hardly ever took the trouble to fire a man who had not sufficient mental force and ability to work himself into a position of central authority. That is the reason he fired Henry Theobald, the president of the Toledo Scale Company; Jacob Oswald, president of the Roto-Speed Company; Colonel E. A. Deeds, Hugh Chalmers; Thomas J. Watson, president of the Computing-Tabulating-Recording Company; and so on through a long list. It should be noted that every one of these men—fired for getting too powerful—to a most unusual degree controlled the companies which they afterward founded or headed!"
"And that is exactly what he [Patterson] did, and that is one reason why the alumni of the National Cash Register Company have so generally made good, for he hardly ever took the trouble to fire a man who had not sufficient mental force and ability to work himself into a position of central authority. That is the reason he fired Henry Theobald, the president of the Toledo Scale Company; Jacob Oswald, president of the Roto-Speed Company; Colonel E. A. Deeds, Hugh Chalmers; Thomas J. Watson, president of the Computing-Tabulating-Recording Company; and so on through a long list. It should be noted that every one of these men—fired for getting too powerful—to a most unusual degree controlled the companies which they afterward founded or headed!"
Samuel Crowther Insight into John H. Patterson
- Inventor vs. Innovator
"Mr. Patterson was an almost uncannily skilled adapter rather than an originator; the line between adapting and originating is hard to draw for he got suggestions from quarters where no other human being would have found them and then turned them in such fashion that no one else would have recognized the suggestion."
Samuel Crowther Insight into John H. Patterson
- Stay ahead of your customers
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"My idea of successful business is this: Fill not only every known want of your customers but also have in ready reserve that which you calculate they are going to need next year or the year after. That is, do not merely keep up with the market but preferably a few paces ahead in what you are actually offering and about a mile ahead in your reserve offerings. Every big success, individual or commercial, has followed that rule.
"The manufacturer who merely caters to his market is never a very big manufacturer." John H. Patterson
- But not too far ahead of them
" 'How far shall I keep ahead of the public?' If one goes too far ahead, the public will lose sight of him. That has been the unhappy fate of many brilliant men. There is only one way that I know to determine the exact lead to be taken, and that is by thoroughly knowing the whole market and its trends.
"We devote a great deal of attention to finding out, not only what the public wants and what it may need, but also just how ready it is to absorb new ideas." |
An NCR Advertisement
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John H. Patterson
- One of this editor's favorites
"Times have changed but human nature has not."
John H. Patterson
This Author's Thoughts and Perceptions
This book was released 18 months after the death of John H. Patterson. Samuel Crowther who also wrote biographies on Henry Ford, Harvey S. Firestone, and A. B. Farquhar did an amazing job in this book. It is a superlative work.
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The most powerful single story in this biography by Samuel Crowther concerns one of John H. Patterson's greatest mistakes. There are some insights here, but the full story can be read by following the link to "The Art of the Restart."
It is an amazing story of how a chief executive not only learned from a mistake, but changed his whole philosophy of how he treated his employees. A mistake of monumental proportions
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NCR had just shipped its first large international export of cash registers to England. The necessary changes were made to transition the machines from counting dollars and cents to tracking pounds and pennies. They were to be an extraordinary overseas testament to the benefits of the cash register: reduce theft and provide business owners with more control over their cash.
But the registers failed to add properly—a major failing in a high-powered adding machine. Overseas salesclerks were accused of theft and fired. Store owners lost control of their money and, because of poor workmanship, Patterson’s machines came home.
With his usual flair for the dramatic, he amassed the useless machines in a pile and enclosed them within a locked, glass enclosure as a memorial “for all time.” It was a monument of junk dedicated to preventing another business failure. Then he moved his desk out onto the factory floor so he could see the problems for himself.
He fixed the problems, and it never happened again!
Cheers,
- Pete
But the registers failed to add properly—a major failing in a high-powered adding machine. Overseas salesclerks were accused of theft and fired. Store owners lost control of their money and, because of poor workmanship, Patterson’s machines came home.
With his usual flair for the dramatic, he amassed the useless machines in a pile and enclosed them within a locked, glass enclosure as a memorial “for all time.” It was a monument of junk dedicated to preventing another business failure. Then he moved his desk out onto the factory floor so he could see the problems for himself.
He fixed the problems, and it never happened again!
Cheers,
- Pete