The power of being free of bubbling activity
V Subrahmanian
One day, a curious journalist asked him:
“Mr. Ford, who’s the highest-paid person in your company?”
Ford smiled and took him on a tour of the enormous factory —
workers everywhere, machines roaring, bells ringing, elevators going up and down.
A perfectly organized chaos.
Then, in the middle of the noise, there was a small, closed office.
Inside, a man sat comfortably in a chair, feet on the table, hat over his eyes — apparently doing nothing.
Ford knocked on the door.
The man lifted his hat slightly and said, “Hey Henry, everything good?”
Ford nodded with a grin, closed the door, and kept walking.
The journalist was shocked.
“Who is that man?”
Ford chuckled.
“He’s the highest-paid employee in the company.”
The journalist frowned.
“But… what does he actually do?”
Ford replied:
“He does nothing. He comes in, sits down, and thinks.”
Then he added:
“I hired him to think. Every new system, every car model idea — they all come from his mind.
He relaxes, reflects, and sends me his ideas.
I turn them into reality — and make millions.
Ideas are worth more than anything.
But to have them, you need time, silence, and mental space.
If you’re busy all the time, you’ll never create something new.
That’s why I pay him to think.”
👏 The journalist was speechless — then applauded.
Henry Ford understood a simple but powerful truth:
👉 Great success is born from a free mind, not a busy schedule.
Even today, leaders like Bill Gates and Warren Buffett follow the same principle.
Buffett reads for over four hours a day.
Gates finishes about two books a week.
Both spend time alone — thinking.
🧠 Because when the mind is free, ideas are born.
If you want to achieve something great, clear the noise.
Make space to think, dream, and create.
The best ideas don’t come from chaos — they come from silence.
Bhaskar YR
praNAms
Hare Krishna
I would like to apply for that post. Any other special qualifications required apart from whatever said in the message ??
Hari Hari Hari Bol!!!
bhaskar
Kalyan Chakravarthy
Bhaskar YR
praNAms
Hare Krishna
Interestingly, Elon Musk wrote this on Twitter (X) recently -
"With rare exception, ideas really are trivial compared to execution."
"For example, the idea of going to the Moon is simple, but ACTUALLY going to the Moon is staggeringly difficult."
Ø Let the R&D take care of materializing the ideas. My scope of work ends in ‘just giving the ideas’ which appeared to me in my silence and serene mind, why should I bother about other things?? And that is what that person was doing at Ford company is it not!!?? 😊 If any openings are there for this type of job, definitely I will apply, very attractive job profile indeed 😊
Kalyan Chakravarthy
Kalyan
Bhaskar YR
I tried to do fact-check of this incident.
It appears to be an inspirational tale rather than a real incident. Unfortunately, this job profile may not exist. 🙂
praNAms
Hare Krishna
Yes I know the good intentions in which that was told and it has nothing to do in corporate workaholic world 😊 just on the lighter note I dragged it 😊
Hari Hari Hari Bol!!
bhaskar