Imagine you’ve been offered a fantastic position with an industry-leading company. It’s the kind of job people kill for. The pay is outrageous, the hours are flexible, and your title would guarantee you respect no matter where you went in town.
Now imagine that, at the same time, you’ve got an idea—potentially a brilliant breakthrough in an emerging field. Other people are working on similar concepts, but you’re pretty certain your vision will not only win out, but also set the standard for the future.
What would you do? Accept the comfortable job with the big salary and easy hours? Or bet on yourself and your idea, imagining what could be? It might sound like a thought exercise, but it’s a very real decision that Henry Ford faced in 1899. An engineer at the Edison Illuminating Power Plant in Detroit, Ford had just built his third car and had several backers encouraging him to pursue his development of more gasoline-powered automobiles. At the same time, Thomas Edison’s company offered Ford a major promotion if he would give up work on his gas-powered car and instead focus on electricity.