CONCENTRATION 747Henry Ford is one of the modern miracles of this age, and I doubt
that this country, or any other, ever produced an industrial genius of
his equal. If the facts were known they might trace the cause of Mr.
Ford's phenomenal achievements to a woman about whom the public
hears but little-his wife.
We read of Ford's achievements and of his enormous income and
imagine him to be blessed with matchless ability, and he is-ability
of which the world would never have heard had it not been for the
modifying influence of his wife, who cooperated with him during all
his years of struggle, "in a spirit of perfect harmony, for the purpose
of attaining a definite end:'
I have in mind another genius who is well known to the entire
civilized world, Thomas Edison, who is married to one of the most
remarkable women in America. Few outside of their family know to
what extent her influence has made Edison's achievements possible.
Mrs. Edison once told me that Mr. Edison's outstanding quality, his
greatest asset above all others, was that of Concentration.
When Thomas Edison begins an experiment or research or an
investigation, he never "lets go' until he either finds what he is looking
for or exhausts every possible effort to do so. Night after night Mr.
Edison works with such Enthusiasm that he requires but three or four
hours of sleep.
Behind Mr. Edison stand two great powers: one is Concentration
and the other is Mrs. Edison!
In Lesson Thirteen you will see the principle of allied effort carried
to proportions that almost stagger the minds of all who have not
trained themselves to think in terms of organized thought.
This course itself is a very concrete illustration of the principle
underlying organized 1fort, but you will observe that it requires all
the lessons of this entire course to complete the description of this
principle. Omit even one of the lessons and the omission would affect
the whole as the removal of one link would affect the whole of a chain.