“The most difficult thing in business is first getting yourself to thinking, and then getting others to thinking. A person may keep very busy indeed without doing any thinking at all. And the easy course is to keep so busy, there will be no time left over for thought.”

“We try to substitute discussion for thought by organizing committees, but a committee is just an elaborate means of fooling oneself into believing that talking is the same as thinking. These words are from Harvey S. Firestone's autobiography Men and Rubber”

“While others built elaborate organizations, Firestone asked two simple questions that cut through every problem.

Is it necessary? And can it be simplified? While others chased trends, he focused relentlessly on what wouldn't change.”

“While others avoided hard decisions, he had the courage to close doors and burn boats. Most importantly, Firestone understood something that eludes most ambitious professionals today. Positioning beats talent, simplicity scales better than complexity, and the person with options holds all the power.”

“Today's episode isn't about tires. It's about the durable, asymmetric advantages that create lasting success in any field. Whether you're navigating technological disruption, fighting entrenched competitors, or building something from nothing, Firestone's principles will give you an unfair advantage.

As he put it, thought, not money, is the real business capital.”

“Harvey Firestone learned his most valuable business lessons, not from formal education, but from his father, Benjamin, a man he would later call the best businessman I have ever known. What made Benjamin exceptional wasn't flashy success or quick profits, but a deeper understanding of what creates lasting value.

The test of a businessman is not whether he can make money in one or two boom years, or can make money throughout one lifetime, but whether he creates something that will live and grow in money-making power after he is gone. By this standard, Benjamin excelled through three principles that would later define Harvey's own approach to building an empire. The first principle was maintaining a surplus, or how I prefer to frame it, as a margin of safety.

Harvey wrote that his father had the rare foresight to know that a fine crop one year was more or less a fortunate accident and did not set a figure to be followed during future years. Consequently, he always had plenty of stock and feed on hand. This wasn't just prudent farming, it was positioning.

Benjamin was never a for seller when other farmers rushed to market and sold regardless “of price because they needed the money so badly he could wait. Sometimes an entire year for better prices. Having a surplus is the greatest aid to business judgment that I know Harvey later reflected.”

“The key lesson here is that if you are well positioned, be it with a surplus or margin of safety or whatever you want to call it, you control your own circumstances. When you don't have that, you are controlled by them. The second principle was patience in negotiation.”

“At market, Benjamin would silently survey the options, watching and listening and gathering as much information as possible before deciding, often walking away if conditions weren't favorable. Never rush in on a deal, he advised, let it come to you. This discipline meant Harvey couldn't recall his father ever making a significant mistake.

Third and perhaps most valuable was Benjamin's reputation for fairness. He never wanted to get more than his stock was worth, or to buy stock for less than it was worth, Harvey wrote. The result?

Other farmers wouldn't sell until Benjamin did. Buyers sought him out, first knowing whatever price he accepted would set the market. His reputation had become a competitive advantage.”

“While other farmers remained narrowly focused on daily operations, Benjamin also maintained perspective through voracious reading, rare for farmers of that era. As Harvey noted, when all a person's attention is required by the daily running of his business, he seldom sees the business in perspective. He misses the new developments.”

“The lessons here are deceptively simple but incredibly powerful. Good positioning eliminates forced decisions. You don't need to be smarter than others to outperform them if you're better positioned.

Anyone looks like a genius when they're in a good position, and even the smartest person looks like an idiot when they're in a bad one. Working in your business also differs from working on it. One requires execution, the other perspective.

And finally, fairness compounds of the four possible relationship outcomes with anyone in your life. Win-win, win-lose, lose-win, lose-lose. Only win-win builds lasting success.”

“Harvey would later write, The first principle of salesmanship is that you must thoroughly believe in what you have to sell. Then selling becomes merely a matter of showing how your product will help a prospect. Great products either sell themselves through obvious utility or require the right marketing to educate customers about their value.”

“Failure teaches what success can't.The lesson here is bounce, don't break. The first no is rarely the end of the line. Learn, adapt and try again.”

“On July 26, 1900, Harvey and Swinehart struck a deal. They would launch with $50,000 in capital, Harvey investing $10,000 cash plus a business option valued at $15,000, while Swinehart contributed $10,000 and his patent, the Firestone Tire and Rubber Company was born.”

“For two years, Firestone operated as a middleman, buying tires from established manufacturers and adding their patented fastening device. Sales grew rapidly, but profits remained elusive.”

“Losing money is not pleasant, but every business must at times lose money. Losing money is really serious if you do not know why you are losing, or if you do know why and cannot help yourself. It was very plain to me why we were losing money.

We were losing money because we couldn't control the cost of our tires. Harvey realized they had the best fastening device, but couldn't price competitively while buying tires from the very companies they competed against. The solution was clear, but daunting, vertical integration.

They needed their own manufacturing facility, therefore they needed more capital again. Harvey knew this fundraising round would determine their fate. Instead of approaching many small investors, he targeted Will Christie, the most influential man in Akron, applying a principle he'd refine through experience.”

“No business can succeed unless it is constantly revising its product, not only to meet the actual demands of today, but also the potential demands of tomorrow.”

“As Harvey noted, working with Ford provided steady pressure for higher service and lower prices that prevented complacency. Anyone who does business with Mr. Ford never gets a chance to rest and enjoy honors. The pressure for better methods is continuous.”

“Edison and Ford, both friends of Harvey, believed that inventors rarely benefited from patent laws. The real profits, they argued, flowed to capitalists who controlled the legal machinery. Yet inventors like James Dyson in Episode 220 demonstrate why some protection remains essential.

Without it, what incentive exists to invest years perfecting a breakthrough? This tension between monopolistic control that stifles progress and legitimate protection that rewards innovation remains unresolved a century later. The story's irony is that Harvey, forced outside the patent system, created superior alternatives that might otherwise never have existed.”

“The evidence suggests both Harvey and Henry Ford shared a fundamental business philosophy. High volume at low prices.

Their vision of making automobiles available to everyone through mass production wasn't just rhetoric, it shaped their operational decisions daily.”

“A good partner reveals themselves more in the bad times than the good times.”

“Positioning is leverage. When everyone else is desperate, the person with options holds all the power. As John D. Rockefeller said, the best feed during the depressions.”

“Rather than just selling tires, he created entire ecosystems that expanded his market. The ship-by-truck movement wasn't merely clever marketing, it was infrastructure development that benefited both the nation and Firestone's bottom line. By catching the right wave of transportation evolution, Harvey transformed his company from a mere supplier into an essential catalyst for America's economic modernization.”

“Elaborate systems often collapse under pressure, while simple focused operations prove anti-fragile.”

“What's instructive here is Harvey's understanding that meaningful work provides its own compensation beyond money. People need to be a part of something larger than themselves and find genuine satisfaction in solving problems, building systems and creating value. It turns out these remain engaging regardless of financial position.

The best founders aren't motivated by money, but rather the reward of building something that matters with the people they love. Beyond balance sheets and profit margins, Harvey was driven by something deeper, business as a school of experience that provided unparalleled opportunities for growth. What truly satisfied him was the greatest pleasure is in doing something to help others to help themselves, not through charity but through genuine opportunities for independence.”

“Harvey stepped down as president in 1932, turning over operations to his son, while remaining chairman until his death in 1938. By then, the company he'd started with 12 employees commanded 25% of the entire US tire market, with sales exceeding 156 million. Beyond business success, Harvey became legendary for his friendships with Henry Ford and Thomas Edison.”

“Harvey's core business philosophy remains strikingly relevant. Capital isn't that important in business. Experience isn't that important.

You can get both. What is important is ideas. I would add and determination and persistence and all the things that we talk about on the Outlier series.

His emphasis on innovation over resources, people over systems and integrity as the keystone of business continues resonating today.”

“So there's an interesting anecdote in the book about Henry Ford that I think is worth highlighting, and I'm going to read you a direct excerpt here.

It's commonly imagined that Mr. Ford arrives at his decisions quickly. Nothing could be farther from the fact. He reaches his decision slowly and alone.

He does not jump at anything. And so when the time comes for execution, everything moves with marvellous rapidity because everything has been previously thought through and planned. He has had the time to do this thinking and planning because he has used his time himself instead of permitting others to use it for him.

And he is certain that plans will be executed for him because he knows how to let men go when they grow too rich and lazy to execute. There's a lot of wisdom in that, and the two most profound sort of lessons in that excerpt are, one, thinking through things slowly and taking control of your time, and the second is a bit ruthless but obvious too, which is you need to learn to let people go when they and quote unquote become too rich and lazy to execute.”