Outliers: Harvey Firestone—Men and Rubber [The Knowledge Project Ep. #231]

“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 that 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”—one of the books I give away most frequently as gifts. While it was written in 1926, everyone I give it to is surprised not only by the density of wisdom but by how relevant it remains today.