The Way I Heard It with Mike Rowe - 94: On The Importance of Better Driving

Episode Date: March 13, 2018

But how do you eliminate driver error?

This is the way I heard it. Back in May of 1932, a 61-year-old handyman named John Thompson was tinkering in his garage when he had himself a eureka moment, a completely self-centered idea that would virtually eliminate bad driving. In those days, bad driving was commonplace, and the U.S. automakers weren't sure what to do about it. But John Thompson believed the problem had less to do with bad drivers and more to do with the obstacles they encountered. Specifically, recessed gullies, intricate curves, and flat horizontal planes. John's idea would promote better driving by eliminating these obstacles. Six months later, a gleaming prototype was in his garage, ready for action.

And six months after that, patent number 1080080 arrived in the U.S. mail, making John Thompson the sole owner of a device that would virtually eliminate bad driving. All he needed now was somebody to mass produce it. John traveled all over the country looking for a manufacturing partner. He visited dozens of factories and presented his prototype to countless engineers. But the reaction was always the same. Great idea, Mr. Thompson, but no thanks. John grew discouraged.

He'd never tried to sell anything before, and the rejection was demoralizing. His final pitch occurred two years later in a conference from full of engineers at a manufacturing facility in Oregon. Good morning, Mr. Thompson. We're intrigued by your design, the cruciform, the conical helix, and the self-centering aspect are most innovative, but please explain to us how such a thing can be mass-produced. Well, said John, with a nervous laugh, I was hoping that's what you fellows could tell me. The engineers said nothing, so John plunged in.

He talked about the fundamental problem, the frequency with which drivers wound up getting stuck and the inevitable damage that followed when they continued to accelerate. Then he explained how his device would solve the problem by ejecting the driver before the moment of impact. When he finished, the engineers agreed his idea was brilliant, but simply too hard to mass produce. In other words, no thanks. Later that evening, bellied up to the ball. John was staring at the diagrams on the wrinkled pages of his worthless patent when a man with white teeth and perfect hair struck up a conversation. Don't take it so hard, friend. A no is just a

yes to a different question. Spare me the platitude, said John. I know what a no means. I hear it every day. The man grinned, pulled up a stool, and ordered a fresh round of drinks. What is it exactly you're trying to sell. John handed the man his patent. His name was Henry, and he didn't understand all the details, but he knew the importance of better driving. So Henry offered to buy another round. Then he offered to buy John's idea for a handful of cash.

John Thompson agreed, and after that, things happened fast. Henry returned to the company that had just rejected John's idea and asked to see the president, a man named Eugene Clark. Oh, no, said the secretary, not without an appointment. But Eugene Clark's secretary didn't understand that a no was just a yes to another question. So Henry smiled, his charming smile, and showed her his new patent. This idea is going to eliminate driver error, he said. I can show it to a competitor, but wouldn't you rather show it to the boss yourself? The secretary looked at the patent.

She didn't understand the details, but she knew the importance of better driving. So she showed the patent to her boss. And soon, Henry was sitting across from the president, stretching the truth a bit and posing additional questions that could only be answered in the affirmative. Mr. Clark, I just heard from General Motors. They want millions of these things. Your engineers say it can't be done. and should I ask someone else to give it a try,

or do you want to give it another shot? Eugene Clark picked up the phone and summoned his engineers back to the conference room. Once again, the engineers examined the prototype and said, no, they blamed the practical limits of a cold steel forge and the many challenges of scaling a product of this size. But the engineers didn't realize a no was just a yes

to another question. So when Eugene Clark asked if they wanted to keep their jobs, the engineers went back to the drawing board and came up with a way to mass produce Henry's prototype, at which point Henry flew to Detroit to persuade General Motors to place a massive order for a million devices that did not yet exist. You can guess what happens next. Henry gets a meeting with the president of General Motors and persuades him to test his prototype. Driver performance improves dramatically. And General Motors offers to buy Henry's idea right then and there, but this time it's Henry who says no, because Henry has no intention of selling his driving system to just anybody.

He wants to license it to everybody. Ultimately, General Motors ordered millions, then Chrysler, then Ford, then the Department of Defense. And soon, Henry's patented technology was inside every new car on America's highways and every bomber that helped the United States win World War II. And Henry's bank account wound up with $65 million in today's dollars. As for John Thompson, well, he got screwed. There's really no other way to say it.

The aging handyman had been right all along. He knew the problem with bad driving had less to do with the drivers themselves and more to do with the obstacles they encountered. He was the one who replaced those troublesome gullies with a unique tapered cruciform. He was the one who swapped out those horizontal planes with an ingenious conical helix. It was John Thompson's patented self-centering drive system that solved the chronic problem of overtorking. by automatically ejecting drivers before they could cause any serious damage. That was the breakthrough that dramatically increased the speed of America's assembly lines. A breakthrough named not for the man who invented it or for the man who manufactured it,

but rather for the man who bought it and sold it over and over and over again. A salesman who knew that a no was just a yes. to a different question. A guy named Henry with a last name that's still synonymous with the screw that made him rich

and the screwdriver that made him famous. Phillips. Anyway, that's the way I heard it. When you manage procurement for multiple facilities, every order matters. But when it's for a hospital system,

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