A meeting of the Plating Technology Research Group was recently held at the Nagoya Municipal Industrial Research Institute (Atsuta Ward, Nagoya, Japan).
Dr. Hideyuki Kanematsu, President of BEL Inc., delivered an invited lecture entitled “The Choice for Engineers to Become Entrepreneurs.”
The proceedings of the meeting are available for purchase. For further details, please contact the Nagoya Municipal Industrial Research Institute.
Excerpt from the Lecture Manuscript
“Whether you think you can or think you can’t – you are right.” — Henry Ford
Introduction
The words of the automobile pioneer Henry Ford quoted above suggest that whether one believes something is possible or impossible, the outcome often follows that belief.
Put more gently, if we believe something can be achieved, a path may open; if we assume it cannot be done, progress may stop before it even begins.
As is well known, Ford was not only an engineer but also an entrepreneur. At that time, the mass production of automobiles was widely considered nearly impossible. Nevertheless, he succeeded in making it a reality.
In this sense, Ford’s statement represents an entrepreneurial perspective: the future branches according to whether we first believe in its possibility.
Those who believe something can be done tend to experiment, innovate, and persevere, while those who assume it cannot be done often hesitate to act or abandon their efforts after small failures. As a result, their paths diverge in reality.
Ultimately, Ford’s message may be interpreted as an entrepreneurial insight: possibility does not begin as an objective fact, but rather as a conviction formed in the mind.
(Excerpt continues)