Just Magic

• be Soichiro Honda • born a blacksmith's son, despises school, loves the smell of oil • 1936: spends his life savings developing a piston ring concept • pitches it to Toyota; their engineers laugh at him • out of 50 rings submitted, only 3 pass quality control • Rejected. • pawns his wife’s jewelry just to buy food and materials • goes back to school at age 30 to learn metallurgy, gets bullied by younger students • sits in the back, refuses to take exams, tells the professor: "A diploma won't feed me." • finally perfects the manufacturing process, builds a factory • 1944: US B-29 bombers destroy the factory. • rebuilds it from the rubble • 1945: Mikawa earthquake flattens it again. • realizes the universe is telling him to stop • sells the wreckage to Toyota, buys a giant tank of alcohol, and does nothing but drink for a year • wakes up broke, sees his wife struggling to pedal her bicycle to the market • has a spark of madness: finds a surplus radio generator engine and straps it to her bike • it makes a "bata-bata" sound; neighbors beg him to make one for them • founds Honda Motor Co. in a wooden shack • 1954: company is near bankruptcy, but he announces he will enter the Isle of Man TT (the deadliest race on earth) • "I pledge my entire heart and soul to win this race." • goes to Europe, sees German engines are 3x more powerful, returns to Japan to work 18-hour days • returns to the Isle of Man and dominates the 125cc and 250cc classes • decides to build cars; Japanese Government (MITI) bans him • "Japan doesn't need another car company. Stick to motorcycles." • sends the government a furious letter: "I will do it anyway." • enters Formula 1 in 1964 just to spite the bureaucrats • 1973: US passes the Clean Air Act; GM and Ford say the standards are "impossible" to meet • Honda buys a Chevy Impala, flies it to Japan, installs his CVCC engine heads on it • flies it back to the US, passes the EPA test with flying colors • humiliates the biggest car companies on earth with a fraction of their budget • dies as the "Henry Ford of Japan" Success represents the 1% of your work which results from the 99% that is called failure.