If we talked about the history of automobiles, the name of Henry Ford is always on our top lists. While his famous creation of the Ford Model T from the early 20th century leaves a significant mark in the modernization age, it also highlights and reveals his contribution as one of the greatest entrepreneurs and innovators of all-time. And, as truth be told, he was the person who immortalized the gamut value of automotive from nothing to something, a horseless carriage to Quadricycle, an unknown utility to something worth having.

As famous and renowned English poet William Shakespeare once said: “Some are born great, some achieve greatness, and some have greatness thrust upon them.” Henry was born with a mission.

The young Henry, who works as an apprentice in repairing watches, has left his family farm in exchange to pursue his passion in building machinery. The 13-year old farm boy from Dearborn, who got his pocket watch as a birthday present from his dad started his fascination on how the mechanical pieces work.

In honoring his birth date and over 5 decades since it opened in the country, let me share 7 of his brightest Life Lessons we can learn from the person who pursue greatness.

• Live with all your Passion. We’ve heard this many times in countless motivational talk and sales rally just to refresh our minds. If you have lost your job during this pandemic, don’t lose hope! Pursue and move forward. Live your dreams, big or small. Thrive, don’t just survive! Before Henry established the brand Ford, he was an apprentice repairing watches after getting fired from his first job. As a self-taught watchmaker, the young Henry still pursued and followed his passion and dreams, which led him to become the greatest innovator of all-time.

• Stay Focused. The word “Focus” is something special to Ford. Synonymous to its compact vehicle Ford Focus, this best quality of leadership is an essential tool in every business. When Henry experienced failures and obstacles in his business, he just stayed focused. Instead of leaving all his bags, he started investing and refining his products into larger factories in pursuit of improvements. It’s good to wait sometimes and focus on what needs to improve.

• Learn, learn, and learn. Henry’s famous quote: “Anyone who stops learning is old, whether at twenty or eighty. Anyone who keeps learning stays young. The greatest thing in life is to keep your mind young.” Young Henry doesn’t stop learning. He did not invent the first automobile, but he created the first affordable vehicle for American families. Today, Ford sold more than 5 million vehicles globally.

• Quality works equals good products. Henry knows every value of creating products. He believes that “Quality means doing it right when no one is looking.” He doesn’t just talk the talk, but he also walks the walk. This produces the outcome of what Ford products have become. They don’t create SMART cars in today’s modern world mobility; Henry also builds an eco-system that innovates the progress of quality cars. Historically, the brand achieves the highest mark of quality among all non-luxury brands in the J.D. Power Initial Quality Study.

• Learning from failures. Failures are inevitable. Everyone faces failures at some point in their lives. And of course, Henry is not exempted. He experienced bankruptcy when he placed all his money on producing his first car, and even tried to work on his political career but never succeeded. But for Henry all of these things are just the best opportunity to start again and learn from the past. While Ford is known as an affordable car in the history of automobiles, the brand also switches moving towards the driving of the future. The Ford Sync, for instance, has been the driving force in terms of safety in Ford’s stable for more than 1 decade. This SYNC technology minimizes distraction with hands-free voice control which helps save millions of lives across the world.

• Caring for people. Remember, the old adage: Sharing is caring. Today, we rarely see large companies that hire people with disabilities. But not with Ford. From the start of his operations, Henry is opened to hire handicapped individuals in the workplace. The good Henry Ford knows that wealth won’t help his company grow, but his people. With the contagious effort in helping and building communities, Ford allocated resources of $1.6 million to address the current pandemic. In the Philippines, Ford stayed true to its core values of “Putting People First” and “Doing The Right Thing” for employees, their families, and customers. The company also offered various online learning and professional development to help their well-being in the pandemic. Aside from the Covid-19 Donation Match that will support Gawad Kalinga Foundation in helping over 1,400 families, Ford has also deployed Ford Transit vans to help frontliners and medical health care workers in their daily transport.

• Believe in yourself. Henry leaves a powerful statement about a can-do attitude for every individual struggling with achieving success. This leaves a bigger opportunity to empower women for greater cause. Part of women’s empowerment is what Ford Philippines is doing in their long-standing advocacy program about road safety, the Driving Skills for Life (DSFL). The program helps out over 23,000 Filipino drivers, including women to get educated on different training modules in driving special conditions, anti-distracted driving, fuel-efficient driving, and hands-on driving simulation. More than 40,000 participants and 1.25 million drivers were trained across 46 countries.

As we discover the person behind the Blue Oval brand, we begin to think that greatness can be duplicated in simple ways. Truly, Henry’s life lessons are worth emulating especially in this time of a health crisis, where the spirit of Bayanihan lives in all Filipinos.