This may have originated as a 3rd person statement like:
” If Henry Ford had asked his customers, they would have told him they want a faster horse…”
– and may even be the ‘brainchild’ of someone famous (like Steve Jobs, who doesn’t believe in asking customers and knows better what they want, or someone from the same ‘school’ of thought).
It has to be noted that, while not as arrogant as this dubious statement, Ford didn’t conduct market research or focus groups as part of his product development. Such user insight techniques were not invented yet. But he did care about the needs of his customers (simple operation, affordability, family needs) as evidenced by this (real!) quote:
“I will build a car for the great multitude. It will be large enough for the family, but small enough for the individual to run and care for. It will be constructed of the best materials, by the best men to be hired, after the simplest designs that modern engineering can devise. But it will be so low in price that no man making a good salary will be unable to own one – and enjoy with his family the blessing of hours of pleasure in God’s great open spaces.”
Source: www.quora.com
Image by Gerd Altmann from Pixabay
