If I had asked people what they wanted, they would have said faster horses.
-attributed to Henry Ford
Speakers at corporate training seminars adore this quote. It’s the perfect device for illustrating the hazards of taking the task-oriented rather than the goal-oriented approach, and for failing to think outside the proverbial box. The only trouble with the adage, now nearly a cliche: There is no evidence that Ford ever said it, not in any of his books, papers, or recorded materials. In fact, the quotation suddenly pops into the public consciousness in 2002, half a century after Ford’s death.
Fake history is made possible by the internet. Front and center is Wikipedia, an online “encyclopedia” that can be edited by anyone. If you read anything on Wikipedia be aware that it has no credibility. Wikipedia is as believable as anything you read on the bathroom wall of a Texaco station on the interstate.