Big Things Start Small

Big Things Start Small

How many times have you heard someone mention a giant company like Harley Davidson, Miller Brewing or Allen Bradley and say something like, “Huh, must be nice.”  Companies like these are so large today that, for most of us, the thought of building a company as large, successful and widely recognized seems, well, not possible.

And you know what? They’re right.  It is impossible to create a company like Miller, Harley and Allen Bradley.  What’s not impossible, though, is to build one, and each of these companies is living proof of the reality of this possibility.

To make this a little easier to get our arms around, let’s go back in history a bit.  In 1855, Frederick Miller, the founder of Miller Brewery came to the

United States from Germany.  While Mr. Miller was a skilled brewer, he was not a skilled businessman.  Nonetheless, he came to this country to make the most of his opportunities.  And that he obviously did.  He purchased his first brewery, the Plank Road Brewery, the year he arrived.  Here and there, Mr. Miller simply began to build his business, barrel by barrel.  Today, Miller’s sales are more than $12 billion annually.

The Allen Bradley Company began in 1903 as a two-man operation.  Dr. Stanton Allen and Lynde Bradley, a high school dropout, had a dream of developing an electrical component that would assist the transfer of power in various kinds of machinery.  Their first product, the “carbon pile rheostat,” was both an innovation and a learning experience.  While it worked to successfully transfer the power as they had hoped, one of its primary materials was charcoal that quickly turned to dust when used, making the reliability and durability of their rheostat less than ideal.  Messrs. Allen and Bradley didn’t give up and in 1980, the company exceeded $1 billion in sales before being sold to Rockwell Automation.

Harley Davidson, the American’s American icon, also began in the most humble of ways.  Like Allen Bradley, Harley Davidson was started in 1903 by two partners, William S. Harley and Arthur Davidson.  Their “factory” was a wooden shed measuring 10’ x 15’, about the size of the office I have today.  Their goal: to build a unique racing motorcycle and ultimately sell it to someone.  Today, Harley Davidson is both a product and an experience.  Its corporate office is located just down the road from its original wooden factory shed. Its sales eclipse $6 billion annually.

So what’s the lesson for us in these three companies?  Well, for one, great big things can start in real small places.  Each of these great companies began humbly, overcame many obstacles like the switch from analog to digital technology (Allen Bradley), prohibition (Miller) and quality problems that nearly bankrupted the company (Harley Davidson), but never gave up.  The second lesson is that things take time.  Each of these companies is more than 100 years old and all began to experience significant growth after the period where many businesses are already considered “mature.”  Great things don’t appear magically like some kind of Kodak moment.  Instead, they usually happen gradually yet progressively, like the movement of a clock.

The biggest lesson for me in these stories is the power of human beings to create things from nothing.  To take an idea, a skill, a desire or a passion and create something powerful, successful and sustaining.  Whatever our minds can conceive, we can create.  That’s an awesome thought.  It can also be a scary thought.   So let’s go way back in time for inspiration, way before Miller, Harley Davidson or Allen Bradley, before the United States and before the birth of Christ.  There’s an ancient Chinese proverb that simply states, “A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.”  How hard is it to take the first step?  You’re right – not very.