Whenever I tell product people that they must talk to customers, someone brings up the famous Henry Ford quote about faster horses: “If I had asked people what they wanted, they would have said faster horses.”

Before I address the implications (in a nutshell: so what, you should still talk to them), let’s talk about the quote itself. In recent years, more and more people are aware that it’s unclear if Ford actually said it. 

I went to do some research to figure out whether it was true or not. Here is what I found:

Unlike other quotes (for example, the one about Ford’s Model-T that could come in any color as long as it’s black, which appears in his co-authored biography), there is no evidence that Ford actually said anything about faster horses.

He died in 1947, and the first appearance of the faster horses quote attributed to Ford was in 2001.

In 1999, however, a cruise ship designer named John McNeece wanted to give an example of why it’s problematic to ask customers what they want. In an article published in “The Cruise Industry News Quarterly,” McNeece said the following: “There is a problem trying to figure out what people want by canvassing them. I mean, if Henry Ford canvassed people on whether or not he should build a motor car, they’d probably tell him what they really wanted was a faster horse.”

He didn’t say Ford said it, but he speculated what could have been such an answer.

The quote is attributed to Ford himself for the first time in a letter sent to the UK publication Marketing Week in 2001: “Being market-led implies being led by the consumer — and consumers are bad at coming up with innovations (Henry Ford’s quote: “If I had asked my customers what they wanted they would have said a faster horse” springs to mind…).”

Sounds like someone has been reading cruise industry magazines, right?

But wait, it doesn’t stop there! In 2006, Henry Ford’s great-grandson said that the attribution to Ford was accurate. 

So which one is it? I’ll let you decide for yourself.

But now let’s talk about what it means. Whether it was Ford himself or not, this example is worth addressing since so many people use it to explain why customers don’t know what they want.

To some extent, it’s true, but if you think you know better, you are going at it the wrong way.

The problem starts when people mix hearing, listening, understanding, and decision-making. Here is why you must talk to customers even if they don’t know how to talk to you. You are the one who needs to lead the way, and here’s how.

Hearing vs. Listening

Hearing customers and truly listening to them are two very different things. When customers say things like, “I want it to be faster” or “I need it to be simpler,” it’s easy to take their words at face value. But if you stop there, you risk falling into the “faster horses” trap, where you deliver what customers say rather than what they need.

The biggest barrier to listening is our tendency to think about our response while the other person is still talking. We’re too quick to decide whether we agree or disagree, and this prevents us from truly engaging with their perspective. To listen well, you have to set aside your assumptions and immerse yourself in their world. That’s where real insights come from—by understanding why they feel the way they do.

Listening goes beyond just hearing the words—it’s about looking at things from the other side’s perspective. Agreeing or disagreeing with it misses the point. Even if you think their perspective is wrong, from their perspective, it isn’t. That’s a fact you can’t argue with, and if you find yourself struggling to agree with them, ask clarifying questions until you fully understand why they think the way they do. 

They might not be aware of something in your product, or you might have missed something in their world, but they can’t be wrong about what they feel and think about their own reality. You must accept that truth in order to be able to take anything from the conversation, let alone change their point of view later on.

Listening vs. Understanding

Even when you’re listening closely to customers, they’ll often speak in terms of solutions. That’s just how people communicate. Whether it’s a faster feature, a new tool, or an improved interface, customers will usually share what they think the answer is. And, honestly, it’s natural—we all do this. Even I, despite knowing better, often find myself talking about solutions with my team. It’s just easier than clearly articulating the problem I want the team to solve. Of course, since I know that a more meaningful conversation is about problems and needs, I am aware of this tendency and force myself to change it, but it’s not always easy.

Don’t judge your customers just because they are human. I mean, they are not even product managers; they don’t even know that they should talk about problems and needs. But that’s what you are there for.

Just because customers talk about solutions doesn’t mean you should follow them there. Listening, in its true sense, requires an active role. Your job is to shift the conversation away from solutions and toward understanding the underlying problems that led them to that conclusion. Why do they think a faster feature will solve their problem? How does the slow feature impact them? What frustrations or inefficiencies are driving them to request this change? The real value lies in uncovering those root causes.

Customers don’t always know how to express their problems in a way that leads to actionable insights. That’s your job. It’s not on them to articulate the deeper issues—that’s where your expertise comes in. Understanding requires you to steer the conversation toward the root of their frustrations so you can craft a solution that addresses the real problem, not just the surface-level symptom.

Input vs. Order

The customer is always right, but only from their perspective.

Now it’s time to add yours to the mix, and the outcome could be different than what they want.

Being customer-centric doesn’t mean you’re a servant to their requests. As a product leader, you need to treat what customers say as valuable input, not as direct orders. It’s not black and white; you have many options. You can listen deeply, understand where they’re coming from, and still decide not to do exactly what they’ve asked for.

There are many reasons you might choose not to act on specific customer requests. Perhaps the problem they’re raising isn’t common enough to warrant a broad solution, or maybe it conflicts with other strategic priorities. Other times, you might decide to address the issue but in a way that they haven’t considered. Customers are great at describing their pain points, but they’re not always equipped to design the best solution. That’s your job.

Furthermore, it’s not about right or wrong.

As a product person, you need to have an informed opinion. There is no objective truth out there that you need to find. It’s true in a broader context, but when it comes to listening to customers, you must remember that customers give you valuable insight into their needs, but it’s your responsibility to filter that through the lens of your product vision and strategy. Your managers don’t want to only hear what customers say—they want to hear what you think should be done accordingly. That means using your understanding of the market, your team’s capabilities, and the long-term goals of your product to make the right call, even if it’s not what the customer asked for.

Product thinking isn’t about saying yes to everything; that’s what the word ‘thinking’ is there for. You must balance customer input with strategic thinking. You should approach customer feedback with an open mind but also with the confidence to make decisions that align with your broader goals. That’s where the true value of product leadership lies—not just in listening but in leading.

If you don’t give yourself the freedom to decide otherwise, talking to customers might be scary. You don’t want to hear something you don’t like just to have to do it later on. But it’s your own mindset that is preventing you from truly listening and embracing that must-have technique.

The good news is that since it’s in your head, you are also the one who can change it. Start right away.