Why does Michelin rate restaurants and sell tires? The answer will help explain organic change.

So, starting with the title, we find that Michelin sells tires and they review restaurants using their famous star system.

But why? These two don’t seem related at all on the surface.

This article is what we will be looking at.

3 important points from the article to help ground your perception of the world, at the time that this was happening.

1. Why guides?

Michelin began publishing its “Red Guide” in 1900, when both cars and food tourism were novel luxuries. Its creators hoped that a guidebook offering information about hotels, restaurants, and roadways would lead people to drive more—and buy more Michelin tires.

1. New ways to do the same thing: travel

There once was a time when people had to be convinced that a car was useful. That was the situation in 1895, when brothers Edouard and Andre Michelin developed a new design for a car tire at their rubber company in Clermont-Ferrand, France.

1. The general population does not know what is out there and available.

For drivers, that information was essential. Gas stations did not yet exist, so drivers needed to know which pharmacies sold gasoline in several-liter containers. Motorists needed the timetables that listed when the sun set during the year, because highways did not yet have lights. Only a fraction of auto repair shops stayed open all year, which made it crucial to know which closed at the end of summer. Details like this distinguished the Michelin Guide from the tour books of the time, which assumed that people traveled by rail.

1. Small gestures, made continuously over time, extended often without promise of initial reward or compensation, will lead to large movements and provide for long term visions/goals to become a reality.

The Michelin brothers’ efforts to make driving easier extended beyond the guide. Once company employees began rating hotels, they made clear to hoteliers that they should offer free parking. They also lobbied the government to put up road signs for motorists—Edouard Michelin is sometimes credited with inventing road numbers, because he convinced the government to enlarge the numbers it painted on highway posts. At times, company men put up road signs themselves.

If you made it this far into my post, I’ve listed 4 points after claiming 3 will be shared. The whole article is amazing and I encourage you all to dive into the story of the Michelin brothers. Look for parallels to today.