Steve Jobs Built a Different Kind of Company – What Kind Are You Building?

pc vs macApple has been different since its beginnings. Its computers didn’t look like the ones we were familiar with.  Its software was incompatible with the programs we were accustomed to. Its CEO was WAY different than the suit & ties of that time.  Today it’s still different.

Each day I read countless articles by people trying to figure out what kind of company Apple is.  Is it a hardware company like Dell & HP?  Or is it a software company like Microsoft?  Maybe it’s a retailer like JC Penny? I heard a talking head this morning throw out the name Atari.  I believe she wanted to try out a new vocabulary word “rapid obsolescence.” WTF. Most likely in another 30 years people will still be asking the same questions.

Jony Ive was chosen as one of  TIME’s 100 most influential people in the world.  Unless you follow Apple closely you may have never heard of Jony Ive, but he has been driving force behind the look and feel of many of Apple’s products. The following quote is from that article. I have placed emphasis on a line that I can’t get out of my head.

Jony Ive is himself classic Apple. Brushed steel, polished glass hardware, complicated software honed to simplicity. His genius is not just his ability to see what others cannot but also how he applies it. To watch him with his workmates in the holy of holies, Apple’s design lab, or on a night out is to observe a very rare esprit de corps. They love their boss, and he loves them. What the competitors don’t seem to understand is you cannot get people this smart to work this hard just for money. Jony is Obi-Wan. His team are Jedi whose nobility depends on the pursuit of greatness over profit, believing the latter will always follow the former, stubbornly passing up near-term good opportunities to pursue great ones in the distance. Jony’s values happen to add value — emotional and financial. It takes a unique alchemy of form and function for millions of people to feel so passionately about the robot in their pocket.

Wow! What the competitors don’t seem to understand is you cannot get people this smart to work this hard just for money. 

Wall Street has been in a tizzy, because Samsung is making phones with larger screen sizes and the phones are quite popular.  Since Apple hasn’t released an equivalent device, the Street is convinced that Apple has fallen behind the innovation curve. Tim Cook, CEO, says to create a larger screen phone the company would have to make technolgical tradeoffs that would impact the phone’s overall experience.  The company is not willing to make those compromises.  In other words, he is willing to sacrifice short term profits for a longer term gain.

Obviously it’s easy for Tim Cook or Jony Ive take that position with many millions in the bank.  However, as an aspiring or struggling entrepreneur where do you stand? Are you willing to take a short term hit?  Is it all about the money?  These are questions that we must contemplate as entrepreneurs.

Steve Jobs – Master the Message

There are many aspiring entrepreneurs that would rather build their widget and let someone else sell it.  I’m sad to report that you may have a problem.  Until you have grown beyond the small business classification – you – the owner, the founder, the chief cook and bottle washer will be your company’s best sales person. No one knows the product and benefits better than you. No one is more passionate about the design, the services, the intricate details than you. I’m not suggesting that you have to become the pushy telemarketer or a sleazy used car sales person, but you do have to master your message and learn to convey it to people.

No one was a better salesperson at Apple than Steve Jobs.  However, if you called him one he would probably rip you to pieces. Over time he made the transition, from the guy who almost threw up from nervousness before his first television appearance

 

to the guy that delivered a sales presentation better than any professional salesperson could have dreamed. IMO, mastering your message is as important as anything else on aspiring entrepreneurs to do list.  You may want to consider joining your local ToastMasters group to kickstart the process.

 

Steve Jobs – Explains the Rules of Success

SJ tells it like it is. If you want to move from the ordinary to the extraordinary – you have to love it but more importantly you can’t give up.

Sometimes I think about the things that I did growing up.  There is no reason why I shouldn’t have a black belt in karate.   Why can’t I say more than ten words in French? Tennis? Racketball?

I loved all of those things, but I acted like a rational person.  After I didn’t immediately master it, I quit. Today perseverance is one of my strengths, but there are many days when I want to do what any rational person would do.

A few years ago I was asked to write a chapter in a book “The StockTwits Edge.”Here is what the author wrote about me,

He is an inspiration to other traders and a model of decorum, so it is no surprise his words are a testament to persistence, will and believe in yourself.

 

Question: Can rational people achieve the extraordinary (start a business, complete their bucket list, become CEO of a fortune 500 company, etc)?

Would love hear your thoughts in the comment section.

7 Secrets to the Success of Steve Jobs

  1. Do what you love
  2. Put a dent in the universe.
  3. Say no to 1000 things
  4. Kick start your brain by doing something new
  5. Sell dreams not products
  6. Create insanely great experiences
  7. Master the message

Carmine Gallo is his book “The Innovation Secrets of Steve Jobs” outlines seven principles that he believes guided Steve Jobs to greatness. As I think about these principles, each one applies to Steve Jobs – but aren’t unique to him. Many people who have achieved greatness have mastered several of these ideas. Although I have only read excerpts of the book – I believe that’s the author’s exact point.

If it is our desire to achieve greatness (how ever you define greatness) we must internalize several of these ideas and live it. Personally, number three jumps off the page at me. If I had said no to more things when I started my business in 2006 – I would be much farther along.

Which of these resonate the most to you and more importantly which ones are you going to commit to internalizing and make it your own? Would love to read your thoughts in the comment section.

Steve Jobs on Failure

In 1 minute and 43 seconds, Steve Jobs has our trainer throwing in the towel and asking for mercy.  He draws a line between dreamers and doers.  It comes down to two points.

Dreamers:

  • Don’t ask for help – which becomes a justification for not acting

  • Are not willing to fail

There are several directions I can go with this, but I will just tackle the first point.  I recently read a survey where 71% of workers are “not engaged” or “actively disengaged” from their work. Look around your office 7 out of every 10 people would rather be doing something else. There are many reasons, but mostly people are not fulfilled.

How many opportunities for advancement are there? If you are honest – a fat pay raise is not going to make you happier. Even changing jobs is not the answer. How long before you stall out there?

People live unfilled lives for a variety reasons, but they continue to do the same things over and over again.

Question: You encourage your kids to dream, but you are afraid to act on your own dreams. Do you really think your kids are going to do what you say not what you do? Let me know your thoughts in the comments.