From Steve Jobs’ very first beginnings to his final breath is truly an inspiring and fascinating tale (iTunes link, only fitting to read it this way).
Steve Jobs is one of the most fascinating individuals of our time. Walter Isaacson does it Pulitzer Prize style in delivering the true colors of Jobs.
“Sometimes the truth hurts. And sometimes it feels real good”. The truth is what made Apple all that it is today and beyond.
Steve Jobs poured into everything Apple
From employees to product design to the architecture to advertising —he simply was Apple and he could convince anyone into becoming a believer in his vision. He had a way with words and people.
LSD led Jobs to wanting to change the world
Jobs credits taking psychedelic drugs for making him more enlightened. It allowed him to gather a sense of what was truly important in life.
It wasn’t about getting rich, it was about making great products and a sustainable business employees and customers could believe in.
Care about the the parts you can’t see
Derived from his father, Jobs instilled perfection into everything he could put his hands on. From Apple to his living room – Jobs went with no furniture in his home for months because nothing suited his perfectionist drive.
Simplicity is fairly easy but mostly extremely difficult for a lot of people. This shows from Apple hardware to the software. The amazement that non-techies (young children!) can pick up an iPad and fully comprehend how to use it is unmatched. It’s intuitiveness stems from it’s simplicity.
Do the impossible
People found this empowering as Jobs believed it truly inspired and motivated his team—”you did the impossible because you didn’t realize it was impossible”.
He would change the course of computer history with a fraction of resources Apple’s competitors were working with.
Why? Because of this notion of belief. He would slash a three month ship date to two months with his employees working tirelessly.
In addition to this inspiration for his employees, he believed that the rules simply didn’t apply to him. He had this sense that there are few people who are truly special, that are the chosen ones, the enlightened ones. He believed he was one of them.
Jobs had a way with words and a way of luring people into this reality distortion field. During board meetings the others had signals for when someone was being caught up in Steve’s world and needed to be tugged back to reality.
Decide what not to do
One of Jobs greatest strengths was his ability to focus—deciding what not to do became just as important as deciding what to do.
When he was invited back to Apple he simply came in and slashed 70% of the products Apple was creating at that time.
Apple simply lost focus on the core product and was competing too much with its own self.
Even to this day you see companies changing their model, features, systems, spending millions on market research to meet consumer demands.
Jobs didn’t believe in market research because he knew that customers don’t know what they want until they’re shown.
By having “A” employees and those with a real drive and passion for what they’re doing, they essentially built products they themselves wanted to use.
Apple is truly revolutionary
They are the intersection of technology and creativity. Apple will go down in history as one of the greatest companies and brands of all time – turning many industries upside down.
Confession
Initially, if I had picked up the hardcover of this book I am not sure I would of had the courage, or time, to read it. It’s thick!
I instead skipped the book store and went straight to iBooks to start reading. It’s long, but I wish it had never ended.
It’s simply that remarkable.
Have you read the Steve Jobs biography? Your thoughts?
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