25Great

Lessons

From Steve Jobs

Steve Jobs lifts us.  He leads by example and challenges us to see a better world and lead a better life. He has an aura and a way of engaging you in an inspiring way.  Whether it’s on thestage or in the halls of Apple, people feel Steve Job’s presence. He lives his values, and he lives life on his terms, and he challenges us to do the same.

Life Lesson 1 : Beginners don’t have baggageThe lightness of a beginner frees up creativity.  Steve says, “I didn’t see it then, but it turned out thatgetting fired from Apple was the best thing that could have ever happened to me. The heaviness of being successful was replaced by the lightness of being a beginner again, less sure about everything. It freed me to enter one of the most creative periods of my life.”

Life Lesson 2 :  Be boldLife’s brief, then you’re gone.  Steve says, “Life is brief, and then you die, you know?”

Life Lesson 3 : Be what’s next Don’t chase after what you missed.  Instead, figure out what the next big thing.  Steve says,“If I were running Apple, I would milk the Macintosh for all it’s worth — and get busy on thenext great thing. The PC wars are over. Done. Microsoft won a long time ago.”

Life Lesson 4 : Design by committee doesn’t work You can’t arbitrate your way into a great design.  Take it from Jobs, “It’s really hard todesign products by focus groups. A lot of times, people don’t know what they want until you show it to them.”

Life Lesson 5 : Design is more than veneerDesign is a multi-layered thing.  It’s a lot more than just veneer.  Steve says, “In most people’s vocabularies, design means veneer. It’s interior decorating. It’s the fabric of the curtains of the sofa. But to me, nothing could be further from the meaning of design. Design is the fundamental soul of a human-made creation that ends up expressing itself in successive outer layers of the product or service.”

Life Lesson 6 : Don’t live someone else’s lifeSteve says, “Your time is limited, so don’t waste it living someone else’s life. Don’t be trapped by dogma– which is living with the results of other people’s thinking. Don’t let the noise of other’s opinions drown out your own inner voice. And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. Theysomehow already know what you truly want to become. Everything else is secondary.”

Life Lesson 7 : Drive to do great things It’s your ambition, passion, and drive that will take you places you never dreamed possible.  Don’t worry about impressing others.  Impress yourself.

Life Lesson 8 : Excellence is a way of lifeSteve finds the art in life and the beauty in engineering.  He sets a higher bar.  Steve says, “Be a yardstick of quality. Some people aren’t used to an environment where excellence isexpected.”  Jobs also says, “We don’t get a chance to do that many things, and every oneshould be really excellent. Because this is our life.”

Life Lesson 9 : Get out of the way for the moving forceThe ones doing the work are the moving force. Steve says, “The people who are doing thework are the moving force behind the Macintosh. My job is to create a space for them, to clear out the rest of the organization and keep it at bay.”

Life Lesson 10 : If they fall in love with the company, everything else takes care of itselfTo hire people that fall in love with the company.  Steve says, “When I hire somebody really senior, competence is the ante. They have to be really smart. But the real issue for me is, are they going to fallin love with Apple? Because if they fall in love with Apple, everything else will take care of itself. They’llwant to do what’s best for Apple, not what’s best for them, what’s best for Steve, or anybody else.”

Life Lesson 11 : It better be worth itIf you’re going to put your life force into it, then the journey has to be worth it.  Stevesays, “And we’ve all chosen to do this with our lives. So it better be damn good. It better be worth it.”

Life Lesson 12 : It’s not the money.  It’s the impactMake people’s lives better. Steve says, “I was worth over $1,000,000 when I was 23, and over $10,000,000 when I was 24, and over $100,000,000 when I was 25, and it wasn’t that important becauseI never did it for the money.”  Jobs also says, “Being the richest man in the cemetery doesn’t matter tome … Going to bed at night saying we’ve done something wonderful… that’s what matters to me.”

Life Lesson 13 : It’s the crazy ones who change the world Think differently.  Don’t be afraid to be different. It’s the crazy ones who changethe world.  The crazy ones change the world. The ones who think they are crazyenough to change the world, are the ones who do it. It’ not crazy, it’s genius.

Life Lesson 14 :  Innovation distinguishes between a leader and a follower.You don’t buy your way through innovation.  Innovation is a by-product of leading great people.  Steve says, “Innovation has nothing to do with how many R&D dollars you have. When Apple came up with the Mac, IBM was spending at least 100 times more on R&D. It’s not about money. It’s about the people you have, how you’re led, and how much you get it.”

Life Lesson 15 : Make people greatIt’s tough love.  Steve says, “My job is to not be easy on people. My jobis to make them better.”

Life Lesson 16 : Perseverance pays offSteve says, “I’m convinced that about half of what separates the successfulentrepreneurs from the non-successful ones is pure perseverance.”

Life Lesson 17 : Put your heart and soul into it Don’t just go through the motions.  If it’s really worth doing, then it’s worth doingreally well.  Steve says, “I think the key thing is that we’re not all terrified at the same time. I mean, we do put our heart and soul into these things.”

Life Lesson 18 : Pick your priorities carefullySay no to the hundred other good ideas.  Steve says, “People think focus means saying yesto the thing you’ve got to focus on. But that’s not what it means at all. It means saying no tothe hundred other good ideas that there are. You have to pick carefully.”

Life Lesson 19 : Simplicity wins It’s about power and simplicity.  Steve says, “We’ve gone through the operatingsystem and looked at everything and asked how can we simplify this and makeit more powerful at the same time.”

Life Lesson 20 : Talent is a huge multiplierSteve Jobs would say, “great engineers are a huge multiplier.” They also write that a lessonthey learned from Steve is, “One of the greatest things about finding good people is that they become your best recruiters. They are the people most likely to know others who have the same values and sense of style that you and they themselves do.”

Life Lesson 21 : Take responsibility for the complete user experienceIt’s not about a bunch of beautiful parts …it’s about the end-to-end experience.  Steve says, “OurDNA is as a consumer company – for that individual customer who’s voting thumbs up or thumbs down. That’s who we think about. And we think that our job is to take responsibility for the complete user experience. And if it’s not up to par, it’s our fault, plain and simply.”

Life Lesson 22 : What you don’t do defines you as much as what you do Steve says, “I’m as proud of what we don’t do as I am of what we do.”  In the article, “Think Different”: The Ad Campaign that Restored Apple’s Reputation, Tom Hormby writes, “Ameliohad reduced 350 projects to 50, and Jobs cut that number down to 10. He turned Apple’s convoluted (and often overlapping) product line into a simple product matrix.”

Life Lesson 23 : You have nothing to loseFollow your heart. Steve says, “Almost everything–all external expectations, all pride, all fear of embarrassment or failure–these things just fall away in the face of death, leaving only what is truly important. Remembering that you are going to die is the best way I know to avoid the trap of thinkingyou have something to lose. You are already naked. There is no reason not to follow your heart.”

Life Lesson 24 : You just might be right, even if nobody listens to youJust because nobody listens to you doesn’t mean you’re wrong.  Steve says, “You know,I’ve got a plan that could rescue Apple. I can’t say any more than that it’s the perfect product and the perfect strategy for Apple. But nobody there will listen to me.”

Life Lesson 25 : Your brand is your most valuable asset It’s what you stand for.  It’s the attributes that people think of or feel when they think ofyou.  It’s the perception and the aura.  Steve says, “Our brand is the most – or at leastone of the most – valuable things we have going for us now.”

“For the past 33 years I havelooked in the mirror every morning and asked myself, ‘If today were the last day ofmy life, would I want to do

what I am about to do today.’”

Thank You Very MuchSompong Yusoontorn