What Could You Learn from Him?
Update 10/05/2011: Sadly, one day after the iPhone 4S announcement, Apple announced that Steve jobs passed away on Wednesday 10/05. He was a creative genius and someone who changed the scene of technology as we knew it.
Our prayers go out to his family, friends, and co-workers at Apple.
Note: The article below was originally published on May 4, 2010.
In 2009, Fortune name Steve Jobs CEO of the decade; beating out Google’s Larry Page and Sergey Brin, Warren Buffet, Oprah Winfrey, and Carlos Slim Helu (currently the world’s richest man).
Why him?
- Could it be the fact that he reinvented the music, movie, and telecommunications industries
- Maybe because a $100 investment in Apple stock on Dec 30th 1999 would’ve grown to $7,898 by early 2008
- Maybe when Apple launched the iMac in 2001 it had only 2% of the US PC Market, but by Nov. 2009 it dominated the high-end computer market (accounting for 90%)
- Or what about the fact that Apple was responsible for 99.4% of mobile apps sales in 2009
Oh…let’s not forget that Apple sold 300, 000 iPads its first day out (roughly $150,000,000). Have you heard of a product selling $150,000,000 on its first day??!!
No…me neither.
So it’s safe that say that Christian Entrepreneurs might be able to pick up a few tips.
So here they are…some Job-isms for the Christian Entrepreneur:
1. Have a Purpose Beyond Making Money
I can’t stress this enough. Great entrepreneurs have a purpose that goes beyond making money. Don’t get me wrong–they make money but also set out to change the world in some way. The purpose embedded in Apple’s DNA has always been ”to democratize technology.”And breakthrough technology has been born out of that purpose.
The Bible says, “The noble-hearted man has noble purposes, and by these he will be guided.” (Isaiah 32:8 The Bible in Basic English)
When Apple was under the leadership of John Sculley (after Jobs was ousted) it focused more on marketing than engineering; on pointing out past successes than looking for future opportunities. That set the tone for a very expensive downward spiral. It lost sight of its purpose. It needed its purpose driven founder to take it from bad–to good–to great.
2. Pay Attention to Details
Right before Apple was set to release the iPhone in 2007 ( the riskiest project to date), Jobs came in one Monday morning and told his team:
“I just don’t love this. I can’t convince myself to fall in love with this. And this is the most important product we’ve ever done.”
Think about that for a second: millions of dollars have been allocated, dozens of hours have been logged, sacrifices have been made, and the CEO comes in and says: “I think we can do it better…let’s start over.”
And yet this isn’t new.
When Pixar (his former company–now owned by Disney) was making Toy Story there was a point when they realized the story wasn’t that good. So they shut down production for five months, while they perfected the story. They could have just left it at good, but Jobs knows, that good is never good enough.
Jobs tends to view products in one of two ways:
“Insanely great” or “s#!t”
He is a stickler for details.
He understands that form is just as important as function.
Gordon Ramses (the chef on TV who’s always screaming at people) expressed his philosophy of detail:
“It doesn’t matter how amazing the steak is, if it’s served on a cold plate it’s crap. If it’s served with a dull knife it’s crap. If the gravy isn’t piping hot, it’s crap. If you’re eating it on an uncomfortable chair, it’s crap. If it’s served by an ugly waiter who just came in from a smoke break, it’s crap. Because I care about the steak, I have to care about everything around it.”
Jesus was a stickler for details. He never cut corners, and whatever He did was done with excellence. In fact, in prayer, He told God:
“I glorified You on earth By completing down to the last detail what You assigned Me to do….I spelled out your character in detail to the men and women You gave Me.” (John 17: 4,6 The Message)
Whatever you’re building be as concerned (if not more) about the little things. Because the majority of people aren’t. That “attention to detail” mindset will push you light years ahead of those “other people.”
Remember Jobs: “It’s ‘insanely great’ or its ‘s#!t!’”
3. Strong Leaders Need Strong Leadership
After Jobs became Apple’s CEO one of the first things was replace his supporting leadership with people from NeXT (his former company). He understood a simple truth: a leader is as strong as its supporting leadership.
When I say “leaders” I mean just that: leaders!
Not “yes men”, but strong men. Not soldiers, but generals. Not just followers, but leaders in their own right. John Maxwell calls this The Law of the Inner Circle:
“A Leader’s Potential is Determined by Those Closest to Him.” (The 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership, p.109)
Early in his career, Jobs’ been obsessed with getting the most talented and competent people possible. In fact, at NeXT, he once braggedthat even his receptionist had a PH.d!
Saul and David were very strong leaders. But David, unlike Saul, was comfortable with having Mighty Men around him and as a result his kingdom grew to awesome heights! Saul, however, was intimated by having any one around him who could possibly upstage him (i.e. David).
Jobs found the best, was the best, and therefore created the best.
4. Customers Are NOT Always Right
Apple does no market research. They scoff at the notion of target markets. They hire no outside consultants to see what customers want.
Why?
Because Jobs understands a simple truth about people: people don’t know what they need and they think they know what they want.
He subscribes to the philosophy of Henry Ford:
“If I’d have asked my customers what they wanted, they would have told me ‘A faster horse.”
In his words:
“There’s a certain amount of homework involved, true, but mostly it’s just picking up on things you can see on the periphery. Sometimes when you’re almost asleep, you realize something you wouldn’t otherwise have noted. I subscribe to a half-dozen Internet news services, and I get about 300 e-mails a day, many from people I don’t know, hawking crazy ideas. And I’ve always paid close attention to the whispers around me.”
Those “whispers” have created some of the greatest products the world has ever seen!
You have to constantly keep your ear to the street: looking for things that others haven’t yet picked up on.
Truth be told, great entrepreneurs are like prophets: they see things others don’t see, listen to that “still small voice” or “the whispers”, and pounce on the opportunities immediately!
They constantly keep their ear to the street.
Jesus kept His ear to the street:
“Now Jesus and His disciples went out to the towns of Caesarea Philippi; and on the road He asked His disciples, saying to them, ‘Who do men say that I am?’” (Mark 8:27 New King James Version)
AND He understood the changing (and fickle) desires of people:
“Because of the miraculous signs He did in Jerusalem at the Passover celebration, many people were convinced that He was indeed the Messiah. But Jesus didn’t trust them, because He knew what people were really like. No one needed to tell Him about human nature.” (John 2:23-25 New Living Translation)
Jobs understands that what people want today will not be what they want tomorrow. And as result, of that knowledge he’s positioned Apple as a global phenomenon.
5. Failure is a Stepping Stone to Success
In light of Job’s successes it’s so easy to over look his failures:the Lisa, NeXT, Motorola ROKR, Apple TV. That said, 8 of the Top 10 Apple Products Which Flopped were designed during the Jobs absence, when Jobs was not with Apple (also check out Steve Jobs’ 5 Biggest Mistakes). That being said: failure is an inevitable step to success.
There’s no way around it.
But let me say this: mistakes aren’t bad, not learning from mistakes is bad. But the benefits of mistakes will only be learned through persistence and trying different strategies.
Jesus taught the disciples the value of trying different strategies. Both were when they when they were fishing and caught no fish:
“When He had finished speaking, He said to Simon, ‘Now go out where it is deeper and let down your nets, and you will catch many fish.’ ‘Master,’ Simon replied, ‘we worked hard all last night and didn’t catch a thing. But if You say so, we’ll try again.’ And this time their nets were so full they began to tear!” (Luke 5:4-6 New Living Translation)
“At dawn the disciples saw Jesus standing on the beach, but they couldn’t see who He was. He called out, ‘Friends, have you caught any fish?’ ‘No,’ they replied. Then He said, ‘Throw out your net on the right-hand side of the boat, and you’ll get plenty of fish!’ So they did, and they couldn’t draw in the net because there were so many fish in it.” (John 21: 4-6 New Living Translation)
The message was simple: “Keep doing what you’re doing, don’t quit, just change this.”
To succeed you’re going to have to persist in spite of failure.
6. Success Comes Through Focus Not Through Diversity
When Jobs took over as “interim CEO” the company, according to him, “had a zillion and one products.” He immediately set out to reduce that number drastically. Now to be fair, the previous CEO, saw this and cut the number from 350 to 50. Jobs finished it up bycutting it to 10.
That ability to focus, according to Jobs, had helped Apple drastically:
“Apple is a $30 billion company, yet we’ve got less than 30 major products. I don’t know if that’s ever been done before. Certainly the great consumer electronics companies of the past had thousands of products. We tend to focus much more. People think focus means saying yes to the thing you’ve got to focus on. But that’s not what it means at all. It means saying no to the hundred other good ideas that there are. You have to pick carefully.”
Great entrepreneurs have the ability to focus on things that matter (or that bring the most return).
For instance, while most fund managers spread their bets among dozens if not hundreds of stocks, Warren Buffet (arguably the worlds greatest investor) has been known to allocate tens of billions to only a handful of stocks. More surprising is that his top 10 account for 90 percent of his portfolio!
How has this strategy worked for him?
Well… if you invested $1000 in 1956 in the DOW/S&P by the end of 2007 you would have made $139,131
But…if you invested that same $1000 in his company at the same time you would have made $30,649,493
Wow! Crazy isn’t it?
Jesus understood the power of focus. Though He spent time with thousands of people, He revealed Himself the most to the 12 disciples. When He left it was the 12 (Matthias replacing Judas) who spread the Gospel and turned the world upside down! He focused His efforts and as a result got His Message into the hearts of billions. Would He have gotten such a result spreading Himself so thin? Probably not.
But…don’t get me wrong…diversity has its benefits too. Especially when you’re just starting out and not sure of what you’re doing. But after a while, you should see where the most returns are coming from. When you do focus your efforts there.
Well that’s all I got! I tried to keep it short (wink wink). But its obvious there are a lot of lessons to be learn. It just takes the right entrepreneur who’s willing to go to school.
What do you think?
Mike Holmes
Mike Holmes is a blogger that writes on business and leadership development from a Biblical perspective. When he’s not writing blogs or speaking he can be found writing bios in the third person. Check out his website/blog here.
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This guest post comes from Paul Wilson, Jr. of 3hrive.com.
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