courtesy of Yahoo.
1: The most enduring innovations marry art and science
Steve always pointed out that the biggest difference between Apple and all the other computer (and post-PC) companies through history was that Apple always tried to marry art and science.
Jobs pointed out the original team working on the Mac had backgrounds in anthropology, art, history, and poetry. That’s always been important in making Apple’s products stand out. It’s the difference between the iPad and every other tablet computer that came before it or since. It is the look and feel of a product. It is its soul. But it is such a difficult thing for computer scientists or engineers to see that importance, so any company must have a leader that sees that importance.
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2: To create the future, you can’t do it through focus groups
There is a school of thought in management theory that — if you’re in the consumer-facing space building products and services — you’ve got to listen to your customer. Steve Jobs was one of the first businessmen to say that was a waste of time. The customers today don’t always know what they want, especially if it’s something they’ve never seen, heard, or touched before. When it became clear that Apple would come out with a tablet, many were sceptical. When people heard the name (iPad), it was a joke in the Twitter-sphere for a day. But when people held one, and used it, it became a ‘must have.’They didn’t know how they’d previously lived without one. It became the fastest growing Apple product in its history. Jobs (and the Apple team) trusted himself more than others. Picasso and great artists have done that for centuries. Jobs was the first in business.
3: Never fear failure
The idea behind the concept is that, as much as we try to plan our lives ahead in advance, there’s always something that’s completely unpredictable about life. What seems like bitter anguish and defeat in the moment — getting dumped by a girlfriend, not getting that job at McKinsey, “wasting” 4 years of your life on a start-up that didn’t pan out as you wanted — can turn out to sow the seeds of your unimaginable success years from now. You can’t be too attached to how you think your life is supposed to work out and instead trust that all the dots will be connected in the future. This is all part of the plan.
4: You can’t connect the dots forward – only backward
This is another gem from Jobs' 2005 Stanford speech. The idea behind the concept is that, as much as we try to plan our lives ahead in advance, there’s always something that’s completely unpredictable about life. What seems like bitter anguish and defeat in the moment — getting dumped by a girlfriend, not getting that job at McKinsey, “wasting” 4 years of your life on a start-up that didn’t pan out as you wanted — can turn out to sow the seeds of your unimaginable success years from now. You can’t be too attached to how you think your life is supposed to work out and instead trust that all the dots will be connected in the future. This is all part of the plan.
<p><span style="font-size:x-small;">I will put into a few comments as I think the problem was too much text in one comment.</span></p> <p><img style="margin:8px;" src="http://files.chesscomfiles.com/images_users/tiny_mce/chess_kebabs/stevejobs.jpg" alt="" /></p> <p>What a sad day and huge loss to our world to lose one of the most ingenius/creative people to ever grace our planet. I feel selfishly sad that we can't gain more from this wonderful man anymore. He has enriched the lives of millions and millions of people and he is a blueprint for being the perfect successful businessman. I heard he had said he didn't want to be the richest man in the cemetery, he didn't care about money, he just wanted to create something wonderful for everyone. Boy, did he do that!</p> <p>For anyone who has started their own business or thinking to start their own business or have friends/family going into business, here is some very wise advice from the man who took Apple from a small not going anywhere very fast company to one of the most successful companies in the world today! I can relate to no.1 very well being a graphic designer. It's so important to have good branding, and I like his choice of words, the look and feel of a product "is it's soul".. this is so true. The name of the business and it's logo needs to switch people on. I also loved his advice on never fear failure. I loved all of his tips! These are courtesy of Yahoo.</p> <p><a href="http://au.pfinance.yahoo.com/photos/photo/-/10413128/top-ten-business-lessons-steve-jobs-leaves-us-with/10413130/"></a><a href="http://au.pfinance.yahoo.com/photos/photo/-/10413128/top-ten-business-lessons-steve-jobs-leaves-us-with/10413130/">http://au.pfinance.yahoo.com/photos/photo/-/10413128/top-ten-business-lessons-steve-jobs-leaves-us-with/10413130/</a></p> <p>RIP Steve, you will be missed by so many close to you and the world will miss your brilliant ingenuity and creativity!<span style="font-family:Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;font-size:13px;color:#ffffff;line-height:16px;"> </span></p>