7 Things I Remember From Steve Jobs
Alex MacGregor
October 07, 2023
From 2006 to 2011, I watched every Apple keynote avidly like every other fan boy around the world. The manilla envelope MacBook Air, the original iPhone, the iPad etc.
In an ode to 12 years since Steve Job’s passing, here’s what I learn from the man.
1. Stick To Your Vision
Steve Jobs was well known for proposing controversial ideas about what he believed in. Whether it was his idea that Apple needed to 'one the whole widget’ to his belief that the App Store had to be strictly controlled to ensure quality control, he always stuck to his guns regardless of what others said.
2. See Failure As An Opportunity
There were several periods during Steve Jobs’ career where his company’s from Apple to NeXT to Pixar were failing badly. While there were various issues at play, he always took the lessons and applied them in future times. Take the Newton, what errily today looks like the forerunner to the iPhone. Jobs always bounced back harder, faster and stronger from failure.
3. Demand and Produce Excellence
Perhaps is most famous trait, Jobs was the most driven businessman of his era and pushed the same demands on Apple people. The ‘cult’ like Apple staffer environment extended all the way from Apple R&D to their stores, pushing the company’s most important values from quality and taste. Not everyone likes being pushed and perhaps he overstepped the mark who knows but then again, Apple wouldn’t be as we know it any other way.
4. Don’t (Always) Listen to the Customer
Steve Jobs was well known for his belief that many people don’t know exactly they want - it’s what set him apart from rivals that bend over backwards to launch and maintain products to appease consumers. Take Google for example, they literally perform A/B testing and focus group the shit out of everything. Apple under Jobs made products they themselves wanted to use.
5. Take (Calculated) Risks
During his time running Apple, Jobs took several major risks, none more so than coming back as CEO to run the company. From there, he famously killed a bunch of products then bet the farm on the iPod. Then, he took on the Smartphone category and the rest is history. Taking risks is part of business but taking huge calculated risk and betting the farm is sometimes what is needed.
6. Surround Yourself with Great People
Despite running a major technology company, Steve Jobs was far from the social butterfly. He was famously private, but he did handpick some of the best people in the world to consult with from Jony Ive on design to Larry Ellison on business to Issey Miyake on fashion. Choose quality over quantity with the people you associate yourself with.
7. Don’t be Afraid to Change Your Mind
The final lesson entrepreneurs can learn from Steve Jobs I learned is perhaps the most important - don’t be afraid to change your mind. This is so easy to say yet so hard to do, especially when much depends on it. Changing your mind whether it be work, relationships or family is the hardest thing to do but its' the most important thing you’ll do.