When Apple founder Steve Jobs passed away in early October, it was amazing to see how the world reacted to this visionary man. There were candlelight vigils, countless moments of silence, and feelings and thoughts expressed on Twitter and Facebook. This outpouring of emotion that was reminiscent to when Michael Jackson or Princess Diana passed away. Its perhaps even more startling in this climate of economic recession, bailouts, and Occupy Wall Street, that the CEO of the largest tech company in the world was revered in such a way. What did Steve Jobs do to merit such a farewell? A look into what Steve Jobs said about life explains his appeal.
“Quality is more important than quantity. One home run is much better than two doubles.”
When Jobs returned to Apple in 1997, the company has so many different products that it was diluting their talent. They were making a bunch of mediocre products in many different markets instead of focusing on dominating one market. Immediately Jobs decided to focus on only a few quality products. The iMac was introduced in 1998 which was the beginning of Apple’s resurgence.
“Be a yardstick of quality. Some people aren’t used to an environment where excellence is expected.”
The second lesson that Jobs implemented was a higher standard of excellence that was available in the market. There are numerous apocryphal stories of Jobs’ demands on his design teams. However, once the product was completed, Jobs was vocal in declaring to everyone that the product was the best on the market and more often than not, he was right. The higher excellence standard that Jobs had for his employees was noticed by consumers.
“Sometimes when you innovate, you make mistakes. It is best to admit them quickly, and get on with improving your other innovations.”
Although Steve Jobs had an amazing string of success he did have his share of failures. First, he was fired from his own company at the age of thirty. When he did return to Apple there were some products that flopped, like the iCube or the initial release of AppleTV. However, Jobs continued to persevere and although those individual products flopped, they eventually became successful products. The iCube evolved to become the Mac Mini which was Apple’s affordable home computer. AppleTV was a disaster but it was re-released with a lower price, a better explanation of it’s use, and an easier to use format and it became a successful product. Jobs didn’t give up on products; he refined them until consumers recognized their value.
By simply following these three lessons from Steve Jobs, companies could serve their customers better. The vision and perseverance of Steve Jobs led Apple to become the standard of the tech world. So whether your company is a bakery, a hosted crm, or day care, these principles should become standard business practice.
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