Steve Jobs – Business Lessons From The Master

With the recent release of Jobs: The Movie based on the Steve Jobs

 book we thought we’d pay tribute to the story of Steve Jobs’ ascension from college dropout into one of the most revered creative entrepreneurs of the 20th century.

As most of us know, Steve Jobs, the former CEO and co-founder of Apple, passed away from complications related to pancreatic cancer. Whether you love him or hate him (or Apple products in general), during his lifetime, he became one of the most successful entrepreneurs in the world, and his company, Apple, transformed the way we are able to communicate by creating entirely new industries and markets. His business decisions can teach us a lot about how to further our own careers.

Henry Ford once said, “If I had asked people what they wanted, they would have said faster horses.” Steve jobs didn’t believe in focus groups because he believed he knew what people wanted, even though they didn’t know yet—much the same way Henry Ford knew people would want his automobiles rather than faster horses. Jobs was passionate about electronics from a young age and sought to make products that truly made people’s lives better. He wanted to provide the tools to educators to be able to better teach and scientists to take their research further than they could dream.

Jobs used resources around him to create what he envisioned; many would be amazed to learn he wasn’t even a programmer or engineer, nor did he graduate from college; he simply had brilliant ideas and found the people who could make it happen. He was a master at inspiring others, bringing new ideas to friends and colleagues and getting them to buy into his vision. He envisioned personal computers that everyone could use, and convinced his friend and electronic hack, Steve Wozniak to build the very first one. Apple was soon born with funding from an Angel investor. His passion for electronics and his ability to find people to buy into his ideas by working for him and or investing in him is one of the many factors that played a huge part in his success.

Apple wasn’t where Jobs made his fortune though, rather when he faced his greatest adversity after being ousted from his position at Apple which ended in his ultimately resigning, he went on to make a fortune with his eventual purchase of what would become Pixar, the animated film producer, that was purchased for mere millions and sold for several billion dollars to Walt Disney. He was ultimately rehired at Apple to run the company after his success with Pixar.

Jobs saw the potential in other products outside of his company that others didn’t, as an example he pursued technology invented by Xerox to use in his Macintosh computer that changed personal computing from green screens to what we still use today, also known as graphical user interface or GUI. He was constantly on the prowl for new ideas by looking at what others may have forgotten or missed and products that were commercially viable to sell that weren’t being sold. He was not afraid to make existing products better and take risks.

Steve Jobs was and will always be considered a marketing genius in that he sold dreams, not products. He believed that consumers were selfish and didn’t care about your product, but rather how that product would make their lives better and easier. He always focused on the benefits of what he was selling, rather than on the products themselves. He promised that his products would make the world a better place.

He always made his product presentations simple, with an easy to remember headline, such as “The world’s thinnest computer” for his unveiling of the Macbook Air in 2008. He relied heavily on visual images in his presentations rather than words, as he felt they were more easily remembered. Moreover, he used simple words that the average consumer could understand, rather than technical jargon. He practiced his presentations over and over until he felt he had perfected them before stepping in front of any audience. Confident he had a winning presentation, he went onstage and had fun, assuming the persona of an average Joe to his customers and investors, dressing casually and speaking in a down-to-earth style.

Jobs once said, “I’m as proud of what we don’t do as I am of what we do.” His products are designed to be simple, sleek and visually appealing as evidenced in his various Apple products. He was just as proud of the various designs he squashed as he was in the success of his greatest selling products. He was a master at taking the cluttered and making it clean.

The lessons we can learn from Steve Jobs are many. First and foremost: do what you love because you will be far more passionate about your products or services and successful as a result, and better positioned to “change the world” as he often promised and delivered.

Next, use the endless resources around you to help accomplish your goals. Jobs succeeded by inspiring of other people. Moreover, he sought inspiration from the work others have done and bridging the gap in using other products to make his own better. He understood consumers better than most marketing gurus in that he was able to sell dreams, not products, which resulted in his products being sold in record numbers in difficult economic times when people cut back in nearly every other discretionary spending area.

An important sales lesson: Simplify your message, focusing on how your product or service will make people’s lives better. Apple’s products such as the iPod and iPhone were simple and easy to use, yet awesome-looking compared to the competition. Nearly everyone had to have one, but almost nobody needed them.

Finally, Steve Jobs never quit. When he faced adversity, he simply pushed on to something new that he could do, taking many risks along the way that many others wouldn’t.

“My job is not to be easy on people,” he once said. “My job is to take these great people we have and to push them and make them even better.”