How Steve Jobs Created a Forward-Thinking Culture at Apple - Book Club #18: "Steve Jobs"
Steve Jobs was a man of incredible talents and expertise. He was an astonishingly creative man and many people - Bill Gates included - would call him “magical” when it came to design, innovation, creativity, and management.
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Current Book & Quotes From: Steve Jobs by Walter Isaacson
One of the things that Jobs did extremely well was empowering his team to do the best work possible and to constantly innovate forward in order to create amazing products and open the door to the future. Apple thrived because Jobs instilled the company with an innovative, end-to-end workflow that could not be matched by any other tech giant.
Jobs instilled this culture by being ruthless with his employees. He was famously known for being a hard-ass and he often belittled employees and was very harsh when delivering his criticism. Some found this to be extremely counterproductive and hurtful while others found it to be passionate and stimulating. Jobs would proclaim that the ladder were the "A-Players" - those who were willing to go the distance and work their asses off to make the best product in the world and who weren't afraid to stand up for the products and ideas they believed in.
“I realized very early that if you didn’t voice your opinion, he would mow you down,” said Cook [about Steve Jobs]. “He takes contrary positions to create more discussion, because it may lead to a better result. So if you don’t feel comfortable disagreeing, then you’ll never survive.”
Disagreeing with Jobs could sometimes result in a screaming match back and forth or it could result in him realizing that you in fact have come up with the best possible idea for what you're trying to accomplish. Either way, Jobs's intentions were to get you to work as hard as you can and to be passionate about your idea. While it may seem harsh and unnecessary, it was definitely effective and can be looked at as one of the major reasons Apple was the first to create revolutionary new products like the iPod, iPhone and Macbook.
“The key venue for freewheeling discourse was the Monday morning executive team gathering, which started at 9 and went for three or four hours. The focus was always on the future: What should each product do next? What new things should be developed? Jobs used the meeting to enforce a sense of shared mission at Apple.”
Jobs was always looking to the future and thinking up the best possible product for consumers. He wasn't concerned with what consumers would desire, he was concerned with what he could make consumers desire out of shear "awesomeness".
“Jobs also used the meetings to enforce focus. At Robert Friedland’s farm, his job had been to prune the apple trees so that they would stay strong, and that became a metaphor for his pruning at Apple. Instead of encouraging each group to let product lines proliferate based on marketing considerations, or permitting a thousand ideas to bloom, Jobs insisted that Apple focus on just two or three priorities at a time. “There is no one better at turning off the noise that is going on around him,” Cook said. “That allows him to focus on a few things and say no to many things. Few people are really good at that.”
Jobs was a master at cutting through the noise and focusing on just a handful of priorities. What's even more amazing is that he was able to instill this quality into the executives and employees at Apple. Most companies tend to create separate divisions who will work on dozens of ideas to try and find the 1 that works. Jobs did the exact opposite - he would force all the divisons to collaborate on just a few ideas and make those few ideas work in the best manner possible.
“He hired Joel Podolny, who was dean of the Yale School of Management, to compile a series of case studies analyzing important decisions the company had made, including the switch to the Intel microprocessor and the decision to open the Apple Stores. Top executives spent time teaching the cases to new employees, so that the Apple style of decision making would be embedded in the culture.”
Jobs also was a master of being analytical. He was amazing at bridging the gap between the past, present and future and collating all of the amazing lessons that could be learned from them. He wanted all his employees at Apple to learn from what he did and be able to make swift decisions about the things that truly mattered. That's why he set up these case studies and that's one of the major reasons why Apple became so innovative.
Here's the Question of The Day, don't forget to post your answers in the comments!
Despite being a hard-ass, Jobs was able to cultivate a fire in his employees that allowed them to produce their best possible work. Do you think you would've been able to bear the burden of Jobs's tough management style if it meant being able to produce amazing results?
Thanks for reading! Don't forget to leave your thoughts below and I look forward to seeing you in the comments!
People are often amazed at how I can support two sides of the same story at the different times. I usually do take a contrary view to an argument not because that's my view but because I wants to actually bring out the possible best out of an argument. So assuming I have a case where some people believe :A is cute. And others believe that :B is cute.
When I met an A believer I'll argue that B is cute. And when I meet a B believer, I'll argue that A is cute. Usually at the end of the argument, I'll tell that my point didn't express my views but just to make sure I learn a lot more.
I wish I can develop this better. I heard a saying once:
You may wonder where am going with that quote. Am building a case for focus against diversification. It's better to grow a few garden and put all your energy in that one that spreading your seed here and there, hoping one will someday grow into a tree. Steve was really good at this and that was what made the difference.
Now for your question of the day: I would have loved to work with him especially at the beginning of my career in my early and mid twenties. That could help give me lots of stamina for the future to come. Thanks Khaleel for always bringing some food for our thoughts.
Haha, I do the same thing @lordjames! Approaching debates by "being on both sides" (or at least mentally running through the process of being on both sides) can make you a much better debater and can give you really great insight as to where everyone is coming from. More politicians need to adopt this mentality.
That's a great saying - something that I've longed for and continually search for are those few priorities that I can make the most important things in my life and become the best at. I've found some great passions in life like real estate, crypto, technology, reading, writing, etc.... but I'm still searching for that one thing or handful of things that I can really home in on.
I would also have loved to work for him for a short while - many of those who worked under Steve flourished and learned how to sharpen their skills and change the world. Anytime my friend, I always love the way these conversations carry on into the comments and glean even more insight into the topic at hand!
If I bought into Steve's creativity and his vision then I would be able to bear with his management style. Sometimes a teacher needs to be a "hard ass" to get things done but it must be accompanied with heart and encouragement. Kids appreciate it because it creates an environment that is safe. It's weird because someone needs to take responsibility or things get messed up. This whole Steemit environment is a case study on an environment with no centralized authority to take charge. It is really up to humanity and each user to be responsible. There is no "hard-ass" here and if there is you can always mute them.
Yes, you'd definitely have to buy into the vision - everyone who was a true "A-Player" (as Jobs liked to call them) believed whole-heartedly in the vision and direction that Jobs was taking the company. I agree and the best teachers that I had in the past were ones who were both tough when they needed to be and also passionate and encouraging when I deserved it. You make a great point to tie Steemit into this as a case study, it's very interesting to see how this plays out on a day-to-day basis - that is, what happens when there isn't a centralized authority (like Facebook's Execs) controlling what we can and can't see, say or do. I love that we all get to share our voices - unfiltered - on this platform and I can't wait to see how this platform sizes up to centralized ones as it grows larger and larger.
I don't understand people not complaining and discussing things that they know for sure... imagine this situation, you go to the doctor, he and his trainee enter the office, he thinks that you only have an infenction, but the trainee thinks you have something much worse, but since he is not the doctor and he is afraid of speaking up he stays quiet, the doctor looks at you and send you home with a couple of antibiotics, you actually have something much worse and end up in the hospital with something much worse which could be life-threating...
I actually made a post about this today, we all have a voice... why should we be quiet? Why should we live in fear of societies stigma and taboos? Why?! Being quiet is surrendering... I wasn't raised to surrender, i was raised to conquer
I grew up in a house that nurtured this, when i'm certain about something i don't rest until the other person sees it, my brother is the same, when he was certain about something he would defend it with his teeth, he would spend days discussing it with me, showing me stuff on the internet, just so i could realize i was wrong... I think i would do great in a steve jobs company!
Yes! It is a huge issue and I love your example with the doctor and his trainee - that's one that should hit home on an individual level. Every voice matters and everyone is entitled-no-obligated to share it! I hope more people can check out the post you made earlier and learn something from it. Communication is everything and we now live in a society that allows for communication on a global level, but the individual has to take charge and actually do something about it! I'll link your post right here for anyone interested - https://steemit.com/blog/@teutonium/speak-up-climb-the-stairs-and-change-the-world
That's phenomenal and it definitely shows in how you interact and share your thoughts here on Steemit! I also grew up in a similar way - you can have strong opinions, but you absolutely have to back your opinions with passion and knowledge about the subject at hand - that's the real key component - to have strong opinions AND the knowledge to back yourself up.
Thanks for linking my post :D!!
Backing your opinions with knowledge and passion is a must... i've seen plenty of people that, when asked why they think a certain way, or where they learned that knowledge their answer was always the same: "It's what people say" or "i was taught this way", when further asked they got angry and left the conversation... I always try to back up my knowledge, and, if i realize that i was wrong, i just say sorry... why is it so hard for certain people to say "sorry, i was wrong"!!
I think i never left the "why?" age that children have when they are young, i'm always asking "why?" and "how?" to other people's opinions, it sometimes gets on their nerves a little...
And again, thanks for reading my post :)
Anytime my friend! It's truly a great post, I hope other readers checked it out! Absolutely, it's essential to know what you're talking about and to care about what you're talking about!
I also love your thoughts on saying sorry! It's better to ask for forgiveness than to never act at all! Haha, me too! I heard from Tim Ferriss a while back about asking why 3 times to get to the real root of an issue or opinion. It really works!
;)
I have been exposed to people like him before.
Yeah I definitely think that similar results can be achieved by taking almost an opposite approach to Jobs. Jobs was really passionate about what they were doing at Apple, but I think he could've instilled passion in his employees in a much different way than constantly badgering them and screaming at them. Someone like Gary Vaynerchuk deploys this approach and I think it works really well for him and his company, Vaynermedia.
Here Here! I agree 100%!
Well, Steve might have taken it to the extreme but personally I don't like people who are extremely nice and at the end of the day nothing is achieved. My friends knows am blunt when I have to be. I remember a case last month when a guy messaged me on Whatsapp complaining how he's not doing well on Steemit and that he's tired of the whole stress. After going through his blog, I told him to sell all his stakes and walk out of Steemit because he doesn't have what it takes to be successful on Steemit.
The guy got angry and said I was impolite. A month later he's doing much better than me. Why? Because he works extremely hard just to prove me wrong. But what he doesn't know is that, that's actually what I aimed to achieve from the beginning.
I definitely see where you're coming from @lordjames, if a leader is not willing to be blunt when necessary in order to get his/her point across, then it can definitely be problematic for everyone involved. You did a great thing with this friend on Whatsapp, I'm sure he credits a great deal of his success to you (whether he openly admits it or not).
You are a magnanimous friend.
An enlightened despot is a non-democratic or authoritarian leader who exercises their political power for the benefit of the people, rather than exclusively for themselves or elites.
Life is tough in the corporate world so bring a helmet. If he was challenging in the name of progress and excellence, and the pay reflected this excellence, I could have taken it. It is what I did in corporate life for 20 years for lesser managers at lesser companies.
If it is easy and fun, they won't pay you to do it. If you are going to spend 40 hours a week at something, it may as well be substantial and pay well so buckle up.
I agree, life is hard in general - but that's what makes life so interesting. If everything came easy, then what would be the point!? I definitely could've taken his hardcore style of leadership if it meant producing amazing results and I see that you feel the same way as well!
Absolutely, it's all about doing something that matters!
Personally I learn from getting shitted on so for me this would be a great strategy. As one of the top companies I think it's an overall great way to manage.
I am the same way, I either need to "get shit on" by someone telling me to do a better job or I need to "shit on" my self and look for more ways to improve!
Yeah I take a pretty harsh stance with myself as well!
🙏🏽 100%
This is a phenonmenal quote and really shows the importance of cooperation! Makes you wonder why "cheating" is labeled as such in school when it really is just cooperation with your classmates!
Thanks! And yes it does beg the question about cheating in school!
Steve jobs was a visionary, he never took his success to head, he always wanted fellow humans to get benefitted
I agree! He truly was able to envision the future and create a culture that could achieve greatness in order to make it a reality!
Envision and bring it to reality he did!
Thanks for the helpful info ;)
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