10 Personal i-deas and i-nspirations from “Steve Jobs” by Walter Issacson

Steve Jobs Newsweek Cover

Steve Jobs Newsweek Cover

… getting fired from Apple was the best thing that could have happened to me. The heaviness of being successful was replaced by the lightness of being a beginner again, less sure about everything. It freed me to enter one of the most creative periods of my life.        ~ Steve Jobs.

Walter Issacon has written an inspiring book about an amazing person, Steve Jobs.

Though I don’t feel I could have worked or socialized with Steve I recognize and appreciate his marketing genius.

Anyway I listed my thoughts, not in any particular order, from the book, which I believe are relevant for small business entrepreneurs wanting to gain the most out of internet marketing, SEO and social media:

  • importance of appreciating art / music /design and its everyday relevance to life and business 
  • optimization being a blend of art and science
  • recognition of innovation / genius may be limited to a few peers
  • improvement is a continuum / journey (a trip!)
  • value our intuition over the intellectual conclusion 
  • people don’t know what they would want [Henry Ford: "if I had asked my customers what they wanted they would have said a faster horse”]
  • leaders / innovators are needed – to lead and challenge the status quo and “negative leadership”
  • its no longer liberal or conservative, its being constructive or  destructive  
  • “A” players work best with “A” players
  • personal focus in business, like art, becomes self interest / ego /absorbing and can be destructive
  • cost / price vs value relationship “confused”, when innovation is appreciated

“Think Different” ad, was reminding us that the people who are crazy enough to think they can change the world are the ones who do.

His legacy is transforming seven industries: personal computers, animated movies, music, phones, tablet computing, digital publishing, and retail stores. 

His legacy is creating what became the most valuable company on earth, one that stood at the intersection of the humanities and technology, and is the company most likely still to be doing that a generation from now.”

For more inspiration – watch Steve Jobs deliver his commencement speech to the graduates of Stanford University in 2005

“I haven’t failed, I’ve found 10,000 ways that don’t work”. Thomas Edison.

Website www.proteusism.com