Steve Jobs was famously known as a genius – and a jerk. A demanding visionary who spoke with no filter. Say what you will, but under Jobs’ leadership, Apple launched stunning, must-have products. They crushed it during the 2008-2012 recession.
Jobs knew what we wanted before we did. Man, America could sure use his vision now.
So, as we segue into Life 2.0, what would Steve Jobs do? Let’s revisit is best advice:
Hire people who are better than you. A players hire A players. B players hire B players. When you hire a C player, you trigger the ‘Bozo Explosion’.
Jump curves. Don’t do things 10% better. That’s just better sameness. If you want to put a ding in the universe, do things 10 times better.
Customers can’t tell you what they want. Identify problems before anyone else solves them. And don’t wait for perfection. Get into the market fast and adjust on the fly.
Model your business after The Beatles. The four guys balanced each other and recognized they were greater as a band than as individuals.
Connect the dots. Try new things and trust they’ll somehow payoff in your future. You can’t connect the dots moving forward, only looking back.
Quality is more important than quantity. One home run is much better than two doubles.
Master the message. You can have the greatest ideas. But leaders must be storytellers who can communicate and inspire people.
Stay hungry, Stay foolish was Jobs’ mission, memorialized in his keynote address to Stanford grads. When you find your passion, throw caution to the wind and have the courage to follow your heart.
Don’t waste time living someone else’s life.
