Three Lessons I Learned about Running a Business from Steve Jobs

I started to write this article in September, but didn’t finish it until now. Here are three lessons I learned about running a business from Steve Jobs.

1. Cannibalize yourself without mercy.

He did it with the iPhone (which will probably make iPods obsolete) and I believe the iPad will put a serious dent into Apple (and other) laptop sales. He wasn’t always right (e.g., the Newton), but he didn’t let failure stop him. Do it before someone else does it to you. Many people see trends and opportunities early. Few do anything about them. Incorporate change into your company culture By the way, this applies to those in service industries as well.

2. Insist on perfection and make it part of the company culture.

This starts with you. Earlier this year I read something on Jobs that I thought was cool and a little crazy at the same time. I don’t remember it exactly but it went something like this: At an executive meeting after the iPod hit the market, Jobs asked an exec about a new feature. He asked, “What is this feature supposed to do?” The exec replied with a description of the feature. “Why the f*** doesn’t it do that?” Jobs asked. Several days later, the feature worked as it was supposed to work. Now, here is what often happens at other companies:

1. Amazing features are proposed into the next generation product or service.
2. When the product is done, the features don’t work as originally described.
3. Someone makes a decision to launch the product as is because it will take too much time or money to get the feature to work as originally envisioned. 
4. The marketing company “saves the day” by coming up with a way to describe the feature as amazing when in fact it isn’t.

At the end of the day, most companies have a culture based around “good enough is good enough”. You won’t find it written anywhere but you can spot it quickly. And it affects morale, recruitment and retention too. 

3. Define your company by why you do what you do, not how.

Jobs didn’t define Apple as a company that made cool looking computers.  He wanted to make devices that would change the status quo. We can all do this. And it does amazing things. The market knows what you stand for (your external brand). You start attracting better employees. Your existing employees (those that get it, at least) like their job better and they make better decisions.

For more on this, see What’s Your Why.  Also, here are some more examples of starting with why.

Steve Jobs was a rare talent of the highest caliber. But you don’t have to have his talent to learn from him.