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A more exhaustive edition of Jobs’ lessons will be uploaded to my medium page in the following week!
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“Stop!” he shouted at one big product strategy session. “This is crazy.” He grabbed a magic marker, padded to a whiteboard, and drew a horizontal and vertical line to make a four-squared chart. “Here’s what we need,” he continued. Atop the two columns he wrote “Consumer” and “Pro”; he labeled the two rows “Desktop” and “Portable.” Their job, he said, was to make four great products, one for each quadrant. “The room was in dumb silence,” Schiller recalled.”
Excerpt From Steve Jobs, Walter Isaacson
After reading Steve Jobs cover to cover, you’ll find that he wasn’t an ordinary CEO. He was bold, unapologetic, highly controversial, but left history in personal computing, music, and mobile technology. I’ll be sharing some of the lessons from his biography you can apply to your own design and team management ethos—in part 1 of 2 articles, we’ll be looking at the iPod to contextualize Jobs’ principles. Next week will focus on Jony Ive’s ethos which influenced Design at Apple.
iPod’s Campaign by Lee Clow
When in a leadership role, decisiveness is key—taking risks and moving quickly will set you ahead of competitors.
“One of Jobs's great strengths was knowing how to focus. "Deciding what not to do is as important as deciding what to do," he said. "That's true for companies, and it's true for products.”
As per the quote in the intro, at times he would ask his board for ideas, write them down 10+ on a whiteboard, and leave only 3 remaining. These would be the three products the company would expend all their focus on. Limiting their product line made each one “feel significant, not disposable” as Jony Ive called the iPod. I like to call this his “three things” and often try limiting my own energy towards 3 core things in my life at any given time.
"This is shit!" he yelled. "It's advertising agency shit and I hate it.” Jobs’ autocratic nature allowed him to execute without endless barriers and reviews. Jobs knew products should connect deeply with people—and only through this sensitivity and authority he was able to execute some of the most historic ads of all time, like the Macintosh 1984 ad, Think Different, and the iconic iPod campaign (above).
He shot down ideas and forced product teams to pitch and rationalize everything, causing some to simply quit or get laid off if they complained. It may have been harsh, but “A players like to work with A players.” The passionate ones were appreciative to receive honest feedback and attracted like-minded individuals. Jobs’ hiring process was also highly collaborative—since the company is so integrated across divisions, he would have every board member evaluate potential employees.
This leads us to our second lesson: Designing for emotion.