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| Never Outshine The Master -- Robert Greene |
Twelve Lessons I Learned From Steve Jobs.
Source: Twelve Things
Here’s an interesting way of looking at developing an
emerging company: The goal should not be
to make money. Rather make meaning. The profits will follow if you have a solid
plan. Find unproven markets for your
product and pitch them to investors. One
of them will get it with a little patience and persistence on your part. These thoughts and others revisited me while
watching Guy Kawasaki discussing what he learned from working twice at
different times with Steve Jobs.
I cannot pretend to know precisely how people like Kawasaki
and Jobs get to the places they so frequently visit in terms of leadership. But I can assure the reader that I have
learned to listen. We all have our
special gifts. The real trick is to gain
knowledge and then make it your own.
Here are some points that I found particularly salient in Guy Kawasaki's
presentation “12 Lessons That I learned from Steve Jobs.
Experts are
clueless. Rely on yourself.
Customers cannot tell
you what you need.
Customers do not create
revolutions.
Present yourself with
‘magnificent challenges.’ Employees
like challenges and so they rise up.
Design counts. It’s not always about price although
‘experts’ say this is the big one. Don’t put out crap. A lot easier to get customers with high
quality product properly designed with the customer in mind.
Anticipate customer
needs.
Put up slides with
one word at 60 points. Big
graphics. 8.5 is out.
Jump curves. Do something ten times better. Guy presents two historical pieces of information
that make sense.
Think ice. The harvesting of ice was seasonal. Then technology allowed man to create ice at
will. Then someone came up with the
refrigerator. The lesson? The trick was not to create a better way of
chipping or delivering the ice. The
trick was to create a situation where ice could be created at will and then
deliver it. The next trick is to create
a machine that creates ice in the home.
Don’t ride the wave. Find the
next wave. Guy calls this jumping the
curve.
There was a time when printers used daisy wheels. Jumping the curve?
Instead of adding fonts to the daisy wheel create a laser printer that
no longer needs the daisy wheel. I come
from a generation of daisy wheels. It
was an amazing technology at the time. But
it still took time to change the wheels.
Along comes the laser printer.
This is an ample demonstration of jumping the curve.
Something works or it
doesn’t work. Apple started with a closed system. In short Apple technology was
proprietary. Apple read the market and
realized that an open system was the best path.
Now 3rd party apps not permitted (safari plug-in) in the
past. Don’t screw around with the
phone. Third-party developer.
Guy coaches the listener to take their product home and test it out. Use it.
If you want to convince the customer that the product has utility, is
unique and has value then you best convince yourself first. The writer adds the notion of ‘utility’.
There are things that
overshadow price. It’s about value and productivity. Guy displays 2 by 2 matrix where the optimum
position is the upper right hand corner.
The product is unique and valuable.
Only you produce your product.
Guy points out that Fandango has discovered the upper
right. He demonstrates a watch with an
antenna that works with satellites. The value.
The person who is in a location and gets hurt in some way can now use
their phone to get help. Unique, great value, and has utility. Interestingly
Guy points out that low price does not assure sales. Focus on the value.
In regard to creating a great team Guy coaches the listener
to recruit members better than
themselves in various areas of responsibility. To use his term, do not hire Bozos. A players hire a plus players. And so one avoids the Bozo explosion.
They can use the
product. If you cannot demonstrate the value and uniqueness of your
product/service then you are in serious trouble. I
think of Wendy’s in this regard. And now
the daughter follows the same example.
Don’t sell total crap
for the first version. Be aware there is
a bit of ‘crap’ involved. Real
entrepreneurship not slip. This does not
mean a product/service must wait to ship until it is ‘perfect’. Perfection is the goal not the journey. To add
my own thoughts I would say it is important to provide quality consistent service.
The color television in its first inception took time to get
to its present level of quality. Ship
something that may have challenges that still jumps the curve. Believe in your product/service, ship you
product, and your product, and don’t
wait for proof. A
product can have elements of ‘crap’ to it.
That can be fixed and adjusted.
The trick is to get the customer to see the product.
Guy answered questions from the audience. I provided some notes on those questions.
Question: What about hiring A++ attitude when hiring?
Learn to let go. Don’t disown them. But let them do their thing. If you are succeeding you cannot handle
everything. A++ don’t like
micromanage.
Question: So who hires B players? Guy sites Board of Directors. Clearly he is using humor. On the other side of this comment notice his
comments on experts.
Question: Jumping curves. What if the investor doesn’t understand this
way of creating a company?
Guy compares this to dating.
There are two kinds of dynamics.
There is on-line dating situations such as eHarmony or a protracted process. This is something to finding soul mate. And then there is the ‘hot or not’ approach.
You meet someone or see someone and she/he is ‘hot or not’. Venture capitalist are ‘hot or not’ usually decided in the first 30 seconds. Get in what you do in the first 30
seconds. They are not really interested
in a life history.
Question: What about proven markets?
Don’t focus on proven
markets. Consider unproven
markets. If the investor cannot see this
then you are probably in the wrong place at the wrong time. Mostly, don’t give up or accept their
judgments without careful consideration.
Listen and learn.
Question: What about the pitch?
Give them what you do in the first 30 seconds.
Conclusion
This is the sort of presentation that is meant to be heard
multiple times. I draw some new insights
from the well with each listen.
Most people never answer the door. Most people are afraid of failing. Most do not ask. I transcribe a Steve Jobs YouTube. I watched Guy Kawasaki on 12 best lessons
from Jobs for entrepreneurs. Quite the
experience. There is so much for the
entrepreneur draw from. Comes down to
this: The water is in the well. You going to get some?
Steve Jobs was willing to throw something away and try again
when commerce pressing down. He speaks
on design and asks the questions ‘does it work’ and is it exceptional.
I hope that this post was of help to you and trust that you
will visit me soon.
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