Yesterday was a sad day in tech. Steve Jobs stepping down kinda through me into an hour of reflection about my own career and lessons I’ve learned over the years – many of which gleaned from watching Apple’s meteoric comeback over the last 10 years. It truly is a rise-from-the-ashes story.
Any business person who does not stand in awe of what they’ve done, largely under Steve’s unique inspired benevolent dictatorship, I believe will never amount to greatness. Because whether or not you’re a fan of Apple is irrelevant. The results speak for themselves. Anyone who doesn’t give them credit for that greatness (now the most valuable company on the planet), apparently wouldn’t recognize greatness if it was kicking them in the ass – which it is.
I believe that love’im or hate’im, Steve “got things” in a profound way that most people don’t understand. I truly believe that due to Apple’s success, our industry will be internalizing the lessons he and Apple have taught us, for the coming 10 years. It won’t happen overnight, but I hope we have all been paying attention and taking notes. The coming era of tech is more human focused, less gigahertz focused.
And with the spotlight, comes the criticism. “Blah blah, Steve, blah blah, Apple, blah blah, not so great.” I believe that until you yourself have repeatedly delivered products to market that make thousands of people line up for days in advance to be the first to get their hands on what you’ve created – then who are you to criticize? It should be every business person’s ultimate measure of success, to achieve those kinds of results. Apple fan boys you call us? What have you done that’s so great as to create such a loyal, passionate following? -crickets-
Many of my own values and ideals in building tech companies and leading people, I realize in hindsight, have been hugely influenced by Steve. The almost dysfunctional and obsessive focus on user experience first. The relentless pursuit of always raising the bar. The refusal to accept “good enough”. The refusal to accept “compromise” (i.e. corner-cutting). Which other titan of tech will I look up to now? Hmm. I guess I’ll have to be my own.
I say Steve and not Apple, because for those of us old enough to remember, Apple without Steve fell to pieces the first time around. I believe it will remain 75% of the company that it is today, going forward without him at the helm. I believe little cracks will surface without him watching over, but hopefully the company has now embodied those values as to be able to carry them forward for the most part in his absence.
Steve was the lead singer of the band. Sure, they’re all great musicians, but it’ll be a noticeably different band going forward.
Like a great magician, Steve is leaving the stage before the rest of us have truly figured out how he did it.
