De Harvard Business Review van volgende maand bevat een lang artikel over The Real Leadership Lessons of Steve Jobs door diens biograaf Walter Isaacson.
Ideaal om te lezen tijdens een zondagse brunch. Een interessant verhaal, met heel wat waardevolle lessen. Enkele quotes:
Focus. When Jobs returned to Apple in 1997, it was producing a random array of computers and peripherals, including a dozen different versions of the Macintosh. […] Their job, he told his team members, was to focus on four great products. […] By getting Apple to focus on making just four computers, he saved the company. “Deciding what not to do is as important as deciding what to do.”
Simplify. At one point Jobs made the simplest of all suggestions: Let’s get rid of the on/off button. At first the team members were taken aback, but then they realized the button was unnecessary. The device would gradually power down if it wasn’t being used and would spring to life when reengaged.
Don’t Be a Slave To Focus Groups. “Customers don’t know what they want until we’ve shown them.” He invoked Henry Ford’s line “If I’d asked customers what they wanted, they would have told me: A faster horse!”
Push for Perfection. As a young boy, he had helped his father build a fence around their backyard, and he was told they had to use just as much care on the back of the fence as on the front. “Nobody will ever know,” Steve said. His father replied, “But you will know.”