Knowing my bias and interest, my friend and colleague, Gary Grates, alerted me to a new book last week he was certain I’d appreciate. He was right. The book is “Inside Steve’s Brain,” by Leander Kahney, news editor for Wired.com.
The book is about the way Steve Jobs thinks, how he operates, how he built Apple, his successes (and mistakes), his stunning innovations, and his most unique approach to the world. But it’s a lot more than that. It is a business book full of valuable ideas and insights into one of the hottest companies of our time. In addition to all that the reader will learn implicitly, the book makes it easy by concluding each chapter with a helpful summary list of “Lessons from Steve.”
Jobs’ success is not a simple formula, and thus deserves a book-length exploration that a blog entry cannot fulfill. But here’s the crux. Steve Jobs finds the best people, attracts them and, once he has them on board, allows them the freedom to do their best work. At the same time, he demands perfection. He doesn’t suffer fools gladly. Known for his abrasiveness, Jobs bisects the world into "geniuses and bozos." He weeds out the bozos.
Collaboration is central to how Jobs operates. The book compares how Apple approaches product development versus the typical auto company. At Apple, the design, engineering, manufacturing and marketing teams work side-by-side throughout the development process so there is little chance of miscommunication. Not so at other companies:
…Jobs has said it’s like seeing a cool prototype car at a car show, but when the production model appears four years later, it sucks. “And you go, what happened? They had it! They had it in the palm of their hands! They grabbed defeat from the jaws of victory! … What happened was, the designers came up with this really great idea. Then they take it to the engineers and the engineers go, ‘Nah, we can’t do that. That’s impossible.’ And so it gets a lot worse. Then they take it to the manufacturing people and they go, ‘We can’t build that!’ And it gets a lot worse.”
Pixar, Jobs’ other baby, is discussed within the context of how he puts together teams of talented people and allows them to thrive. The book contrasts Pixar’s way of doing things to the typical Hollywood approach. Pixar, by the way, is not headquartered in the LA area but in Emeryville in the East Bay.
In Hollywood, every one is a free agent: directors, writers, actors, etc. The deal is pitched pulling together the various talent. As Kahney notes, the people are finally working together smoothly about the time the filming is wrapped up. Pixar operates on the opposite model.
At Pixar, the directors, screenwriters, and crew are all salaried employees with big stock option grants. Pixar’s movies may have different directors, but the same core team of writers, directors, and animators work on them all as company employees. In Hollywood, studios fund story ideas – the famous Hollywood pitch. Instead of funding pitches and story ideas, Pixar funds the career development of its employees… At the heart of the company’s “people investment” culture is Pixar University, an on-the-job training program that offers hundreds of courses in art, animation, and filmmaking. All of Pixar’s employees are encouraged to take classes in whatever they like, whether it’s relevant to their job or not.
It’s no surprise that Jobs has earned remarkable allegiance from his people. We can see the results for ourselves in the great products those people create and the sales of those products. I’d read before the sales statistics for the iPod, but the book reiterates them and they’re worth repeating here as a demonstration of the success of the Apple model.
According to analysts, the company is on track to sell 200 million units by the end of 2008, and 300 million by the end of next year. Some analysts think the iPod could sell 500 million units before the market is saturated – which would make the iPod a contender for the biggest consumer electronics hit of all time. The current record holder is the Sony Walkman, which sold 350 million units during its 15-year reign in the 1980s and early 90s. Incidentally, Kahney writes at length contrasting Apple and Sony and how they develop and market new products.
What I find most telling is Apple’s (and Jobs’) near-total focus on the customer experience (in contrast to companies like Sony). While most companies just make products, Apple’s approach reflects the title of a 2005 Forrester Research study: “Sell the digital experiences, not products,” which the book cites. Chapter 6, on Innovation, concludes with the following “Lessons from Steve.”
- Don't lose sight of the customer: The [Macintosh] Cube bombed because it was built for designers, not customers.
- Study the market and the industry: Jobs is constantly looking to see what new technologies are coming down the pike.
- Don't consciously think about innovation: Systemizing innovation is like watching Michael Dell dance. Painful.
- Concentrate on products: Products are the gravitational force that pulls it all together.
- Remember that motives make a difference: Concentrate on great products, not becoming the biggest or the richest.
- Steal: Be shameless about stealing other people's great ideas.
- Connect: For Jobs, creativity is simply connecting things.
- Study: Jobs is a keen student of art, design and architecture. He even runs around parking lots looking at Mercedes.
- Be flexible: Jobs dropped a lot of long-cherished traditions that made Apple special - and kept it small.
- Burn the boats: Jobs killed the most popular iPod [the Mini] to make room for a new thinner model. Burn the boats, and you must stand and fight.
- Prototype: Even Apple's stores were developed like every other product... prototyped, edited, refined.
- Ask customers: The popular Genius Bar idea came from customers.
If that’s not a formula for success, I’d like to see one that is.
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