Thinking like Steve Jobs

Thinking like Steve Jobs

August 2014

By Shivi Verma

The call to change with changing times, has become pressing for people in the digital age. Before one can get familiar with one operating system, another one nudges it out.

And surprisingly the principles are spiritual. Expectedly, since Steve Jobs was a perfect example of enterprise marrying spirituality.

Never having worked with Apple, Beckman confesses that he was initially taken aback by their seemingly impractical and unworkable initiatives. On closer examination, however, he found Steve to be deeply centred, extremely practical, and insanely motivated to achieve his goals. Apple does not depend on market surveys to know what people want. It relies on its intuitive employees who think from the perspective of the common man and add their own inventiveness to a product. Something creative/spiritual people are wont to do. So an Apple product, instead of being crammed with features, focuses on having less features which are simple and easy to use. No wonder their products have created history. Take I-tune, for instance. No music company thought that consumers would willingly pay for music, when it was freely available through illegal downloads. But the I-tune proved them wrong.

Apple does not departmentalize as much as integrate the departments. Every section is taught to think like an innovator and contribute zealously to the goal. They focus not so much on being the first to launch a product but on launching the best product. Instead of repenting over a hasty product, they invest time and effort in coming out with a great one.

To facilitate all this a high premium is placed on employee health and recreation. They get longer than average vacations and are encouraged to be good communicators.

Using the Apple model could facilitate producing just about anything – a car, a modern kitchen, a television – in the most intelligent, integrated and effective manner.

Is the world listening?