32 / 42
3 Business
Leadership Tips
from the Steve
Jobs Story
By Dan Toussant
Steve Jobs gave Walter Isaacson complete control to construct an
unfiltered view of ‘who was Steve Jobs?’, and ‘why was he worth
studying?’ in his biography. There are several teachable moments in
this book even though Jobs was a person with many character traits
that people disliked.
I’ve identified three aspects to his leadership and business acumen
that make his impact and his legacy huge for leaders everywhere.
They include:
1.
Create a brand built on the
special qualities you and your
business can offer
.
Jobs was
an artist, a minimalist design
freak, and a marketing-roll-out
genius. Jobs called Apple ‘the
intersection of technology and
liberal arts’. His primary passion
was to make products that were
designed well, that were cool
to use, that were, in a word,
artful. Jobs created an Apple-
user experience that was special.
2.
Think beyond the possible
to create something special.
Jobs
colleagues
called
it
Steve’s
‘Reality
Distortion
Field.’ He developed impossible
visions for where the next
products would differentiate
in conjunction with some
very smart people he brought
to the Apple team. This
visionary instinct, which struck
a lot of people as odd, crazy
perfectionism led to some
amazing accomplishments.
One
small example was the gorilla
glass on the iPhone, strong and
resistant to scratches, yet light
and easy to hold. Had to have
it, yet nobody could do it, until
he found John Weeks of Corning
Glass who could pull it off. It was
the ‘reality distortion field’ where
he would not accept ‘can’t do it.’
Teachable moment
: Cre-
ate a big vision, that
sounds too big, and then
continually push yourself
and your team; that vision
will galvanize people, and
attract the best.
3.
Establish relationships
built on one-to-one face-
time.
Jobs had a way of solving
design issues or negotiating
major deals or planning future
projects: ‘Let’s go for a walk.’ He
lived in a pretty basic middle-
class home, sparsely decorated
and simple. He would invite
team members or negotiating
partners to his house for a
modest healthy dinner, which
always led to a walk. His way
of hearing others and sharing
his perspective was to go for
walks. This relationship-building
Teachable moment
: as a
business leader or business
owner, what makes your
business special, different,
captivating to your custo-
mers? How do you brand
yourself that will cause
your customer to want to
knock your door down to do
business with you?
SOAR TO SUCCESS
/
J
anuary
2017
/
Business Acceleration Strategies