#249 Steve Jobs In His Own Words

261 snips

Jun 1, 2022

Dive into Steve Jobs' unique philosophy on innovation and entrepreneurship. Discover his belief in passion, simplicity, and high standards as the keys to success. Explore how storytelling and emotional connections shape branding and customer loyalty. Unpack the visionary mindset that balances ambitious goals with an understanding of user needs. Learn how Jobs revolutionized product design and challenged the norms of technology, making meaningful experiences central to Apple's identity.

Ask episode

AI Snips

Chapters

Books

Transcript

Episode notes

ADVICE

Passion & Perseverance

Find work you love and are passionate about.
Perseverance is crucial for overcoming challenges, and passion fuels that perseverance.

INSIGHT

People as Core Strength

A company's core strength lies in its employees.
Recruiting top talent is a founder's most crucial task.

INSIGHT

Quality over Quantity

Strive for the best, not to be the biggest or first.
Quality supersedes quantity and speed in product development.

Get the Snipd Podcast app to discover more snips from this episode

Get the app

Becoming Steve Jobs

The Evolution of a Reckless Upstart into a Visionary Leader

Brent Schlender

Rick Tetzeli

This book provides a rich and revealing account of Steve Jobs' life, drawing on exclusive access to his family, former inner circle executives, and top people at Apple, Pixar, and Disney. It humanizes Jobs by explaining his behavior and highlighting his growth from a brash founder to a mature and effective leader. The narrative includes stories never told before and offers a fresh perspective on Jobs' career, particularly his time at NeXT and Pixar, and his return to Apple. The authors, who had close relationships with Jobs, detail how he learned to trust his inner circle, became more patient, and developed a more mature management style, ultimately transforming the daily life of billions of people.

I, Steve: Steve Jobs In His Own Words

George Beahm

This book compiles more than 200 quotations from Steve Jobs, offering insights into his vision for business and innovation. It covers his views on life, death, technology, and design, providing essential reading for those seeking inspiration in business and innovation. The book serves as a tribute to Jobs' transformative career and his impact on multiple industries.

Churchill

Walking with Destiny

Andrew Roberts

In this landmark biography, Andrew Roberts provides a deeply personal and historically rich portrait of Winston Churchill. With exclusive access to new material such as transcripts of War Cabinet meetings, diaries, letters, and unpublished memoirs from Churchill's contemporaries, Roberts reveals the hidden forces behind Churchill's legendary drive. The book explores Churchill's life in detail, from his early years to his leadership during World War II, highlighting his courage, tenacity, leadership, and moral conviction. It also discusses his complex relationships, including his interactions with King George VI and Franklin Roosevelt, and evaluates his legacy in the context of modern leadership challenges.

A mind at play

How Claude Shannon Invented the Information Age

Jimmy Soni

Rob Goodman

This biography, written by Jimmy Soni and Rob Goodman, reveals the full story of Claude Shannon for the first time. It chronicles Shannon's life from his small-town Michigan roots to his groundbreaking work at MIT and Bell Labs. The book highlights his contributions to digital circuit design and information theory, as well as his interactions with notable figures like Alan Turing, John von Neumann, and Albert Einstein. Shannon's personal life, including his interests in juggling, unicycling, and inventing unusual devices, is also explored. The authors provide a detailed and engaging account of Shannon's impact on the information age and his unique blend of playfulness and genius[2][3][4].

A Man for All Markets

From Las Vegas to Wall Street, How I Beat the Dealer and the Market

Edward O. Thorp

In this book, Edward O. Thorp recounts his remarkable career, from inventing card counting systems to beat blackjack dealers, to developing mathematical formulas that gave him an edge in the financial markets. Thorp's story includes his invention of the world's first wearable computer to predict roulette outcomes, his detection of the Bernie Madoff scheme, and his interactions with notable figures like Warren Buffett and Rudy Giuliani. The book offers practical wisdom on investing, asset allocation, and wealth management, making it an intellectual thrill ride for readers interested in finance and mathematics.

Made in Japan : Akio Morita and Sony

Akio Morita

Mitsuko Shimomura

Edwin M. Reingold

This book narrates the story of Akio Morita's early life, the formation and success of Sony Corporation in the aftermath of Japan's defeat in World War II, and Morita's insights on business management, international trade, and cultural differences. It covers the development of iconic Sony products like the transistor radio and the Walkman, as well as Morita's perspectives on Japanese and American business practices and global economics. The book provides a unique blend of history, philosophy, and business management, offering valuable lessons for entrepreneurs and those interested in the Japanese way of doing business.

Jony Ive: The Genius Behind Apple's Greatest Products

Leander Kahney

This book offers a detailed portrait of Jony Ive, from his early days as an English art school student with dyslexia to his rise as the most acclaimed tech designer of his generation. Leander Kahney draws on interviews with Ive’s former colleagues and Apple insiders to provide insight into the creation of Apple's most iconic products. The book highlights Ive’s collaboration with Steve Jobs, their impact on reversing Apple’s decline, and how their designs have revolutionized modern technology and created a global fan base[2][3][4].

A triumph of genius

Edwin Land, Polaroid, and the Kodak Patent War

Ronald K. Fierstein

This riveting biography visits the spectacular life of Edwin Land, perhaps the most important yet least known inventor and technology entrepreneur in American history. Land’s most famous achievement was the creation of a revolutionary film and camera system that could produce a photographic print moments after the picture was taken. The book takes you behind the scenes of his discoveries, triumphs, and defeats, including his involvement over four decades with top-secret U.S. military intelligence efforts during World War II and the Cold War. It also details the epic legal battle between Polaroid and Kodak, one of the most significant patent litigations of the 20th century. The book is a biographical legal thriller that offers many lessons for 21st-century entrepreneurs.

In the Company of Giants: Candid Conversations With the Visionaries of the Digital World

Rama Dev Jager

Rafael Ortiz

This book offers an insider's view into the history and people behind today's greatest digital successes. Through a series of probing interviews, leaders such as Microsoft's Bill Gates, America Online's Steve Case, Dell Computer's Michael Dell, and others share their stories of successes, failures, and the people and attitudes that turned their ideas into influential companies. The book delves into the challenges faced by these trailblazers, their courage in taking risks, and their contributions to the evolution of the digital world[2][4].

The instant image

Mark Olshaker

The Instant Image provides a detailed account of Edwin Land's life and his contributions to photography, including the development of the SX-70 camera and his theories on color vision. The book also examines the growth of Polaroid as a company and its influence on the art and business of photography.

Enzo Ferrari

Luca Dal Monte

This biography provides a detailed account of Enzo Ferrari's life, from his early days as a racer to his founding of the Ferrari company. It explores his complex relationships, political dealings, and the impact he had on the automotive world. Drawing on extensive research, the book offers insights into Ferrari's personal life and his role in shaping the Ferrari brand.

Land's Polaroid

Peter C. Wensberg

This book offers a detailed account of Edwin Land's life and his role in founding Polaroid, highlighting his innovative approach to science and technology. It provides insights into the development of instant photography and the company's history from its inception to the 1980s.

What I learned from reading I, Steve: Steve Jobs In His Own Words by George Beahm.

----

Get access to the World’s Most Valuable Notebook for Founders at Founders Notes.com

----

[1:05]

On Steve Jobs

#5 Steve Jobs: The Biography
#19 Becoming Steve Jobs: The Evolution of a Reckless Upstart into a Visionary Leader
#76 Return To The Little Kingdom: Steve Jobs and The Creation of Apple
#77 Steve Jobs & The NeXT Big Thing
#204 Inside Steve Jobs' Brain
#214 Steve Jobs: The Exclusive Biography
#235 To Pixar And Beyond: My Unlikely Journey with Steve Jobs to Make Entertainment History

Bonus Episodes on Steve Jobs

Insanely Simple: The Obsession That Drives Apple's Success (Between #112 and #113)
Creative Selection: Inside Apple's Design Process During the Golden Age of Steve Jobs (Between #110 and #111)

On Jony Ive and Steve Jobs

#178 Jony Ive: The Genius Behind Apple's Greatest Products

On Ed Catmull and Steve Jobs

#34 Creativity Inc: Overcoming The Unseen Forces That Stand In The Way of True Inspiration

On Steve Jobs and several other technology company founders

#157 The Innovators: How a Group of Hackers, Geniuses, and Geeks Created the Digital Revolution

#208 In the Company of Giants: Candid Conversations With the Visionaries of the Digital World

[3:13] We're not going to be the first to this party, but we're going to be the best.

[4:54] Company Focus: We do no market research. We don't hire consultants. We just want to make great products.

[5:06] The roots of Apple were to build computers for people, not for corporations. The world doesn't need another Dell or Compaq.

[5:52] Nearly all the founders I’ve read about have a handful of ideas/principles that are important to them and they just repeat and pound away at them forever.

[7:00] You can oftentimes arrive at some very elegant and simple solutions. Most people just don't put in the time or energy to get there.

[8:09] I think of Founders as a tool for working professionals. And what that tool does is it gets ideas from the history of entrepreneurship into your brain so then you can use them in your work. It just so happens that a podcast is a great way to achieve that goal.

[8:48] Tim Ferriss Podcast #596 with Ed Thorp

[8:50] A Man for All Markets: From Las Vegas to Wall Street, How I Beat the Dealer and the Market by Ed Thorp. (Founders 222)

[10:43] In most people's vocabularies, design means veneer. It's interior decorating. It's the fabric of the curtains and the sofa. But to me, nothing could be further from the meaning of design. Design is the fundamental soul of a man-made creation that ends up expressing itself in successive outer layers of the product or service.

[12:05] The Essential Difference: The Lisa people wanted to do something great. And the Mac people want to do something insanely great. The difference shows.

[14:21] Sure, what we do has to make commercial sense, but it's never the starting point. We start with the product and the user experience.

[15:57] Becoming Steve Jobs: The Evolution of a Reckless Upstart into a Visionary Leader by Brent Schlender and Rick Tetzeli. (Founders #19)

[16:41] We had a passion to do this one simple thing.

[16:51] And that's really important because he's saying I wasn't trying to build the biggest company. I wasn't trying to build a trillion dollar company. It wasn't doing any of that. Those things happen later as a by-product of what I was actually focused on, which is just building the best computer that I wanted to use.

[17:14] In the Company of Giants: Candid Conversations With the Visionaries of the Digital World by Rama Dev Jager and Rafael Ortiz. (Founders #208 )

[17:41] It comes down to trying to expose yourself to the best things that humans have done and then try to bring those things in to what you're doing. Picasso had a saying: good artists copy, great artists steal. And we have always been shameless about stealing great ideas.

[20:29] Our belief was that if we kept putting great products in front of customers, they would continue to open their wallets.

[21:06] A Mind at Play: How Claude Shannon Invented the Information Age by Jimmy Soni and Rob Goodman (Founders #95) “A very small percentage of the population produces the greatest proportion of the important ideas. There are some people if you shoot one idea into the brain, you will get half an idea out. There are other people who are beyond this point at which they produce two ideas for each idea sent in.”

[22:29] Edwin land episodes:

Insisting On The Impossible: The Life of Edwin Land and Instant: The Story of Polaroid (Founders #40)

The Instant Image: Edwin Land and The Polaroid Experience by Mark Olshaker. (Founders #132)

Land’s Polaroid: A Company and The Man Who Invented It by Peter C. Wensberg. (Founders #133)

A Triumph of Genius: Edwin Land, Polaroid, and the Kodak Patent War by Ronald K. Fierstein. (Founders #134)

[25:01] Macintosh was basically this relatively small company in Cupertino, California, taking on the goliath, IBM, and saying "Wait a minute, your way is wrong. This is not the way we want computers to go. This is not the legacy we want to leave. This is not what we want our kids to be learning. This is wrong and we are going to show you the right way to do it and here it is and it is so much better.

[27:47] Jony Ive: The Genius Behind Apple's Greatest Productsby Leander Kahney. (
(Founders #178)

[29:00] Enzo Ferrari: Power, Politics, and the Making of an Automobile Empire by Luca Dal Monte (Founders #98)

[34:39] On meeting his wife, Laurene: I was in the parking lot, with the key in the car, and I thought to myself: If this is my last night on earth, would I rather spend it at a business meeting or with this woman? I ran across the parking lot, asked her if she'd have dinner with me. She said yes, we walked into town, and we've been together ever since.

[37:26] It's not about pop culture, and it's not about fooling people, and it's not about convincing people that they want something they don't. We figure out what we want. And I think we're pretty good at having the right discipline to think through whether a lot of other people are going to want it, too. That's what we get paid to do.

[41:29] Constellation Software Inc. President's Letters by Mark Leonard. (Founders #246)

[42:30] Made in Japan: Akio Morita and Sony by Akio Morita. (Founders #102)

[44:36] Victory in our industry is spelled survival.

[45:21] Once you get into the problem you see that it's complicated, and you come up with all these convoluted solutions. That's where most people stop, and the solutions tend to work for a while. But the really great person will keep going, find the underlying problem, and come up with an elegant solution that works on every level.

[48:15] Churchill by Paul Johnson (Founders #225)

[48:25] I would trade all my technology for an afternoon with Socrates.

----

Get access to the World’s Most Valuable Notebook for Founders at Founders Notes.com

----

“I have listened to every episode released and look forward to every episode that comes out. The only criticism I would have is that after each podcast I usually want to buy the book because I am interested, so my poor wallet suffers. ”— Gareth

Be like Gareth. Buy a book: All the books featured on Founders Podcast

----

Founders Notes gives you the ability to tap into the collective knowledge of history's greatest entrepreneurs on demand. Use it to supplement the decisions you make in your work. Get access to Founders Notes here.

----

Be like Gareth. Buy a book: All the books featured on Founders Podcast