#36 Finding The Next Steve Jobs: How to Find, Keep, and Nurture Talent

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Sep 3, 2018

Discover why nurturing creativity is key to innovation. Embrace the idea of hiring unconventional thinkers and recognize the value in diverse personalities. Learn how championing bad ideas can lead to great breakthroughs, like WD-40's journey. Understand the importance of being open to criticism and how it shapes visionary success. Engage with unique methods to identify talent through simple questions about book preferences. All these insights aim to foster an environment where creativity thrives amidst skepticism.

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ANECDOTE

Party with Steve Jobs

Nolan Bushnell threw a party at his Paris mansion after feeling successful with Chuck E. Cheese.
Steve Jobs, his former Atari employee, attended, and they discussed creativity and Apple's future.

INSIGHT

Parisian Simplicity and Apple

Steve Jobs saw Paris's architecture as simple and uniform, inspiring his vision for Apple.
He also recognized the need for innovation to come from everyone at Apple, not just himself.

ADVICE

Pongs vs. Rules

Use "pongs" (pieces of advice) instead of strict rules to foster creativity.
Inflexible rules stifle imagination; creativity needs many people to guide it.

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What I learned from reading Finding The Next Steve Jobs: How to Find, Keep, and Nurture Talent by Nolan Bushnell.

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A pong is a piece of advice designed to help enhance creativity. It applies to only where the advice is helpful. Unlike a rule which thinks itself applicable to every situation. (4:36)

Cherish the pink-haired. (16:53)

Hire the obnoxious: Steve Jobs believed he was always right and was willing to push harder and longer than other people who might have had equally good ideas but caved under pressure. (19:07)

Expect to be criticized. Everyone said Atari was nuts. When I explained Chuck E Cheese they laughed. "The horse is here to stay, but the automobile is only a novelty - a fad." President of Michigan Savings Bank, advising Henry Ford’s lawyer not to invest in Ford Motor Company, 1903 (20:23)

One of the best ways to find creative people is to ask a simple question: What books do you like? (24:15)

When your company establishes that anyone can and should contribute, you will end up hearing some very good suggestions coming from unlikely places. (26:03)

I strongly believe that everyone who wants to be creative must find a place where their mind can be alone and untouched any the insanity of complexity. (30:20)

Champion bad ideas: WD-40 is called that because the first 39 versions of the product failed. WD-40 stands for “Water Displacement, 40th formula.” (32:11)

Any idiot can say no. There’s no mental process there. If you don’t like something, the trick is to think of something better. (37:04)

Invent haphazard holidays. Unplanned days off for the entire company (38:00)

Everyone who has ever taken a shower has had a good idea. The thing that matters is what you do with the idea once you get out of the shower. So if there’s only one thing you take from this book, it’s this: You must act! Do something! (41:29)

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