Jobs : the man, the legend, the ideas

So I came across this article via a family member. Needless to say that it hits home in more ways than I can imagine thus I am reposting it for those who may have missed it.

12 lessons for us all from the life of Steve Jobs Commentary: What Apple co-founder’s achievements tell the rest of us

The death of the Apple AAPL -0.25% co-founder has dominated the news from Cupertino, Calif., to Kuala Lumpur. Many are focusing on the way his products and services changed our world. Others are talking about Jobs, the man. But this was the most successful business leader of his era, and one of the greats. Few have achieved so much, so quickly, and so publicly.

It got me thinking: What are the lessons we can all take away? What do his extraordinary achievements tell the rest of us? Here are 12 lessons from the life of Jobs:

1. Yes, you can make a difference Anyone trying to achieve real change — in life, in a company or in any organization — probably feels the urge to give up half a dozen times a day. The naysayers and seat polishers will do everything to slow you down. No one is suggesting that what Apple achieved was the result of Jobs alone, but his career is proof of just how much one individual can change things.

2. You need a vision It’s not enough to conduct opinion polls and customer surveys, and rely on consultants’ projections. Those are all based on the conventional wisdom and the world as it is today. Jobs imagined things — most obviously the iPod, and the iTunes services — that didn’t yet exist and for which the market was uncertain. While his competitors were still building the products of yesterday, he was imagining, and building, those of tomorrow.

3. It’s not about you It’s horrifying how many business decisions are still made on the assumption that “well, we have to do something with the XYZ division, so let’s give them this project” or “Buggins has seniority, so he’s in charge.” Do you think the customer cares about Buggins or XYZ? Jobs built Apple into a streamlined operation, focused on the output, nothing else.

4. Focus, focus, focus Hard to believe, but mediocre managers everywhere like to keep their staff “busy” because they think that’s “productive.” It isn’t. (Ask them what their top priority is, and they’ll name two things. Or four. Or 16.) Apple sure was “busy, busy, busy” when Jobs arrived. And it was going bust. One of the first things he did was ax about 90% of the company’s activities and focus — first on the iMac, then on the iPod.

5. ‘OK’ is not OK Look at the way Apple’s competitors keep putting out mediocre or unfinished products and thinking they’ll get away with it. Are they for real? The days when you could get by with second best are so over. Jobs was famous for a fanatical perfectionism. It was a core element of Apple’s success.

6. It’s not about the money Steve Jobs’s life was a thumping rebuttal to all those who are obsessed with cash. The guy had billions: far more than he could ever spend, even if he had lived to 100. Yet he kept working, and striving to achieve greater things. Money? Bah. Something to think about the next time a CEO demands another $20 million a year as an incentive to show up.

7. It ain’t over till it’s over Fifteen years ago Steve Jobs appeared to be a has-been in Silicon Valley. And Apple was circling the drain: plagued with losses, executive turnover, reorganizations, desperate asset sales and research cuts. Apple’s stock hit a low of $3.23 in 1996, and hardly anyone wanted it even at that price.

8. Give people what they really want Sounds obvious, right? But most companies don’t do it. They simply produce what they’ve always produced, or what’s comfortable, or what Buggins thinks people want. For years the computer industry churned out ugly, clunky beige products with complicated operating systems. They all did it, and they all assumed that’s what people wanted. Turns out it wasn’t at all. 9.

Destroy your own products — before someone else does Jobs made sure that Apple kept innovating, and rendering its own products obsolete. Creative destruction came from within! That’s why Apple is a $354 billion company, and, say, Palm has vanished from Earth, even though a 2004 iPod is just as out of date as a 2004 Treo. How rare is this? Jobs knew full well that his $500 iPad threatens to cannibalize sales of $1,000 laptops. But he moved forward nonetheless. Most companies wouldn’t.

10. We are all spin doctors now Critics point out that a lot of what Jobs achieved at Apple was put down to hype and hustle. But that was the point. And Jobs was a master at it — the product teasers, the showmanship on stage, even the black turtlenecks. Truth be told, we live in a superficial age of infinite media. We are all in the spin business. Deal with it.

11. Most people don’t know what they’re doing It takes nothing away from Steve Jobs to point out that he couldn’t have done it without his competitors. Microsoft, Palm, Nokia, Dell, H-P — the list goes on. They missed opportunities, stayed complacent, failed to innovate and generally mishandled the ways their industries changed. It’s normal to assume that the people around us — and in power — know what they are doing. As Jobs proved, they often don’t.

12. Your time is precious — don’t waste it Steve Jobs was just 56 when he died — a comparatively young man — and yet during his short spell on Earth he revolutionized the way we live, several times over. What are we doing with our time? It is the resource we waste the most — and it’s the one we cannot buy. Make the most of your short spell on this planet.

Make each day and hour count.

Driven: Caged Lion

Driven: Caged Lion

Caged Lion

For some people they’re 401k might keep them up at night or the prospect of retirement might scare them into cold sweat and panic attacks but for me it’s the opposite. The here and now scares me to the extent where I feel like the neck tie I wear to work every day is choking the creativity out of me. Maybe it’s my innate nature trying to tell me something. Maybe it’s the lack of intuition to turn my ideas into creative unique realities that I can immerse myself into for hours on end before coming back to reality. Or maybe it’s a lack of infrastructure in the island where I presently reside. Whatever the issue may be I sometimes feel like my purpose is not being fulfilled. Wanting to learn more and ensuring a better quality of life in the long run lead me to university to pursue a tertiary education. Hands down it was a great escape from reality for me and I would do it again on any given day. But now I find myself feening for a change of environment, scenery, and overall experience. I now know how those lions in the zoo in Port of Spain feel behind that 16inch think glass. The saying goes “it’s a jungle out there” but have we ever stopped to think that some people are born to be wild (no pun intended). For some the open plains are their fountain of youth. It is what keeps them up at night with the wheels of creativity going a hundred miles down the high way of dreams heading to the promise land where dreams become realities and passions become pay checks. To add perspective to my wandering thoughts I’ll relay a story from “What the dog saw” by Malcolm Gladwell. Gladwell wrote about an executive who had a position of notable mention in a company of high esteem who quit in order to pursue a career as a writer. Equipped with only the experienced garnered from a few creative writing classes in college, he sets off on a whirl win adventure to pursue an ideal that was far removed from his area of expertise. If one were to only see the beginning of this story and the successful end it would seem like a walk in the park. However Gladwell goes deeper into the processes that lead to a best seller and reveals writing routine that was rigid and involved numerous trips to Haiti to explore plot points for a work of art that seemed to change ever so often. What may have seemed like an instant hit was a labor of love, time and experience but it was a decision that some may have thought two, three or four times about. Mention was also made of two famous artists, one who peaked early in life and the other was a late bloomer. Both have their names etched in the walls of history despite the fact that their journeys were as different as could be. Needless to say for some its an instant hit, while for others it’s a painful process but doing what we loving and loving what we do is the main goal. At the end of the day I have to ask myself, “Self, are you a caged lion or a wandering elephant?”

Time to Fight

Tuning into a popular radio show on my way to work this morning I came across my blog post for the week. As the history books will reflect in years to come, famous West Indian fast bowler Curtley Ambrose has been inducted into the ICC Cricket Hall of Fame. His name and legacy will continue to be mentioned among the greats of his era and also for those to come after. It was not until I heard Mr. Ambrose on the radio that I recalled seeing the story in the papers a day or two ago. A question that was asked of him that inspired the writing of this piece. The host asked “What is it that drove you and motivated you throughout the various games” to which Mr. Ambrose replied “It wasn’t until our backs were against the wall that I decided within myself that we weren’t going to lose". Simply as it seems this is the reality of what many of us are faced with not only where our jobs are concerned but also where family life is concerned as well. We might have been looked over for that promotion time and time again and facing the unemployment line when we finally decide to buckle down and decide that come what may we are not going to lose. For some this may be our normal mode of operation but for others our killer instincts may only present itself after we have failed time and time again. Rest assured that the day will present itself that you decide that you have had enough of being second best and you muster all the courage you have to fight your way out of the corner that you’ve been backed into for years. For Curtley Ambrose his crowning moment may have been being inducted into the hall of fame, what will yours be?

Back to School

Remember Remember the 1st of September. I’m not 100% sure that’s how the saying goes but it has a nice ring to it none the less. I was watching the local morning news show this morning when I remembered that its back to school day for the nation’s youth. This undoubtedly means, new shoes, new uniforms, new backpacks, new books, stationery of all sorts and all manner of other necessities that makes the first day of the new school year an event rivaled only by Christmas and Birthdays. After thinking about how much more traffic is going to be on the roads, I began summing up the amount of years I spent as a student. Not surprisingly though it amounted to twenty years i.e. (2-preschool, 7-primary, 5-secondary, 2- college, 4-university). Needless to say that at 25 that’s more than half my life. What do I have to show for it? Well in a literal sense 3 school leaving certificates, 6 CXC’s, a Diploma, and a Bachelors degree. Sounds like a good collection huh. I guess so. But it was a long time coming and allot of hours spent reading, writing, editing, and also not forgetting procrastination (the number one reason people fail in school). I have had more graduations than I have parking tickets (none actually) and have done more group presentations and speeches than eulogies (none of those either). I guess it’s safe to say that I am an experienced schooler (not an actual word but could be defined as someone who has attended school for most of their life). However no amount of schooling (actual word) can prepare you for what is to come after you graduate from school as there is no graduation from life as long as you’re still living it.

Each day is a new experience with more opportunities than there are days in a week (7 if you’re following) the onus is on us to find them, exploit them, and embrace them. Knowing what I know now, I would go back to secondary/primary school, simply because I know I would be that much more in tuned with what was going on. I can safely say now that all the teachers who said “take your school work seriously because you never know where you’ll end up in life” definitely knew what they were speaking about. In hindsight, the values they tried to instill in us are the same ones the world of work now demands (hard work, dedication, team work, and doing your homework). Needless to say that homework seems that much more attractive when it is tied into your yearend bonus but not when it means you can’t watch endless hours of Cartoon Network/BET. I guess we just needed some perspective and motivation to get us going.

Some might want to insert here that there are hundreds of not thousands or millions of persons who made it without setting foot in a classroom and to them I say well done. But for those who have to pass through the hallowed walls of the institutions of learning I say congratulations to you as well. For it is in these hollowed walls that you will be challenged, berated, idolized, and “educated”. You will make lifelong friends and or enemies but rest assured you may one day look back on these days and say beyond the shadow of a doubt “best days ever”.

Believe it or not we live in a world that values people for what they know. Notwithstanding that you can know allot without being formally educated but it’s always good to be able to trace your roots and be able to say, I am a product of School X,Y, or even Z. At the end of the day you can put a price on education (just ask your parents) but the value of a sound education reaches way beyond the classroom, your cubicle, or even your corner office with the view.

So for those who are heading back to school or for those of you already in the world of work I say enjoy it and make the best of it each and every day.

Just do it

Most days I strive to find something prolific and mind blowing to blog about but most days its not there. Don't get me wrong, I'm always thinking about ways to better myself and enhance my experiences as an individual and things I would like to do and see done and plans I plan on making. But some days it just seems like a pipe dream. You may or may not know what I'm speaking of but we all have those days when you desperately want to be somewhere else other than where you are now. Seems a bit dreary but such is life. In the movies things seem to always work themselves out in an expeditious manner (other than where the subtitle says "ten years later")before you leave the movies. You never have to go back the next day to see what happened between Justin Timberlake and that girl in "Friends With Benefits" because everything gets resolved in 90 minutes but in reality 90 minutes is 90 minutes. For some of you that may just be the time it takes you to get to work in the mornings or home at nights. Or it may very well be the amount of time between when you get to work and your first coffee break. I guess at the end of the day Time is relative to the individual. The line that go me in Friends With Benefits was when Woody Harrelson said (loosely quoted) if you want to lose weight, stop eating so much, if you want to be a millionaire, work your ass off. The simplicity of his statement is similar to Nike's slogan..... Just do it.

Being lazy is a hell of a thing, being motivated is something far superior.

week3/4- Insanity

As I sit behind my PC eating my breakfast (whole wheat slices, boiled egg and hot dog sausages) I can’t help but think that Shaun T is indeed Insane. For months I’ve been hearing people swear by the Insanity work out tapes and how challenging they are. I figured if I could go an hour and a half in the gym and hike for 3 hours on any given day, what’s a flimsy 35 minute workout tape. Little did I know that you had to be insane to try it out in the first place! So last Sunday while brooding over the fact that the gym wasn’t open and I was in need of a good sweat I popped in the DVD and decided to do the abs circuit. It started out gingerly enough until I realized I began missing a few seconds of my life. The positions and intensity were grueling to say the least.

After the “warm up” my shirt was drenched. I had to grab a towel to prevent me from drowning in my own sweat. By the time I was finished you would have sworn there was a water main leak in my living room. I was not only impressed but out of breath and minutes away from calling my mother and crying. I know they say “no pain no gain” but what ever happened to “slow and steady”. Fortunately for me I have friends in the struggle who share my pain (Meka, Khels, Michelle, and Dwight) and are equally as insane as I am. The road to a better body and optimum fitness is not an easy one but hey I got the rest of my life to get there and I will take it one day at a time, hopefully with my sanity intact.

My 30 day no cake challenge caught a snag in my 3 week but insanity and the gym are sure to sweat out any alcohol/pastry that is left in my system after last Sunday.

Summer has another month and a half to go and we all want to hit the beach looking fly as kite so get out there and get active. Go for a jog/walk, go swimming, running join a gym and if your really brave go out and get the insanity work out DVD and commit yourself to the fitness asylum.

P.S. I hear P90x is Insanity’s big brother…… (walks away slowly)….