Steve Jobs is one of my most inspiring tech entrepreneurs and there is no wonder that I love his biography book. Around 2009, Steve Jobs requested Walter Isaacson to write a book about his life. Walter Isaacson is a former executive at CNN and the author who wrote the best-selling biographies like Benjamin Franklin and Albert Einstein. They met over forty interviews within two years. Additionally, Isaacson also interviews Steve Jobs’s family members, friends, competitors, and colleagues. Then finally in October 2011, after the 19 days of Jobs’s death, “Simon & Schuster” published the book.
One of the interesting facts about the books is that Steve Jobs doesn’t include any bias or control over its content. He mostly interferes with people around him and controls them over. But for this one, he wished to write the truth about his life. Now I am going to tell you the three valuable lessons from “Steve Jobs Biography”.
Lesson 01 – Focus
Most of the concepts of Steve Jobs are influent by the Zen Buddhist that he also learned from India when he was a teenager. From my point of view, Steve Jobs is also one of the people who follow the concept of minimalism or essentialism. According to Sir John Ivy, Steve Jobs is also a Deep Work person. (Learn more about Deep Work). In the book, Steve Jobs said the following quotes about Focus
“People think focus means saying yes to the thing you’ve got to focus on. But that’s not what it means at all. It means saying no to the hundred other good ideas that there are. You have to pick carefully.”
Steve Jobs
This is a well-said quote about focus and it is also one of the things that people got wrong about it. Back in the story, when Steve Jobs got back to Apple from NeXT in 1997, he cut a lot of the product line from apple, and instead he mainly focus on a few products. His decision also makes a difference to the other tech company at that time. Moreover during his dying month, one of the Google Co-Founder, Larry Page met with Jobs to learn some lessons. In the conversation Steve said as follow:
“The main thing I stressed was the focus. Figure out what Google wants to be when it grows up. What are the five products you want to focus on? Get rid of the rest because they’re dragging you down.”
Steve Jobs
From the saying, he also said how the focus is important for a company and how risky will be if a company lacks focus.
Lesson 02 – Surrounded by Talented People
Steve Jobs told that the great things in business are done by a team of talented people, not just a person. And he also thinks a team should be like an orchestra. Each and every member of the team must do their own part, thus there can be harmony sound happened. Steve Jobs also got this concept not just words, they came from his own experience. Without the help of Steve Woz back in 1976, there won’t be an apple I computer or its second-generation legendary Apple II. Again, when he’d get back to apple, he recruit so many talented people like Tim Cooks and Sir John Ivy.
Also, there is a hidden fact that Jobs needs to be surrounded by talented people. He is not a great software developer or an engineer. He is more likely a business entrepreneur or a tech visionary. Don’t give wrong, his visions of technology are outstanding though he needs people to make it happen. However, even though we won’t need people to execute something, we should have a team or surrounded by talented people in order to make great things in business.
Lesson 03 – Just Ask
This is one of the interesting facts that can learn from Steve Jobs’s life. When he was twelve years old, he need some parts to build a frequency counter. According to Jobs, he found Bill Hewlett’s phone number; HP Co-Founder from Palo Alto Phone book. So he calls him up and asks for help. After twenty minutes later, not only did he get the parts he needs but also Bill offer a summer job at HP.
On YouTube, there is also the video titled “Steve Jobs on Failure”. In the video, he told about the power of asking and people should experience it. He also told –
“I’ve never found anybody who didn’t want to help me if I ask them for help “
Steve Jobs
This story and the concept are interesting. However, In my opinion, people will reconsider even if they want to help. I think people are willing to help because of Steve Jobs’ communication skills. Whatever the truth is, it is not false to ask if you need help rather than sitting back and thinking about the problems the whole day.
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