Tuesday, November 22, 2011

Steve Jobs' Biography

Whew, just finished 627 pages of Steve Jobs by Walter Isaacson.
I couldn't put it down. From how chance and strategic decicions set history for how the Macintosh was created, to Pixar, to the iPhone, to creating the most valuable company on the planet - it was all quite an amazing story. Sadly, it seems Steve Jobs possibly set other decisions in place that may have cost him his early death.
Here are some challenging questions I am working on right now based off the readitfor.me work books.
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Focus:
How many priorities are you working on right now? List them. Next, starting with the least important
priorities, start crossing them off until you only have 2 or 3 left. Are your best people (or all of your
effort) on those 2 or 3?
Ignore Reality:
What goals have you set for yourself based on “reality”? What might those goals look like if you suspended your understanding of “what’s possible”? As Jobs knew well, creativity shines when you try to do the “impossible”. Set unrealistic goals, and then try and find ways (different ways) to accomplish them. You can always fall back on the “realistic” goal if it doesn’t work out.
Inspiration:
List 5 industries besides your own where you could get inspiration from. Now, go looking for what makes people in those other industries successful. How can that apply to your business?
Experience:
Map out your entire customer experience chain. Then, on either end, map out the things your customer does right before and right after they use your product or service. Have you done everything you can to make sure that the experience (including things not currently in your control) is a great one?
This book is well worth the investment in your time.
Cheers,
Calvin