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Business Skills |
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Steve Jobs' 12 Rules of Success |
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Lessons from Steve Jobs, Founder of Apple Computers
Steve Jobs is one
of the most successful
entrepreneurs of our generation. His success story is legendary. Put up for
adoption at an early age, dropped out of college after 6 months, slept on
friends’ floors, returned coke bottles for 5 cent deposits to buy food, then
went on to start Apple Computers and Pixar Animation Studios.
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Do
what you love to do.
Find your
true passion. Do
what you love to do a make a difference! The
only way to do great work is to
love what you do.
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Be
different.
Think different.
"Better be a
pirate than to join the navy."
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Do
your best. Do your best at every job. No
sleep!
Success generates more success.
So be hungry for it. Hire good people with passion for
excellence.
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Make
SWOT analysis. As soon as you
join/start a company, make a list of strengths and
weaknesses of yourself and your company on a piece of paper. Don't hesitate in throwing bad
apples out of the company.
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Be
entrepreneurial.
Look for the next big
thing. Find a set of ideas that need to be quickly and
decisively acted upon and jump through that window.
Sometimes the first step is the hardest one.
Just take it! Have
the courage to follow your heart and
intuition.
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Start
small, think big. Don't worry about too many
things at once. Take a handful of simple things to begin
with, and then progress to more complex ones. Think about not just tomorrow,
but the future. "I want to put a ding in the universe,”
reveal Steve Jobs his dream.
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Strive to become a
market leader.
Own and control
the primary technology in everything you do. If there's a
better technology available, use it no matter if anyone
else is not using it.
Be the first, and make it an industry standard.
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Focus
on the outcome. People judge you by your
performance, so
focus on the outcome. Be a yardstick of quality.
Some people aren't used to an environment where excellence
is expected. Advertise. If they don't know
it, they won't buy your product. Pay attention to
design. "We
made the buttons on the screen look so good you'll want to
lick them." "Design is not just what it looks like and feels
like. Design is how it works."
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Ask
for feedback. Ask for
feedback from people
with
diverse backgrounds. Each one will tell you one useful
thing. If you're at the top of the
chain, sometimes people won't give you honest feedback
because they're afraid. In this case, disguise yourself, or
get feedback from other sources. Focus on those who will use
your product –
listen to your customers first.
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Innovate.
Innovation distinguishes a
leader from a follower. Delegate, let other top executives
do 50% of your routine work
to be able to spend 50% your time on the new stuff.
Say no to 1,000 things to make
sure you don't get on the wrong track or try to do too much.
Concentrate on really important creations and
radical
innovation. Hire people who want to make the best things in
the world. You need a very product-oriented
culture, even in
a technology company. Lots of companies have tons of great
engineers and smart people. But ultimately, there needs to
be some gravitational force that pulls it all together.
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Learn
from failures. Sometimes when you innovate,
you make mistakes. It is best to admit them quickly, and get
on with improving your other innovations.
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Learn
continually. There's always "one more thing"
to learn!
Cross-pollinate ideas with others both within and
outside your company. Learn from customers, competitors and
partners. If you partner with someone whom you
don't like, learn to like them – praise them and benefit
from them. Learn to criticize your enemies
openly, but honestly.
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