Professional Documents
Culture Documents
level of excellence that made it much better than its competitors. Steve once said, Be a yardstick of quality. Some people arent used to an environment where excellence is expected. 6. Attention to detail For Steve Jobs, every peripheral of design as well as functionality was important for him. He believed that the back of a gadget should look as good as the front, and is famously said to have expected the internal design to be exquisite as well. When asked why, his answer was, Other engineers will see. Steve attributed his passion for detail to his father who told him it was important to craft the backs of fences and cabinets even though they would never be seen. 7. Charisma counts Steve Jobs showed us just how important charismatic leadership is in getting buy-in from the market. Apple was never quite the same under John Scully; it missed Steves flair. In the end, it took Steves return in 1997 to turn the company around. From that point onwards, Apple soared to the top and in 2010 it was declared the worlds biggest company. Steves charisma largely shaped the Apple brand and was responsible for its cult following. 8. Simplicity sells All the Apple products are easy to use because Steve Jobs resisted complexity. For him, ease of use came first. There is a simplicity of use and a minimalist aesthetic about each product that distinguishes Apple products from all its competitors. Jobs knew that in this complex high tech world, people want simplicity and are willing to pay more for it. His marketing messages emphasised this, showing a world where life is easy and manageable with his products. 9. Take a variety of routes to market Steve Jobs did not feel pressured by mainstream market trends. He embraced every marketing opportunity and tried every route, from the conventional to the cutting edge. It seems that he favoured a spaghetti sticking to the roof approach, throwing it all up and seeing how much of it he could get to stick. His marketing success came because he had a clear story to tell and he told it in any way that would create a seductive customer experience. He also ignored market analytics; instead he followed his intuition about where and how to tell the story about Apple. 10.Surround yourself with the best Steve Jobs was famous for surrounding himself with talent. He strategically identified the people he wanted to have on his team and personally wooed them. Steve was determined to have the very best people to support him. One such recruit was Tim Cook, who took over as CEO after Steve retired; Tim was the numbers man who was originally hired as the COO. Steve did not believe that he could do it all on his own, and the result is that he left Apple the legacy of an exceptional team of people to lead the company into the future.
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About Raizcorp: Raizcorp is Africas only unfunded for-profit business incubator model, which provides full service business support programmes that guide entrepreneurs to profitability. Raizcorp has created Prosperation its own unique, world-renowned model of business incubation. Founded in 2000, Raizcorp has become Africas premier business incubator model. For more information, visit www.raizcorp.com. About Allon Raiz: Allon Raiz is the CEO of Raizcorp. In 2008, Raiz was selected as a Young Global Leader by the World Economic Forum, and in 2011 he was appointed for the first time as a member of the Global Agenda Council on Fostering Entrepreneurship. Follow Allon on Twitter: www.twitter.com/allonraiz.
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