heroes
STEVE JOBS Put the user first
Steve Jobs' business feats were legendary long before his death in October 2011. While his leadership style was complex and authoritarian, he motivated his employees to deliver peak performance. But he did not drive business success by being demanding of his employees; he achieved it through successful products and strategies. Although he was undoubtedly a great
sales and marketing man, Jobs ditched one of the central tenets of industrial design and product development—ask the customer. He also shunned focus groups and adopted the business strategy 'build it and they will come'.
And it worked. Apple is now the most successful business of all time. "Anyone who makes a mark on the
business world has to have passion and vision, and I remember Steve Jobs saying in an interview once that you have to have passion because business is too damn hard," says business advisor and commentator Damian Morgan of the late Apple boss. "He looked at the world in terms of design and so marketing and functionality were sub-sets of 'How does this thing work?' and 'How do I engage it?' I think that was his rare genius—he would look at the user interface and then everything else would follow."
george.heroes 21
A LOT OF COMPANIES HAVE CHOSEN TO DOWNSIZE. WE CHOSE A DIFFERENT PATH. OUR BELIEF WAS THAT IF WE KEPT PUTTING GREAT PRODUCTS IN FRONT OF CUSTOMERS, WOULD CONTINUE OPEN THEIR WALLETS.
THEY TO
