Top 10 Things Steve Jobs Taught Us

I am writing this blog post from the pool-side at the Four Points by Sheraton Hotel in Lagos, Nigeria. I have just finished a two day workshop on Business Driven PMO Setup based upon my book by the same name which was followed by a week of visits to commercial and government sector PMOs in the region. So good to see the abundance of project management and PMO talent here in Nigeria. Yes, there are incredible challenges here - political will, infrastructure development, and a host of smaller things. But there is also incredible optimism and hope for the future. There is an "if others can do it, so can we" attitude here in which achievement is only limited by one's hard work and imagination. And this leads me to Steve Jobs. In the wake of his death last month, so many of us in the business community have reflected upon his genius. I, for one, continue to shake my head in both bewilderment and amazement at his achievements. Today's top ten list is a tribute to Mr. Jobs and a reflection of but a few of the many things he has taught us.

#1: Be innovative. Steve Jobs is known to have said that innovation is what distinguishes a leader from a follower.

#2: Foresight. It is reported that Steve Jobs did not get too caught up in corporate details when making decisions, rather he used his own intuition to tell him what consumers wanted - not just research data.

#3: Be hands-on. Steve Jobs believed in getting involved with the organization. Different from micro-management of performance details, Steve Jobs took the time to be involved in every facet of the company in order to have hands-on knowledge of how it worked.

#4: Don't be afraid. I have heard this phrase before. I have heard it at mass, I have heard it from our Pope, and now I have heard that Steve Jobs was known to have uttered this all too important phrase and conviction. Apple never beat out Microsoft at market share in the PC market, but Steve Jobs never let that be a concern or worry. He was not afraid of Microsoft or anyone else.

#5: Be passionate. Passion is everything. Passion takes you far, very far. Steve Jobs was passionate about Apple and the products that Apple delivered to the market. This passion drove a contagious work ethic that fueled the company and market.

#6: Attention to the right details. Steve Jobs was known to have a good eye for details, the right details. This detail can be seen in the design of Apple products, especially the simplicity of the user interface.

#7: Be an expert. Steve Jobs believed that you need to find one thing and then be an expert in that thing. Also, when you are an expert and do something extraordinarily well, don't apologize for it.

#8: The cover matters. Did you ever hear the expression, "Don't judge a book by its cover?" Well, Steve Jobs believed that the cover of the book actually does matter. From its earliest days, Apple was noted for its design. I can remember my IBM days back in the early 1980s looking at an IBM PC next to an Apple PC. I jokingly asked, "Where is the C prompt?" but what I was really thinking was, "Wow, I would like to have one of these..!"

#9: Don't swim upstream. Steve Jobs believed that it is far better to find and ride the wave than it is to swim upstream. Steve Jobs understood consumer patterns and consumer loyalty. Rather than trying to compete in the corporate PC market against all of the other PC makers and Microsoft, he found and rode another wave.

#10: Embrace the unexpected. No amount of scientific "plan-driven" management can account for today's complex adaptive systems that we all live and work within. Steve Jobs knew and embraced this. Steve Jobs knew that technology products, whether the iPhone or the iPad or something else, holds future potential that no one can see or plan for in advance. To embrace the unexpected, organizational nimbleness is required otherwise you will find yourself asking that now famous question by the book of the same name, "Who moved my Cheese..?"