Steve Jobs

Quotes are word for word from the source.

• Vision and Originality

  “We're gambling on our vision, and we would rather do that than make "me too" products. Let some other companies do that. For us, it's always the next dream.”

  Our noteCompanies should gamble on their own original vision and the next dream rather than making copycat products.

• Agility and Competition

  “It is hard to think that a $2 billion company with 4,300-plus people couldn't compete with six people in blue jeans.”

  Our noteEven large corporations must maintain the agility to compete with small, nimble startup teams.

• Mission-Driven Recruiting

  “Do you want to spend the rest of your life selling sugared water or do you want a chance to change the world?”

  Our noteRecruiting extraordinary talent requires offering a world-changing mission rather than mere safe employment.

• Rebellious Culture

  “It's more fun to be a pirate than to join the Navy.”

  Our noteBuilding a rebellious, fast-moving team culture is more rewarding than conforming to bureaucracy.

• Admitting Mistakes Quickly

  “Sometimes when you innovate, you make mistakes. It is best to admit them quickly, and get on with improving your other innovations.”

  Our noteAdmit mistakes made during innovation quickly and move forward to improving other breakthroughs.

• Anticipating Customer Needs

  “You can't just ask customers what they want and then try to give that to them. By the time you get it built, they'll want something new.”

  Our noteCreators must anticipate future needs rather than merely building what customers ask for today.

• Bicycle for the Mind

  “What a computer is to me is it's the most remarkable tool that we have ever come up with. It's the equivalent of a bicycle for our minds.”

  Our noteComputers serve as a bicycle for the mind, amplifying human intellectual capability.

• Purpose Over Wealth

  “Being the richest man in the cemetery doesn't matter to me … Going to bed at night saying we've done something wonderful... that's what matters to me.”

  Our noteCreating wonderful work every day matters far more than accumulating the most wealth.

• Agency and Creation

  “Everything around you that you call life was made up by people that were no smarter than you and you can change it, you can influence it, you can build your own things that other people can use.”

  Our noteAnyone can reshape the world and build useful things once they realize existing systems were built by ordinary people.

• Focus by Saying No

  “And it comes from saying no to 1,000 things to make sure we don't get on the wrong track or try to do too much.”

  Our noteReal focus requires saying no to a thousand distractions so the organization does not try to do too much.

• Technology Married with Humanities

  “It is in Apple's DNA that technology alone is not enough - it's technology married with liberal arts, married with the humanities, that yields us the results that make our heart sing.”

  Our noteCombining advanced technology with the liberal arts and humanities produces products that resonate deeply with people.

• Practical Idealism

  “So that idealism was formed, but also the feeling that there had to be a more successful way [of] realizing some of that idealism.”

  Our noteSteve reflects on how his generation wanted to change the world without ending up in dead-end jobs.

• Necessity of passion

  “Unless you have a lot of passion about this, you're not going to survive. You're going to give it up.”

  Our noteHe was explaining why passion is vital for entrepreneurs.