The Steve Jobs Way. iLeadership for a New Generation

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Jay Elliot served as the senior vice president of Apple; he worked side by side with Steve Jobs which helps him to bring us a deep insider perspective of Steve’s Singular ileadership style which encompasses for major principles which are the product, talent organization, and marketing. There is no doubt that Steve jobs reign supreme in this four domains. Jay Elliot described Steve Jobs success in details. The more he advanced, the simpler his product became.  In some instances, it’s less about the product and more about the user. Every user wants to be successful. When you know how to operate something masterfully, how does it make you feel? More people will buy if customers feel good using your product.”

The Steve Jobs Way describes Jobs as a person who strives to improve the user experience. The vision drove him in every of his creation and Wozniak during their cooperating time.  Jobs believe there is nothing cooler in the world than creating a product that millions of people immediately want and many who don’t have are envious of those who do. He has the ability to create a consistent, positive product image in the mind of his customers. Jobs combines stick-to-itiveness with an intuitive sense of exactly what it takes to get the public enthralled with a product. This is because he understands that it isn’t a question of how well the product is designed and how smoothly it works (although they are critical factors) but of how it is perceived by the user which of course, is the key to product success.

The Steve Jobs Way points out that Jobs regularly spoke about the power of synergy and trust. Sometimes even during the development process in the company, Jobs referred to his Mac engineers as his most trusted associates. Each employee was provided with a T-shirt with Jobs single quote” pirates! Not the navy.”

The Steve Jobs Way also portray Steve Jobs as a man of principle. He is regularly guided by them.  “If you are not satisfied with no for an answer, your engineers will have no other option than to deliver you the technology product that you require.” Jobs seek new opportunities; hire talented people and transfer, their reality in short time.  He believes that a broad set of experiences expands our understanding of human experience. A broader understanding leads to breakthroughs that others may have missed. Breakthrough innovation requires creativity and creativity requires that you think differently about the way you think.  You can have most innovative ideas in the world, but if you can’t get people excited about it, it does not matter. His model of business is The Beatles. “They were four guys who kept each other’s kind of negative tendencies in check. They balanced each other, and the total was greater than the sum of the parts. That’s how I see business; great things in business are never done by one person, they’re done by a team of people” Steve said.

In The Steve Jobs Way, Jay Elliot shares the lessons that come out of Steve’s Intuitive approach to show how the creative and technologically brilliance of ileadership can be utilized to drive breakthrough in any organization irrespective of size.

THE BIG THREE – KEYPOINTS

Key point #1: Innovation takes confidence, boldness, craziness, and discipline to tune out the negative voices.

Key point #2:  You have to focus on improving user’s experience rather than the product design.

Key point #3: Work through your people and celebrate as a unit with every success.

 

One Last Thing

“My job is not to be easy on people. My job is to make them better.”

THE SPEED OF TRUST

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The speed of trust is coined out of Mr. Covey’s experiences he has seen over the years in leadership and while working with companies. It focuses on helping individuals in building and infusing trust in and around them. The Speed of Trust starts off with the “Economies of trust”. The author uses this formula to demonstrate his point: When trust is low, speed goes down and cost goes up; when trust is high, speed goes up and cost goes down. The author equates trust to paying taxes. As a taxpayer, we know a certain amount of money must be paid to IRS annually as a tax but when it comes to trust or lack of trust, we are paying a tax and we may not be aware of it.

 

The other equation the author offers is the product of strategy and execution.

Strategy * Execution = Results

 

But then he goes on to say the product of strategy and Execution and Trust gives Results

(Strategy * Execution)*Trust = Result

 

Trust is a multiplier. You can have a good strategy and a great execution plan but without trust, the project can get derailed. Trust is a key ingredient for all relationships and it’s one of the most powerful forms of motivation and inspiration. People want to be trusted. The author goes further to break down trust into five waves:

 

  1. Self-trust, which deals with confidence we have in ourselves, in our ability to set and achieve goals, keep a commitment, to walk the talk and also with our ability to inspire trust in others; a person who is worthy of trust.
  2. Relationship Trust, which is about how to establish and increase trust with others, to enhance relationships and achieve a better result.
  3. Organizational trust, deals with how leaders can generate trust in all kinds of organizations like businesses, not for profit organizations, etc.
  4. Market trust, is about reputation, whereby everyone clearly understands the impact of trust; and lastly,
  5. Societal Trust is about contribution and focuses on creating value for others and society at large.

                          

The first wave is about the four dimension of credibility. These are the foundational elements that make people believable to themselves and to others. They are: integrity, intent, capabilities, and result.

 

The second wave is about the thirteen different ways leaders behave. Covey believes that these behaviors are common to high trust leaders and individuals worldwide. These enhance one’s ability to establish trust in all relationships. The first five flow from character, the second five flow from competence while the last three are the combination of both character and competence.

 

These 13 behavior characteristics are:

  1. Talk Straight:  Be honest and tell the truth. Let people know where they stand and use simple English while communicating.
  2. Demonstrate Respect: Demonstrate respect, don’t fake caring and don’t attempt to be efficient with people.
  3. Create Transparency:  create transparency by telling the truth, don’t have hidden agendas or information, get real, be genuine, open and authentic.
  4. Right Wrongs: Make things right when you are wrong, don’t cover things up. Demonstrate humility  and apologize quickly.
  5. Show Loyalty: you show loyalty by acknowledging the contributions of others and giving credit freely. Don’t bad mouth or disclose others private matters.
  6. Deliver Result: this is done by getting the right things done. Make things happen, don’t over-promise or underdeliver. Always be on time and within budget.
  7. Get Better: Don’t assume today’s skill will be sufficient for tomorrow’s challenge. Constantly improve your capabilities and don’t consider yourself above feedbacks.
  8. Confront Reality: Lead out courageously in conversation, address the tough issues directly. Don’t bury your head in the sand instead take issues head-on.
  9. Clarify Expectation: Disclose and reveal expectation, discuss them validate them, renegotiate them. Done violate expectation or assume that expectations are cleared or shared.
  10. Practice Accountability: Hold yourself accountable, hold others accountable. Take responsibility for results. Don’t avoid or shirk responsibility. Don’t blame others or point fingers when things go wrong.
  11. Listen First: Listen before you speak. Understand, diagnose and listen with your ears and eyes and heart. Find out the most important behaviors are to the people you’re working with. Don’t assume you know what matters to others. Don’t presume you have all of the answers or all the questions.
  12. Keep Commitment: Say what you’re going to do or do what you’re going to do.
  13. Extend Trust: Extend trust abundantly to those who have earned your trust. Extend trust conditionally to those who are earning your trust. Don’t withhold trust because there is risk involved.

The speed of trust affirms that to inspire trust is to create the foundation on which truly successful organization/relationships stand. This ability is the prime differentiator between managing and leading.

THE BIG THREE – KEY POINTS

Key point #1: Trust can be efficiently taught and learned, and it can become a leverageable strategic advantage

Key point #2: Trust is one of the most powerful forms of motivation and inspiration.

Key point #3: Trust is a function of character and competence

One Last Thing

“None of us knows what might happen even the next minute, yet still we go forward. Because we trust. Because we have Faith.”

― Paulo Coelho

Grit: The Power of Passion and Perseverance

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This book falls into two different categories because of the content that it presents. It is a self-help book as well as a guide for those who are in the business market. This book tells different stories which assists the reader in seeing the results of grit and the power of this particular habit.

​The book discusses how the people should not depend on their intelligence as the basis for their success. It is true that a natural talent at something could take a person far in that field, but with passion and perseverance, the person can go even farther than that. Duckworth goes on to explain that without grit, even the most talented people are unable to complete their job. They need to keep going in order to be the best at what they do. She takes the examples of many different authors and uses their point of views to explain the concepts.

There are four characteristics of the Grit model, which one must possess to make it in the field that they want. 

  • Interest: This is the single most important thing which can assist one in being gritty. This is because without interest one could never be truly passionate about a subject.
  • Practice: One must practice the work that has been given to them so that they can achieve mastery of that skill.
  • Purpose: This is important because, without purpose, one can lose the sight of their goals and get lost along the way.
  • Hope: This is significant because, without hope, people find it easier to give up. Those who are hopeful, even when the times are tough can endure all the problems and make it through the storms they are facing.

The story about hope has been explained through the words of Pete Carroll, and how hope is real. Those who give up on hope, simply give up on life and that is not the mindset of those who are full of grit. Being gritty is not in the control of ordinary people, and that is why one must understand the emotional aspects of this phenomenon as well. She explains that grit is physical as well as mental, which is why the people must learn to focus on both the aspects. She does a great job by explaining through the example of SAT exams and those who have been successful in these tests. Through her formula, these test results, as well as those of other official tests, could be predicted easily. Those who put through effort into the preparation would merely achieve better results, even if the time they spent on the work has been shorter.

Lastly, the book talks about how people who are grittier have the passion for mastering the skills that they are working on. These people practice again and again, and that is their decision to do so. Many people, when reaching a goal would sit back and relax, which could assist them in developing the habit of relaxing. While on the other hand, those people who have grit practice their aims again and again even after they have achieved it. This is because they enjoy doing that work and get satisfied with what they are doing. That is why they become so successful and the masters of what they are doing.

THE BIG THREE – KEY POINTS​

Key point #1: Grit is not just about the act of perseverance. It takes a lot more than that to become successful in life.

Key point #2: Passion is one of the leading points, those who have it, will persist longer than others. It is the internal motivator of all.​

Key point #3: Without purpose, passion would not take one anywhere! It is the external motivator and urges the person to complete their goals.

One Last Thing

“Our potential is one thing. What we do with it is quite another.”
― Angela Duckworth

The Four: The Hidden DNA of Amazon, Apple, Facebook, and Google

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Galloway, an entrepreneur, and professor at NYU Stern provides a perceptive analysis of the four-horse race to become a billionaire company in THE FOUR: the hidden DNA of Amazon, Apple, Facebook, and Google. The author casually uncovers how each of these companies has deployed iconic leadership, technology, storytelling, fearless innovation, lightening execution and blatant plagiarism to devastating effects.

The author expressly demonstrates that despite their brilliance, the Four have not achieved dominance by themselves. They are driven by technology and capital and have thrived within a hyper-consumer de-regulated capitalist culture. Starting in America, then rapidly scaling throughout the world, the Four are the product of a Faustian bargain between weary institutions and evaporating middle class, attention-seeking media, and profit-hungry market. Fundamental to the success of these four great companies is how they used strategy and technology to appeal to basic human needs and desires.

In Galloway thesis, each of them appeals to a particular human organ. Google targets the brain and thirst for knowledge, Facebook leverages on the heart and our need to develop empathic and meaningful relationships, Amazon targets the guts by satisfying the impulse to consume while Apple focuses firmly on our genitals. With their discovery of human desires, the Four have gone about declaring war on what entrepreneurs euphemistically refer to as “friction.”

Friction includes every obstacle in the way of satisfying a given desire. Starting from the synaptic connection in the brain responsible for decision-making processes to the rules issued by regulatory and tax authorities to supply chain all the way down to the manufacturers of products in the developing world. However, the author affirms that this is not bad news. The laws of friction have been an undeniably positive development for consumers. Products are cheaper and the level of customer service has reached new heights. This system is so successful that people grant The Four access into their lives.

The Four are attempting to cement their dominance by becoming providers of public infrastructures. In this regard, Amazon is leading the pack. It is marshaling a global logistics operation that is the envy of most nation-states, including a fleet of Boeing 767s, drones, thousands of tractor trailers and trans-pacific shipping. Google has server arms and is launching blimps into the atmosphere that will beam broadband down to earth. These organizations are committed to becoming a permanent fixture of the future.

For the foreseeable future, Galloway suggests that the four will continue to reign supreme. That is, if they don’t pounce each other. If history taught us something, it is that Gods don’t share power well. And on current figures, Amazon seems the most aggressive and effective at stealing market share. They are even out stealing Google in searches with 55 percent of product searches starting on Amazon against Google’s 28 percent. As the author put it, “The prize? A trillion-dollar-plus valuation and power and influence greater than any entity in history.” In chapter nine, Galloway teases with a possible Fifth Horseman, exploring candidates, from Netflix to China’s famous Alibaba. Toward the end of the book, Gallow advises young talents on how to succeed in a new tech-dominated world. Throughout the book, Galloway pulls a few punches and never holds back any controversial opinion.

The author does not write the book to tarnish the reputation of the four companies but rather to offer a source of encouragement and understanding of the value of business. “I wrote this book for the same reason. I hope the reader gains insight and a competitive edge in an economy where it’s never been easier to be a billionaire, but it’s never been harder to be a millionaire.” Through this statement, Scott Galloway makes his intentions clear.

By far, one of the most exciting books I have read in the last two years. Understanding The Four is understanding the why, what and how of our habits today. I also found this book of value as a guideline for novices in the field of innovation and entrepreneurialism trying to understand the competitive and challenging business ecosystem the four themselves have created.

THE BIG THREE –  KEY POINTS

Key point #1: The Four have not achieved dominance by themselves despite their brilliance. Their similarity is that technology and capital drive them, thriving within hyper-consumer and deregulated capitalist culture.

Key point #2:  The Four used technology and strategy to understand and appeal to basic human desires.

Key point #3: The Four undoubtedly faced threats among each other, the entrance of a possible 5th horse and other forces outside of their industries, such as Google’s ongoing confrontation with the European Commission. However, the Four will continue to reign supreme.

THE 8TH HABIT:  FROM EFFECTIVENESS TO GREATNESS

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Being effective is no longer an option in today’s dynamic and ever-changing world. It is a must, a requirement. Things keep changing and without effectiveness, you will end up without the necessary requirement and standard.

In this book, Stephen Covey shows us how to be as effective as we could be. He also makes us understand how we can move from effectiveness to greatness. The first 7 habits form the foundation, while the 8th habit takes us to true fulfillment in the age of knowledge workers as described by Covey.

The book is divided into two sections, 1) Finding your voice and 2) Inspiring others to find theirs.

1) Finding your Voice: The purpose of this habit is to make sure you find your voice to a point that you can be sure you are 100% involved in that which is important to you. Your body, soul, mind and spirit are all engaged in whatever you are doing. To find your voice, you need to understand your natural talents, what really interests you and what you love doing. To understand this, you have to listen and trust your inner voice, your conscience as it tells you what is the right thing to do. We can discover our voice because of these three gifts we possess:

  1.    The freedom to choose
  2.    The natural law which dictates the consequence of our behavior.
  3.    The four intelligences, which are mental, emotional, spiritual and physical.

Covey does not stop at that. He moves on to give insight to great achievers and how they express their voice through their four intelligences. For example, great achievers develop: 

  • Their mental energy into vision
  • Their emotional energy into passion
  • Their spiritual energy into conscience
  • Their physical energy into discipline

Hitler had vision, passion and discipline but his downfall came from his lack of understanding about the second gift. He was egoistic. He refused to control his ego and let his conscience guide his behavior. Therefore, we must not fall into that same pit but learn from it.

The truth in business today is that so many people have lost their voice or they have yet to find it. These kind of people go to work every day to satisfy their bodily need and fail to put their natural talents to work and use their creativity and intelligence. They need their voices back or need to find them. We all do. The question now is how do we find our voice? Find out more in the 8th habit.

2) Inspiring others to find their Voice:

When you have successfully found your voice, the next thing is to help others find theirs which is somewhat about leadership. Great leaders have always inspired people to find their voice. Greatness is always the end result of people or organizations who eventually find their voice.

Covey talks about leadership greatness and organizational greatness. He demonstrated that leadership greatness is all about four principal things which are the 7 habits, pathfinding, aligning and empowering. Organizational greatness, on the other hand, comes from vision, mission and core values that bring synergy, commitment, clarity and accountability. An organization with leaders who understand and live the four leadership principles of pathfinding, modeling, alignment and empowerment and great people who have discovered their voice have transformed from effectiveness to greatness.

He finally leaves us with four top disciplines that if consistent with, they will improve your ability to focus and execute your top priorities.

  • Focus on what is most important
  • Have a compelling board
  • Break down your goals into actionable plans
  • Be accountable

Having this book on your list should be your priority. Get it and thank me later…

The Big Three – Key Points

Key point #1: The way to step from effectiveness into greatness is by finding your voice.

Key point #2: Maximize the three gifts in finding your voice.

Key point #3: Become a leader that inspires people to find their voice.

One last thing

“People simply feel better about themselves when they’re good at something.”
― Stephen R. Covey 

So Good They Can’t Ignore You

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In this book, Cal Newport contradicts a long-held mindset about following your passion. He believed there is more to loving what you do than just following your passion. To discover this and back up his point, he set out on a quest by spending time with a Venture capitalist, organic farmers, writers, freelancers and other passionate individuals that derive great satisfaction in what they do.  In this quest, Newport identified strategies used and pitfalls avoided by these individuals in developing their career. Passion comes after you have invested in becoming excellent at something valuable not before you attempt something. Aligning your career with your pre-existing passion does not matter. “So Good They Can’t Ignore You” will change your perspective about your passion, career, happiness and developing a remarkable lifestyle.”

 

Steve Mark likes to say “be so good they can’t ignore you” irrespective of your level in your career. Whether you are just starting up, or you are a professional trying to move to the next level, your target should be to master your craft to the point where people can’t help but notice you. Being passionate about what you do is a great goal but following your passion will not get you there. There are two fundamental problems attached to following your passion:

 

Firstly, it assumes that people have a pre-existing passion they can identify and use when making career decisions. However, most people end up feeling lost because they have no idea about what they want to do.

 

Secondly, there is an assumption that says if you like something you will really like doing it for a job. “We don’t have an established evidence that is true,” Newport says. People passionate about their work has little to do with whether their job matches their pre-existing passions.  The bottom line is let your passion follow you in your craft and become someone that can’t be ignored and not to follow your passion. Try something interesting to do, find a skill and career path to pursue and if you are stuck at a crossroad, flip a coin. Make your skill valuable by reaching a high level of expertise. For example, many people look down on a linguistic major for being impractical. You can be very good at a particular type of writing; it will make you stand out. People who are passionate about their work develop the passion over time after building their skill to the point that they became rear and valuable.

 

To become so good at what you do, you need to master that skill through deliberate practice. Once you have chosen a career path, the next step is to master the skills in it to become irreplaceable. “You don’t have a leverage until you become so good.” Says Newport. Look out for simple and common mistakes that show up every day when working on your skill and don’t stop getting better. Many people build their skill to a stage that they become so comfortable and they stop improving on it. It is a deadly risk. To avoid this, push yourself beyond the comfort zone and continuously practice your skills just the way athletes, musicians or artists would.

 

Finally, you have to be good at something before big things start to happen. Don’t stop building on your skills. Be so good that you can’t be ignored.

 

The Big Three – Key Points

 

Key Point #1:

Do not follow your passion. Let your passion follow you and learn how you can grow your mindset around your passion.

 

Key Point #2:

To become so good at what you do, you need to master that skill through deliberate practice. You don’t have a leverage until you become so good.

 

Key Point #3:

Push yourself beyond your comfort zone and continuously practice your skills just the way athletes, musicians or artists do.

 

One Last Thing

“Passion comes after you put in the hard work to become excellent at something valuable, not before. In other words, what you do for a living is much less important than how you do it.”

― Cal newport, So Good They Can’t Ignore You: Why Skills Trump Passion in the Quest for Work You Love

THE OUTLIERS

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The Outliers is structured around a series of case studies, cultures and time periods that are all related to same theories and thesis. According to Malcolm, success has nothing to do with high intelligence, level of genius or innate ability. Instead, success is based on prior investment of hard work, creativity, time, support and opportunity. Gladwell says it is that simple. Your culture, legacy and environment also play a part. He backed his point using various case studies of triumph and success. When an opportunity presents itself, you must be prepared and ready to maximize on it. That is not the point where you begin your preparation. Your prior preparation will determine if you will seize the opportunity or lose it. There is no shortcut to mastery. You must put in the work.

Below is a quick summary of the six key points Malcolm Gladwell takes us through:

Opportunity: Success rarely comes to those who struggle to break from the norm. There must be at least a glimmer of talent in you to achieve success. Opportunity gives you the chance to access coaches and tools that you need to build your skills. Those tools prepare you for a more robust opportunity. Gladwell considers remarkable individuals in this section such as Bill Joy, Robert Oppenheimer, Bill Gates and an unsung intellectual Chris Langan.

Timing: Timing is crucial and critical to success and opportunity. When and where you are born can influence your opportunity. 14 of the 75 richest people in history were born between 1860’s and 1870’s when the industrial revolution was taking off. Also in 1935, there were fewer babies born, roughly 600,000, which means a smaller class size. During this period, there were greater chances of getting into college, good sports team or even getting a good job in better firms.

 

Upbringing: The quality of the upbringing a child receives also influences his/her success. Parents that are more involved in their kids’ lives provide them with opportunities that lead to the child’s success. This can include enrolling them in summer school, taking them to museums and assisting with their homework. Kids that do not have parental care or affection tend to lose more opportunity.

10,000 hours: It typically takes 10,000 hours to become a master of something. You must invest that amount of your time.

Meaningful Work: You must invest hard and meaningful work to get the best out of it. Meaningful work makes you want to put in more hours. For instance, immigrants value and practice hard work. Sociologist Louise Farkas confirmed this while studying the immigrants family tree. He found out that the offspring became professionals and successful. She concluded that in spite of their humble background, they have been trained to value and practice hard work.

Legacy: Value drives legacy. Our values are passed down to us from generation to generation which directly affects our current behavior. Dutch psychologist, Geer Hofstede, did an analysis on different country’s cultural tendencies. He identified different dimensions such individualism, collectivism, uncertainty, avoidance and power distance index. Gladwell believes the society of one’s ancestors has a tendency of determining one’s practice and preference, even in the present day.

The Big Three – Key Points:

Key Point #1    Success has nothing to do with level of genius or IQ. It has more to do   with hard work, culture, society, and opportunity.

Key Point #2    Success comes to those who are ready to become a master in what they do.

Key Point #3    To be successful you must be ready to seize opportunities.

 

One Last Thing

“Practice isn’t the thing you do once you’re good. It’s the thing you do that makes you good.”

― Malcolm Gladwell, Outliers: The Story of Success

Innovation and Entrepreneurship

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Peter Drucker is known to be the most famous management author of the century. This book does not treat innovation as an academic subject but outstandingly written with rich organizational life examples using management view. The author focuses on how innovation and entrepreneurship can be learned and applied by anyone. He wants everyone to have the mindset of changing how they do things to make a massive difference. ​

This book gave a meaningful and provocative definition of innovation. Peter Drucker began by teaching innovation and entrepreneurship in the mid-1950’s putting into writing his experience from the past three decades of testing his ideas. He derived his examples from the experiences he had as a consultant and the experience of people he mentored and taught. ​

He started by drawing his readers attention to a mystery: why in the American economy between 1965-1988, despite the recession, oil shock, inflation in some government and industry, there was still a massive job growth. Most people describe the growth as “hi-tech”. The key technology driving job growth is not widget or gadget but entrepreneurship management. The force of entrepreneur is always more significant than the current state of the economy suggest Drucker. Huge successes recorded by great influencers such as McDonald were majorly due to better management of a service previously run by mom and pops owners.  Everything, from the production of the product, selling technique, the way it was served and the package was refined beyond belief. It was not the ‘hi-tech’ thing but doing things in a different, better and meaningful way and in the process creating new value. 

In this book, Drucker sees entrepreneurship has a way of doing things differently. It is not a personality trait but a feature to be observed in people’s actions and functionality. Entrepreneurs are made to upset and disorganized. He/she is a wild card that generates wealth through creative destruction. They deal with uncertainty but still have the ability to explore change and respond positively and intelligently to change.  Embracing changes and trying out different things is the best way to invest resources. Entrepreneurship becomes risky when simple and well-known rules are violated. They become less risky when it is systematically managed and purposeful.

​Innovation, on the other hand, is simple and often has nothing to do with technology or inventions. Science and technology are the least promising of all sources of innovation, Drucker suggests. He says in reality, innovation result to success when you take advantage of an unexpected change in the society. Innovation becomes a great deal when it meets the market through the catalyst of entrepreneurial management then your start creating things of great value.  Good innovation is always much focused. It is not about trying to do many things but just one thing excellently well. The most successful products are those that save effort, time, money and save their users from thinking. People do not purchase a product but what the product does for them. The bigger picture of innovation is to provide satisfaction where there was none before. The book concludes with Drucker giving a clearer picture of what the future holds.

The Big Three – Key Points ​

Key Point #1: Entrepreneurship and it advises to invest in resources, explore change and respond positively to it. ​

Key Point #2: Innovation and it advises to innovation should save time, energy and provide satisfaction where there is none. ​

Key Point #3: People do not purchase a product but what the product does for them. The bigger picture of innovation is to provide satisfaction where there was none before.

One Last Thing

“Entrepreneurs, by definition, shift resources from areas of low productivity and yield to areas of higher productivity and yield. Of course, there is a risk they may not succeed. But if they are even moderately successful, the returns should be more than adequate to offset whatever risk there might be.”

― Peter F. Drucker, Innovation and Entrepreneurship

No Limits

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John Maxwell, a prolific writer, speaker and leadership coach, helps us to explore areas where we have limited ourselves. In his book, No Limit, he says that we often limit ourselves in various areas of life causing us not to live up to our fullest potential. Breaking down capacity into three parts, awareness, ability and choice, he stated his capacity challenge. He says if you grow in your awareness, develop your abilities and make the right choice, you can reach and grow your capacity. What if our limit is not really our limit? Each chapter of this book opens us up to traits and skills we can increase to blow the cap off our capacity.  Some are things we already possess such as energy, creativity and leadership. Other things we have to choose such as attitude, character and intentionality.

He also draws the reader’s attention to talent and the ability to use your gift the best way you can. Rather than wasting time on your weak areas, it is advisable to focus on your natural strengths and develop them for your benefit and that of others. The author recommends forgetting the “anything is possible” myth. He said what stops people from reaching their capacity often isn’t lack of desire. It’s usually lack of awareness. Sad is the day for any man when he is absolutely satisfied with the life he is living, thoughts he is thinking, deeds he is doing. Dysfunctional people want others to function on their level, and average people want others to be average while high achievers want others to achieve. No one has ever stayed the same while at the same time rising to a higher level. Willingness to change is a price we need to pay to grow. You have to make yourself better so that you can have more to give. This requires an abundance mindset. The question is how can we make things better if we are already successful? Being successful sometimes comes with a temptation to be lulled into false security to believe that we have arrived. The greatest detriment is relying on past success continually. The world will try to talk you out of hard work. Sometimes we have a conviction that we can’t get ahead, we feel down and we watch our lives go down the hill.  The good news is this; your production capacity is within your control. Repeated choices to take responsibility give you mental and emotional momentum which only makes you feel stronger and better about yourself. Resilient people don’t focus on negative experiences, they focus on what they can feel from experience. The truth is if you cannot manage yourself, you cannot manage your life. You cannot maximize your capacity if you do not increase your discipline. The author concludes with words of affirmation:

“I believe in you and I believe in your ability to reach your capacity.”

This book contains everything you need to become aware of what is limiting you, the ability you need to develop the capacities in you and how to make choices that will help to maximize your capacity.

THE BIG THREE – KEY POINTS

Key point #1: Awareness + Ability + Choice = Capacity

Key point #2: Focus on your natural strength and not on your weakness

Key point #3: Your Production capacity is within your control

One Last Thing

“Life is like a ten-speed bike. Most of us have gears we never use.”
― John C. Maxwell

 

Steve Jobs

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The author, Walter Isaacson was the former CEO of CNN and managing editor of Times Magazine. He wrote this book with Steve Jobs consent which makes it the only authorized biography about Steve Jobs. Isaacson conducted over forty interviews with Steve Jobs over the last two years before his death.

Steve Jobs grew up in a middle-class neighborhood; Job recalls that his father had a good sense of design. As Jobs was showing Isaacson around his childhood home, he couldn’t help but stop to tell a story about the fence his father built 50 years before and is still standing. He said his father had told him that it was important to craft the backs of the things he would build- like cabinets and fences even though they are hidden from view. Jobs carried this passion of creating great products with him throughout his life and career.

Steve Jobs was as fascinating as he was successful. His vision and ability to innovate left a landmark in the universe. His dream started taking form when he set out with Steve Wozniak as they launched Apple computers from their garage in Palo Alto. He was a man who created this massive vision for Apple out of his reality distortion field (RDF). What RDF means was once Steve decided that something should happen, he would bend reality to his will until it came true. This attitude extended to everyone around him. With this, he could convince a sleepless team of engineers to work another 10 hours on Macintosh font because it would become the most celebrated computer in the world.

To Jobs, the product was so important that when he came back to Apple, he decided that Jonathan Ives, the lead designer should report directly to him. In most companies, the design team does not have a seat in the boardroom. The engineering team tells the design team the specs they want, and they build a nice case around it. But at Apple, the reverse is the case; the design team tells the engineering team how they need to configure their contribution to the end product. The dominating theme of any Apple product from the beginning of the company is Simplicity. Job continually forced Apple to search for the simplicity on the far side of complexity.  Jobs believed ignoring reality is fine when you are attempting to get people to see beyond their limit. This ability does not always manifest itself in positive ways. He would demand more from his reams than anybody else could expect, often pushing people over the edge. As people who have worked with him would tell, it often worked. Jobs tells about one of his outsourced jobs which he was supposed to be working on at Atari. It was outsourced to Wozniak telling him that he needed it to be done in few days even though most engineers would take at least a few months. Wozniak finished it in four days and turned in a design that was efficient and elegant beyond belief. Jobs has used this skill multiple times in his career pushing people beyond their limit and producing remarkable results. However, the dark side surfaced when he was diagnosed with cancer.

Steve Jobs, one of the most remarkable visionary product designer and the best CEO’s of all times was a great example worth emulating when it comes to his ability to give attention to details and curiosity about how the world works.

THE BIG THREE – KEYPOINTS

Key point #1: Steve Jobs would pull impossible feats into the realm of possible through charisma, persistence, and marketing. He operates in his reality distortion field

Key point #2: Jobs constantly force Apple to search for the simplicity on the far side of complexity

Key point #3: He chose to say no to hundred other ideas that exist by focusing on the most important things and eliminating everything else.

One Last Thing 

“One way to remember who you are is to remember who your heroes are.”
― Walter Isaacson