Take a management lesson from Steve Jobs

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"Steve Jobs", published in November 2011, was a best-seller and well-written. I even wrote a review after reading it.

However, few people know that its author, Walter Isaacson, wrote a 20,000-word article for Harvard Business Review six months later in April 2012, summarizing Jobs’ management art. The article was titled “The Real Leadership Lessons of Steve Jobs” (English version online reading, PDF download, Chinese version online reading, Amazon, Douban).

This long article is basically a condensed version of the original book, but with some new details. If you don't have time to read the original book, you can just read this. Below, I have excerpted a few passages that touched me.

1. Stay focused

In 1997, Jobs took over Apple, which was on the verge of bankruptcy. At that time, Apple had a huge product line, with more than a dozen versions of the Macintosh computer alone. Jobs decided to cut most of the products.

He drew a 2×2 grid on the whiteboard. "This is what we want," he wrote "Consumer" and "Pro" at the bottom of the two columns, and "Desktop" and "Portable" at the top of the two rows. He told the team that our job is to produce four great products, one for each grid, and all other products should be eliminated.

Another time, Jobs asked everyone, "What are the 10 most important things we should do next?" Everyone talked about it and listed 10 things. Jobs crossed out the last 7 and said we should only do the first 3.

2. Keep it simple

Jobs visited Xerox's Palo Alto laboratory and saw the newly invented mouse. He was immediately attracted.

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After he came back, he told the designers to make a copy immediately. However, Xerox's mouse had three buttons, and Jobs required that Apple's mouse only have one button.

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When designing the iPod operating interface, Jobs insisted that users could complete all operations with just three clicks at most.

Jobs often asked people, "Do you think there is anything too complicated?" He used this as a reference to decide what product to develop next.

3. Pursuit of ***

Jobs developed a personality of pursuing perfection since he was young. Once, he and his father were building a fence in the backyard. His father required that the back of the fence also be carefully constructed. Jobs said, "Who will look at the back of the fence?" His father replied, "You will see it."

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When developing the Macintosh computer, he required that the circuit boards and wires inside the case be neat and beautiful despite the opposition of the entire team. After the design was finalized, he engraved the signatures of the designers on the case, saying, "Real craftsmen sign their work."

4. Pay attention to design

The first product that Jobs produced after returning to Apple was the colorful iMac desktop computer. It had a handle on the top, which wasn't very useful. Who would carry a desktop computer around?

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The production department wanted to remove the handle to reduce costs. However, Jobs insisted on adding it because he felt that ordinary consumers still had a sense of awe for computers, thinking that they were mysterious products. He hoped that Apple's products would give people a friendly, approachable, and easy-to-operate feeling. The handle could send such a signal, as if to say, come and use me.