Thoughts On Steve Jobs And Being Different

With the passing of Steve Jobs its quite obvious that not too many people knew all that much about him; I can only wonder with the release of his official biography slated for October 24th if we will get any clearer picture of the man.

On one hand, we are told that he was a tyrant and a bully, but for a multitude, he was a genius, worthy of imitating.  Sadly, imitating and or learning from Steve Jobs will not benefit anyone, because he marched to his own "drummer," and to learn anything from Steve would require one to find their own "drummer" rather than attempting to duplicate someone else's.

As Steve said:

“Don’t let the noise of others’ opinions drown out your own inner voice. And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition.”

The truth of the matter is most of us do not have our own "inner voice" nor do we, "...have the courage to follow your heart and intuition."  In Buddhism this is reflected as the lotus:

"The lotus (Sanskrit and Tibetan padma) is one of the Eight Auspicious Symbols and one of the most poignant representations of Buddhist teaching.

The roots of a lotus are in the mud, the stem grows up through the water, and the heavily scented flower lies pristinely above the water, basking in the sunlight. This pattern of growth signifies the progress of the soul from the primeval mud of materialism, through the waters of experience, and into the bright sunshine of enlightenment.

Though there are other water plants that bloom above the water, it is only the lotus which, owing to the strength of its stem, regularly rises eight to twelve inches above the surface.

According to the Lalitavistara, "the spirit of the best of men is spotless, like the lotus in the muddy water which does not adhere to it."

According to another scholar, 'in esoteric Buddhism, the heart of the beings is like an unopened lotus: when the virtues of the Buddha develop therein, the lotus blossoms; that is why the Buddha sits on a lotus bloom.' "

 In a world that is championing "consumer centric," "individualization and customization," and the need to "interact" with the consumer Steve Jobs stated very bluntly,

“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.”

How many people can honestly say:

“I was worth over $1,000,000 when I was 23, and over $10,000,000 when I was 24, and over $100,000,000 when I was 25, and it wasn’t that important because I never did it for the money.”

Very few have any comprehension of what "...it wasn't that important because I never did it for the money..." feels like or even means.

Fitting in and going along is more apt to bring one success than having the courage to listen to your inner voice.  On one hand people will promote change, innovation, and talk about changing the world only to also want to promote political beliefs that are 235 years old.  Never quite understood why people who make a living in technology and its promise for a better future would be so willing to promote the promise of the past in their political beliefs.  If the horse and buggy is not a viable option for transportation today then why do we want to believe that the thoughts and ideas of our Founding Fathers are the answer for all that ails us politically.  If simpler, smaller, and traditional works as a solution in one part of your life then why does it not work in all parts of your life?

No, lets respect Steve Jobs and rather than attempt to imitate him, lets try to learn to recognize those among us who, "Don't let the noise of others' opinions drown out your own inner voice.  And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition."  Let's seek them out and nurture them.  Lets have the strength to understand them rather than scorn them.  In closing, lets remember:

“Here’s to the crazy ones, the misfits, the rebels, the troublemakers, the round pegs in the square holes… the ones who see things differently — they’re not fond of rules… You can quote them, disagree with them, glorify or vilify them, but the only thing you can’t do is ignore them because they change things… they push the human race forward, and while some may see them as the crazy ones, we see genius, because the ones who are crazy enough to think that they can change the world, are the ones who do.” 

The Wisdom Of Thinking Differently

I came across this article about Kevin Kelley, the head coach of Pulaski Academy in Little Rock, Arkansas.  

Since I am not a football fanatic I was not aware that Pulaski Academy is a small school of 350 students with an outstanding record in football.  But, they have an outstanding record and the coach is well respected in his field; as well respected as he is unorthodox in his coaching.

As the article states,

"Kelley has become a cult figure among both football coaches and the sports analytics community for his disregard -- contempt even -- for traditional football wisdom."

He forbids his teams from punting on 4th down and that is just the beginning!  The article continues with,

The funny thing about Kelley: He's not a mad scientist or an iconoclast, zigging where everyone else is zagging, for the hell of it. Rather, he's a relentlessly rational sort whose methods have backing in data.
The decision not to punt? According to Kelley's statistics, when a team punts from near its end zone, the opponent will take possession inside the 40-yard line and will then score a touchdown 77 percent of the time. If it recovers on downs inside the 10, it will score a touchdown 92 percent of the time. "So [forsaking] a punt, you give your offense a chance to stay on the field," he said. "And if you miss, the odds of the other team scoring only increase 15 percent. It's like someone said, '[Punting] is what you do on fourth down,' and everyone did it without asking why."

Yes, it surprises people that "thinking outside of the box" or drawing different conclusions can be very logical and rational.  If you think about it following the norm, or conventional wisdom, will achieve nothing more than mediocrity.  

Of course in business, there are benefits in mediocrity, or conventional wisdom, if you are a huge established company; you will not gain much but you won't lose anything either.  But the idea that unconventional ideas or 'thinking outside the box' is risky or only to be attempted as a last resort is wrong also.  

Sometimes the most unconventional, the most unorthodox ideas are actually the most rational and the most conservative. We spend an immense amount of time and effort trying to figure out what our competitors are doing without really grasping the logic of why we do what we do.

I have made enough presentations in my life, and offered proposals or solutions to problems that were met with, "That's Crazy!"  Then I would sit and take it step by step, documenting and proving the logic, and slowly but surely you would convince people, a step at a time, that what they initially thought was "crazy" was actually the most logical course of action.

Sometimes rules are just nothing more than outdated traditions that no one ever  bothered to question.

Innovation, Change, And Disruptive Hypotheses

I have always been fascinated with what makes some companies and or organizations so successful and why other companies struggle and then never quite achieve their potential, then you have those companies that, for a period of time, are doing everything right and growing by leaps and bounds, only to end up being an eventual cultural relic.

Innovation and change are disruptive; they involve someone somewhere asking the question, “what if….”  That then becomes the basis for a disruptive hypothesis; a disruptive hypothesis being an intentionally unreasonable statement that is designed to upset your comfortable business equilibrium which in turn leads to a change in direction of your thought process.

Innovation starts with a disruptive hypotheses and the process of creating one involves:

1.      Defining the situation;

2.      Searching for clichés;

3.      Then twisting those clichés around.

Every industry has its "best practices" and every industry has its stereotypical way of doing business; we seek out consultants, we seek out employees, and we seek out solutions to problems by believing that success derives from being better, more experienced, or more like everyone else in our industry.

Exactly then how do you question clichés if you reinforce "...that's the way we have always done it..." through your hiring practices?  Stealing the expertise of a competitor is not innovation.

I remember when I first was introduced to the concept of self funding employee health insurance, I was informed that we were not "big" enough.  But, when I asked why and what does the number of lives covered have to do with it I never could get an answer other than, "...because that is the way it is...."

Eventually, we sat down and worked up the numbers and came to understand why the number of lives covered is important but we also found that we could benefit from shifting to a self funded plan.  Then we went on and found that by working with a local hospital we could create a "gatekeeper" network that involved our employees naming a primary care physician who managed their health care and who was paid a higher fee to do so; this in turn lowered our health care costs!

If you find yourself struggling with a growing company, where it seems that the different departments are not coming together then why not institute a 'job swap' program; a program where, on a regular basis employees work with their counterparts in other departments?  If shipping and customer service are always at loggerheads, then let them spend a day, on a regular basis, in the shoes of the other.

In the apparel industry sales will always demand new products; new colors and or something new every few months.  Then when you analyze sales you realize that 75% of your sales come from the same 10 products; obviously the desire for newness is only a motivation to get your sales people out selling the same products they have always sold.  But, so many apparel companies end up growing to the point that their inventory and product line ends up being their downfall.

What if, rather than sending professional sales people to a trade show, you sent company employees?  Who better to sell your product but the people who make the product?

Change

I was fortunate to have a position with a company and in an industry that allowed me to witness dramatic change over the last 20 years:  From NAFTA, to ecommerce and Web 2.0, the change was/is revolutionary and fundamental.

I have witnessed the shuttering of millions of square feet of productive capacity and I was on hand as some great products and brands became cultural litter.

Change takes leadership; because change is a process not a direction.  Change is a constant state of being and becoming not going from one to the other.  The concept of “constant improvement’ is one that is based upon the idea that one always seeks improvement but never achieves it.  Having played basketball all my life, successfully I might add, I realized that after winning a championship an individual can either stop, and enjoy the moment, or one can begin the process of winning all over again.

We talk about empowerment and or teams but we cannot deny the need for leadership.  Teams can be dysfunctional without leadership; they do not need a chain of command or organizational chart as much as they need for the members to understand the roles each and every one of them serves within the team.  Teams need encouragement rather than empowerment and encouragement requires individual respect and leadership.

If you look at Apple Computers they have embraced change as a constant while Microsoft has made change something to fear; Apple comes out with something new every few months and consumers look forward to the change when Microsoft offers something new it is resisted and feared. 

In apparel we witness change constantly;  where at one time you had brands of screen printed goods such as Caribbean Soul, Big Dogs Sportswear, Hobie, and of course my favorite, Spuds McKenzie, we now see the change wrought by Threadless and Café Press for example. 

One can lead change or be led by change……