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Chipping His Way To The Top: Jobs’ Success Factors

Article Overview: “I want to put a dent in the universe,” Jobs once said. From the Apple I to the MacIntosh to the iPod, Jobs has come virtually close to achieving his goal, managing to make a name for himself in all of the business, entertainment and technological worlds. What did it take for him to get to the top?

Chipping His Way To The Top: Jobs’ Success Factors

“I want to put a dent in the universe,” Jobs once said. From the Apple I to the MacIntosh to the iPod, Jobs has come virtually close to achieving his goal, managing to make a name for himself in all of the business, entertainment and technological worlds. What did it take for him to get to the top?

Faith: Jobs didn’t always know what he was doing in life. A college dropout, many gave up on him and had little faith in his abilities. But, Jobs didn’t give up on himself. He continued pursuing avenues that he found interesting, trusting that in the end it would be more meaningful and even perhaps useful. He soon learned that everything in his life, even the most terrible things, seem to happen for a reason and he is now able to place a certain amount of trust in the uncontrollable.

Passion: “Your work is going to fill a large part of your life, and the only way to be truly satisfied is to do what you believe is great work,” says Jobs. From his first days working at his father’s workbench, Jobs knew that his future lay in the creation of things. It wasn’t until he met Wozniak in 1968 that he knew what those things were – personal computers. Despite failures such as Apple III and being fired from the company he helped found, Jobs managed to come back out on top because he knew that he didn’t want to devote his life to anything but his passion.

Courage: After being diagnosed with cancer and facing the threat of death, Jobs made a recovery and vowed to make the most of the second chance that he was given. He kept his eyes and ears open and had the courage to seize new opportunities as they came along. Whether risky or outright foolish, Jobs was from then on out determined to follow his intuition in guiding his business decisions. And, at a net worth of over $4 billion, it paid off.

Innovation: When other CEOs were focusing on sales and financing, Jobs was concerning himself with the next big thing. Personally meeting with suppliers and suppliers’ suppliers, Jobs made it his top priority to keep on top of the next frontier. By filling his company with only the brightest of people, Jobs continues to work towards ensuring Apple a place at the top of the market for years to come.

Vision: An open mind and the ability to put new twists on old techniques was one of the key distinguishing factors between Jobs and his competitors. From cute and utilitarian ads to those that appealed to counterculture rebellion, Jobs’ vision was integrated into every aspect of the company’s strategy. If you dreamed of changing the world, then Jobs was out to prove any way he could that you needed an Apple computer to do it.

From being thought of as a one-hit wonder for his role in founding Apple Computer in the 1970s to rebounding with Pixar and once again rejuvenating Apple, Jobs has time and time again demonstrated resilience in the face of adversity. And, he shows no signs of stepping down any time soon. “I think we’re having fun. I think our customers really like our products. And we’re always trying to do better.”

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Article Tags: apple iii, avenues, being diagnosed with cancer, business decisions, business entertainment, ceos, college dropout, courage, eyes and ears, intuition, little faith, macintosh, net worth, new opportunities, personal computers, second chance, terrible things, uncontrollable passion, workbench, wozniak



Related Forum Posts
Re: What If Steve Jobs Hadn't Returned To Apple In 1997? - Thanks for sharing with us Yinko. Steve Jobs is definitely a visionary. Not only his products are innovative in a technological sense, but he's managed to turn a tech-company's products into a lifestyle.... a lifestyle!! [quote:zfqoq43n]Fast Forward to today. Apple has the sexiest products in the business: iMacs, Macbooks, iPhones, iPods and more.[/quote:zfqoq43n] I think not only tech would be different (music players and phones), but ways we can think of marketing and branding. What Steve Jobs did was of course no easy task for the smaller businesses, but he did start somewhere. What I did not know was that Apple is worth about as much as Google. How do you think Apple accomplish what they did? In terms of strategy wise? If you could advice Steve on one thing, what would it be?
Re: The 3 Factors That are Limiting Your Productivity - Hi Evan, Thanks for a great article and video on 'The 3 Factors That are Limiting Your Productivity'. I think that no matter whether you are self employed like myself or a CEO with staff, it is so important to manage your time so as to maximize the benefit to your business. Your expression Eliminate; Automate; Delegate is easy to remember and will certainly stick in my mind. There are many good business ideas out there but they will ultimately run into difficulty without proper planning and execution so these tips will certainly help. I have also left this comment on the article and will place a link to it on my blog. regards, Mal.
Re: Are you getting an iPad 2? - @GT - we can talk more about it once I get one and I'm happy to answer any questions to see if it might fit your lifestyle. @Yinka - Sorry, no payment from Steve Jobs... I wish!
Re: What are the top videos for entrepreneurs on YouTube? - I've seen the Steve Jobs video a few times and it is a great one. Off to watch David's suggestion right now. Thanks guys! I'll try to find one of my own to add to the list.
Re: THE SECRET TO SUCCESS IS ALL IN YOUR HEAD...RIGHT NOW!!! - Success = Thinking (Head) + Heart (Feeling / Interest) + Hand (doing/ action). Success - H3 Robert


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