Author: Ken Segall
My recommendation: 5/5
Summary
Fascinating book about how Steve Job’s was obsessed with applying simplicity into all products Apple created.
My Takeaways
- Steve Jobs preferred straight talk and to cut to the chase.
- Small groups of smart people.
- Think small.
- Be brutally honest as it is the simplest form of getting things done.
- It’s hard to instill simplicity within organizations.
- Complexity is the easy way out.
- Apple puts creativity and the best idea before process.
- The more layered the process, the more watered down the final product becomes.
- Those who believe in simplicity, believe that good ideas need to be protected from those who would damage them. The best way to do this is to minimize the process from which these ideas must travel.
- People will always respond better to a single idea expressed clearly, and tune out when complexity speaks.
- Apple makes a more meaningful connection with customers by highlighting the benefits in a human-centric way, not highlighting the technical specs like its competitors.
- Unlike many CEOs of big companies, Steve jobs was involved in every aspect of marketing and branding at Apple.
- Steve was very clear in his marketing – focusing on a single point and/or value rather than multiple points.
- Apple conveyed human emotion and iconic imagery in its ad, not the product.
- Steve jobs used every weapon he had to get his ideas through.
- Apple keeps product names simple for the sake of brand building.
- Apple keeps the “Mac” name in all its product names because consistency is simple for people to remember.
- Apple would prove that the most powerful form of simplicity is that which directly connects to our humanity.
- Apple constantly challenged the status quo.
- Apple’s products had to improve customer lives by an order of magnitude over what was already available or invent a new category altogether.
- Steve Jobs evaluated advice in context, oftentimes ignoring it in favor of his own beliefs and intuition.